[Vision2020] NSA housing

Tue Apr 25 17:21:44 PDT 2017

I live next to a house in the back yard of an NSA official  It has no legal address (I looked it up), yet for several years this house has been rented. This I know, as the mail goes into the main house address.  I have no idea, but I suspect there are no taxes filed either federal or state or city.. It is just the usual bull-pucky. 
 From: "vision2020-request at moscow.com" <vision2020-request at moscow.com>
 To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
 Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 3:59 PM
 Subject: Vision2020 Digest, Vol 130, Issue 80

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Today's Topics:

  1. Re: BOA meeting tonight (Nicholas Gier)
  2. FW: New St. Andrews Conditional Use Permit Public    Hearing
      (Saundra Lund)

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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2017 13:02:21 -0700
From: Nicholas Gier <ngier006 at gmail.com>
To: Rose Huskey <rosejhuskey at gmail.com>
Cc: Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] BOA meeting tonight
Message-ID:
    <CAH=vCc5-fXc9nYAAgQ4PvpipgKtApasPBs6=SWq5K=rnZEfcTA at mail.gmail.com>
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Thanks, Rose, for doing this important work.

Nick

On Tue, Apr 25, 2017 at 12:36 PM, Rose Huskey <rosejhuskey at gmail.com> wrote:

> Once again the New Saint Andrews scheme machine is churning out the same
> tired old ideas to recreate Oxford on the cheap (minus the authenticity and
> breadth of knowledge in the celebrated British original) on Main St. in
> Moscow.  I sent the following note to the BOA ? which I would like to share
> with V2020.  If you are planning to attend the hearing go early as you can
> bet the entire student body of NSA will be there (probably not wearing the
> silly Harry Potter gowns however.)  For those not able to join in the
> packed room fun apparently the hearing is being streamed at:
> https://www.ci.moscow.id.us/Pages/tvchannel.aspx
>
>
>
> *Integrity Matters*
>
>
>
> The commercial business district was never intended to be a venue for a
> privately owned religious school to enjoy a seven hundred seat auditorium,
> school offices, music practice rooms and a racket ball cum exercise area.
>
>
>
> Past behavior is often predictive of future actions. The NSA conditional
> use permit expansion request comes with a history that should be considered
> when assessing how New Saint Andrews administrators, leadership, and
> members of the affiliated church have responded to previous Conditional Use
> Permit requirements.
>
>
>
> The New Saint Andrews Admissions web page, under the subheading ?Housing?
> http://www.nsa.edu/admissions/housing/  includes, in part, the following
> statement:  ?Most students? board with Christian families??  Average costs
> for boarding are described as at least $400.00 a month, which are presented
> as less expensive than apartment living.  Twelve years ago eighty plus
> students boarded with Christ Church families.  I have attached that 2005
> list with addresses of boarding houses at that time.  Because the school
> has grown and continues to encourage boarding as a first choice for
> students, I am confident that that number has increased.
>
>
>
> The city of Moscow requires all boarding houses in Moscow to apply for
> Conditional Use Permits.  Ten years ago the city addressed complaints
> related to New Saint Andrews boarding houses.  The issue received a great
> deal of publicity.  It is unlikely that any home owners who are allied with
> New Saint Andrews are ignorant of the city requirement for boarding house
> operators to obtain a conditional use permit.  In anticipation of tonight?s
> hearing I stopped by the Mann Building a few weeks ago to ask how many
> boarding house CUPs and been granted in the last ten years.  The answer was
> one ? and it was unrelated to New Saint Andrews.
>
>
>
> Integrity matters, particularly when one applies to the city and by
> extension the community for the special privilege of a conditional use
> permit.  Why should the Board of Adjustment, or, for that matter the
> community give any consideration to this current request when it has been
> abundantly clear for over ten years  that the very group asking for this
> conditional use permit is knowingly and willfully in clear violation of
> other conditional use permit requirements.
>
>
>
> Given the history of violations of the requirement for boarding house
> conditional use permits there is little doubt that these violations will
> increase if NSA is permitted to more than double their enrollment.  It is
> my hope that members of the Board of Adjustment are mindful of this history
> as they consider the matter before them this evening.
>
>
>
> Fortunately, the recent purchase of a land in north-eastern Moscow offers
