[Vision2020] New Saint Andrews and the Zoning Code

[Pat Kraut]

As I remeber it Cavanaughs was falling apart and the UI saved it from being
a serious eyesore. Murdoch's Tavern was too close to campus and causing
other problems....look at the police reports, if you can get to them. The UI
saved the area from having more empty buildings around town and looking more
falling apart. If that was the thought behind the zoning they were more
silly than I thought. AND, I think they are pretty silly, so it isn't
looking good for them. The city council then nor the council now is truly
looking at the needs of this city. They are so caught up in a small groups
personal battle they don't have time for the real problems in Moscow.
PK

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 3:41 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] New Saint Andrews and the Zoning Code


>From today's (July 8, 2005) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with a very special
and gracious thank you to Lois Blackburn -

----------------------------------------------------------

COLUMN: New Saint Andrews and the zoning code

By Lois Blackburn

Most of the residents of Moscow would like to leave the workings and
management of our hometown to the officials elected or appointed to that
task. For the guidance of these officials, we have an adequate comprehensive
plan and an equally adequate zoning code. However, there seems to be a
certain casual approach to the enforcement of these codes. When an
infringement is reported or discovered, the standard reaction seems to be
either to grant a conditional-use permit to cover the problem or to cry for
a rewrite of the code. It is not difficult to compile a long list of these
situations, many of them very recent.
The current controversy over the location of New Saint Andrews College is
yet another example of this approach to "city planning." A mistake has been
made. Contrary to the city code, New Saint Andrews has been permitted to
become established in the downtown area. The response of city officials has
been a proposal to revise the zoning code to legalize this mistake. Yup.
That'll fix it.

It is essential the City Council and the Moscow Planning and Zoning
Commission be aware of the reasons for the intentional exclusion of
educational institutions from the downtown business district.

The city administrators who designed this ordinance in 1990 were not
creating a tool for persecution of a religious organization. They were
trying to stop the University of Idaho from eating up the downtown. At the
time, UI already had purchased Murdoch's Tavern (now UI Personnel and
Purchasing), Cavanaugh's Motel (now a graduate residence hall) and the
office building on the southeast corner of Third and Jackson streets.
Negotiations were under way for purchasing the building that houses the
Prichard Gallery and other vacant downtown buildings. All of these
tax-paying businesses were removed from the city tax rolls.

The devouring by a university of the downtown of a small city has happened
in many places. I personally observed this process in Huntington, W.Va., as
blocks of small shops and historic houses were demolished to build a
Marshall University stadium and parking lots.

The original intention of the 1990 modification of the city code is as
relevant today as it was then. The code is not "outdated" because of the
pressure to legitimize a serious error in its application. A healthy
downtown is a place for retail shops and community space. If the retail
spaces - and the requisite availability of parking - are occupied by
educational institutions, the downtown "retail" area can no longer exist.
Moreover, the city can be impoverished by this diminished tax base.

Parenthetically, it also should be noted that NSA did not rescue the GTE
Building from becoming an abandoned eyesore. The building stood empty for so
long because GTE at first did not wish to sell the building. When it was
finally put on the market, two offers were received within a short time.

Now that this serious infringement of the code has taken place, the city has
a profound predicament. I believe we have some level of moral obligation to
New Saint Andrews. However, I firmly believe this obligation does not
include rewriting the code to legitimize the problem. Moreover, the granting
of a conditional use permit will simply open the gates for all sorts of
similar petitioners who would justifiably expect to receive the same
exclusion from the code. Either one of these proposed "solutions" would
destroy Moscow's downtown.

I propose the serious consideration of a different solution: that NSA be
granted an "Illegal use permit." This permit would concede that NSA is
illegally occupying downtown space through an error in the application of
the zoning code. It would, at the same time, permit NSA to remain where it
is, with the following conditions (among other possible ones):

* That it does not expand, or occupy any further downtown buildings or other
buildings illegal according to the city code;

* That it cap its number of students at the current level;

* That it provide parking and/or transportation for its students to leave
the city parking spaces open for retail businesses and public events.

This would address the moral obligation the city administration has incurred
without resorting to the disemboweling of its ordinances that have been put
in place to protect the downtown. I urgently request the City Council to
consider this proposal.

----------------------------------------------------------

Excellently stated, Lois.

Thank you again for saying what must be said.

Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of
others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of
hope."

Robert F. Kennedy
(1925-1968, American Attorney General, Senator)



_____________________________________________________
 List services made available by First Step Internet,
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
               http://www.fsr.net
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