> NSA a rare opportunity to visually reproduce their curriculum efforts to
> recreate a medieval scholastic tradition.  Logos School has received a
> conditional use permit for the site.  In addition to their plans for a K ?
> 12 school, *after* securing the appropriate permission from the city
>  they could also invite New Saint Andrews to join them. Perhaps they might
> consider including student dormitories which would also mitigate their
> tradition of non-compliant boarding houses.  New Saint Andrews now has a
> golden opportunity to construct their very own version of a cathedral close
> right here in Moscow thus finally putting to rest all their ambitious out-
> of-compliance property notions in an appropriate, arguably, charming way.?
>
>
>
> Rose Huskey
>
>
>
> >>>>>>>>>>
>
> In the note to the BOA I included a list of boarding houses from 2005
> Christ Church directory.  I will not attach that here because if some home
> owners have moved from the homes listed in the church directory I would not
> want some innocent family tarred by the previous owners brush.
>
>
>
> It is also necessary to point out that since I sent the original list to
> the city Christ Church  in 2005 Christ Church has stopped listing addresses
> for NSA students ? or conceals them on-line for members access only.  This
> is strictly an undercover operation.  Do you suppose the revenue is
> accurately reported to the state and federal revenue services? For example,
> based on Doug Wilson?s own blog site he has four borders (which he
> typically has had for many years and at minimally $4,000 a head he?s
> bringing in 16 K a year. Multiply that  by church wide boarders and the
> annual take is several hundred thousand dollars.
>
>
> *?Sabbath Dinner*One of the things that makes this all go is the fact
> that Nancy is amazing. Every week we launch the Lord?s Day at 6 pm Saturday
> night. We have the two of us, three kids, their spouses, and seventeen
> grandkids. We bring my dad over for sabbath, which makes us a cool 26. *In
> the school year we have four boarders who usually join us*, which brings
> us to 30.? from Doug Wilson?s blog: https://dougwils.com/personal/
> dont-get-everything-done.html  [July 13, 2016]
>
> ?The College is a non-residential campus, meaning we provide no on-campus
> housing.  *Most students board with local Christian families* or share
> apartments with other NSA students. . . Costs for boarding with local
> Christian families vary considerably, depending on the living and meal
> arrangements. Two bedroom apartments typically rent in the $500-$600 per
> month range, and duplexes and houses go for between $800 per month to
> $1,200 per month. On average, full-time students should expect to pay about
> $4,000 for room and board per academic year.?
> http://www.nsa.edu/admissions/housing
>
>
>
> ?Passed new zoning rules for ?boarding houses? that do nothing to stop
> party houses, but *removes the freedom of owner-occupied family homes
> from showing hospitality to students?especially NSA students*?or
> missionaries?especially Mormons, others.? https://dougwils.com/s7-
> engaging-the-culture/no-incumbents.html [10-27/07]
>
>
>
> These holy go pious jackasses really know how to represent Christianity in
> a powerfully good way, don?t they?
>
>
>
> Rosemary Huskey
>
>
>
> =======================================================
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-- 

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in.

-Greek proverb

?Enlightenment is man?s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one?s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ?Have courage to use your own
understand-ing!?that is the motto of enlightenment.

--Immanuel Kant
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2017 15:58:58 -0700
From: "Saundra Lund" <v2020 at ssl1.fastmail.fm>
To: "'Moscow Vision 2020'" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] FW: New St. Andrews Conditional Use Permit
    Public    Hearing
Message-ID: <069f01d2be17$86521fe0$92f65fa0$@ssl1.fastmail.fm>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Visionaries:

I'm sharing the "quick & dirty" comments I've emailed to the Board of
Adjustment for the New St. Andrews Conditional Use Permit application
hearing this evening.  I've decided I'll spare those in what might be a
crowded room the . . . pleasure of my presence after being without running
water since 7 AM  :)

Saundra Lund

Moscow, ID

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

From: Saundra Lund
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 3:47 PM
To: boa at ci.moscow.id.us; rcash at ci.moscow.id.us
Subject: New St. Andrews Conditional Use Permit Public Hearing

Dear Board of Adjustment Members:

I am writing to urge you to vote NO on the Conditional Use Permit (CUP)
application submitted by New St. Andrews (NSA).

First, I trust each of you has done your due diligence regarding NSA's
embarrassing zoning history in our town and are aware of the extensive
history of zoning violations by this entity.  Essentially, NSA was granted
the initial CUP to avoid potential costly litigation because the City failed
to notice what was going on under its nose right on Friendship Square.  Not
only had the building already been purchased, but significant money had been
"invested" in renovating the building for NSA's unpermitted use in the
Central Business District, a bevy of activity that somehow escaped detection
by the City until concerned citizens started asking questions.

While I disagreed with the eventual decision to grant a CUP to NSA, I
understood the complications of denying the (belated) CUP application and
the black eye the City might have received from trying to shut the barn door
long after the horse escaped.

There are good reasons "educational institutions" are not a permitted use in
our CBD and special permission in the form of a CUP is required.  It seems a
matter of common sense to me that special permission would be reserved for
those who not only meet relevant criteria standards but also for entities
that don't have an extensive history of intentionally violating our
community's reasonable and lawful standards.  Common sense dictates this is
sufficient reason to deny NSA's current CUP application to further expand
downtown.

Second, I have significant concern about the wisdom of allowing a second CUP
for a single special interest religious educational institution in our CBD.
At what point will the line be drawn to keep our CBD a secular business
district rather than a religious Main Street?  There are important lessons
to be learned from what happened in Antelope, OR and in Leith, ND, and I
urge this Board to take the opportunity to shut the barn door before the
horse escapes this time.

Third, I object to a second property in our CBD being removed not only from
commercial use but also from the tax rolls for the benefit of a single
religious educational institution.  When property is removed from the tax
rolls, the rest of we-the-people are providing forced subsidy, and in this
instance, we are already subsidizing this religious educational institution
in our vital CBD.  It's flatly unfair to ask taxpayers and business owners
to accept the removal of a second significant downtown business property
from the tax rolls for a single religious educational institution,
particularly for a single religious educational institution that rejects
essential "secular" values held by the vast majority of our community.  As a
community member, I'm aware that our City budget is tight enough that we
often can't afford even simple and inexpensive projects that would benefit
the majority of our community, and it smacks of an entitled attitude when we
as taxpayers are being asked to provide a second subsidy for a single
religious institution downtown.

Finally, I am extremely concerned about the parking problems that will
inevitably arise from allowing a second downtown location for single
religious educational institution that's expected to more than double its
student enrollment where parking is already scarce.  I'm not up-to-date on
what current "parking surveys" may show, but I can speak from my personal
experience:  parking in the area of the proposed second CUP location is
already scarce-to-absent at some times during some days.  Further, the
extensive work done by City staff doesn't seem to take into account the high
volume parking and traffic issues a 680 seat multi-use "music performance
space" would regularly require, which I find puzzling.  Perhaps City staff
simply isn't aware of the other private uses the space will likely be used
for?  

For instance, NSA recently co-sponsored the Grace Agenda conference.
Because it  didn't have its own facility in which to hold events, one of the
venues used was the Church of the Nazarene.  I don't know how large that
dedicated parking lot is, but it was virtually full and there was a
significant increase in traffic on the surrounding streets from around 8:30
AM to 3:30 PM or so that Friday during the "women's only" seminar.  While I
didn't see it myself, I was told the situation was the same around Trinity
Reformed Church during the "men's only" seminar the same day.  I've been
told by folks who attend NSA, Christ Church, and/or Trinity Reformed and
have read in online postings that they look forward to holding many similar
large events in the new NSA space.

Because those "other" uses weren't included in NSA's CUP application, it
seems likely City staff was unable to accurately and completely evaluate the
traffic and parking impacts that would arise from approving a second CUP for
NSA in the CBD.  With incomplete/inaccurate information available, I urge
the Board to reject NSA's current CUP application.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of my concerns, and thank you
for the hard work you are tasked with accomplishing.  I sincerely apologize
for my lateness in submitting my concerns.  I had planned to attend the
hearing this evening to listen, learn, and hope some or all of my concerns
might be addressed before offering testimony.  Unfortunately, my
neighborhood is without water today from 7 AM to 7 PM today, and while I was
hopeful the work would be completed earlier, the lateness of the hour still
without water convinces me my optimism was unrealistic.

Sincerely,

Saundra Lund

<address deleted>

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