Are Downtown Redevelopment Plans “Holding Property Hostage”?

“We are taking this input,” Commission Vice Chair Tom Wood said, “so we can sit down and make a decision based on what our constituents are looking for.”
It wasn’t a public hearing— or at least, that’s what several city council members in attendance kept reminding Wood, who ran the meeting.
But it certainly looked, walked and quacked like a public hearing: council chambers were filled by citizens, many of whom took the opportunity to speak.
The zoning changes were made in anticipation of immediate purchase off ers from the Beard Group, the development company working with the City of Centerville on its downtown redevelopment project.
As the economy slowed, however, the purchase offers never materialized, and homeowners who welcomed the opportunity to sell their homes—as well as those who had no intention of moving— have been left in a holding pattern for well over three years.
Olaf Lee, who with his wife Margaret owns a home at 1724 Heritage Street, said that he wanted to add onto his garage, add another bedroom, and possibly build a sunroom. “To date,” Lee said, “I’ve been told [by the city] that there is no possibility of ever [making improvements to] that house.”
Randy Gnadke, 1751 Main Street, said that he would add on to his home, possibly up to 20% of its existing square footage.
Patricia Camp, 7121 Centerville Road, said she was surprised to find out that her home is a nonconforming use. “I’ve been a resident of this community for 31 years,” she said. Although she has no current plans to expand her home, she objected to limitations posed by the rezoning restrictions.
Wendy Brilowski, who in 2004 purchased the 150-yearold residence at 7124 Main Street “with the intention of making a lot of changes,” said that she wasn’t sure whether her home was included in the rezoned area, but has a number of long-term plans, including bumping out a wall in the kitchen and adding a porch. With market conditions the way they are, and with the added penalty of being a non-conforming use, Brilowski said, selling is likely not an option. “I honestly don’t think I could get fair market value,” she said.
Bryce Wasiloski said that although he has a “pretty decent” understanding of what the downtown redevelopment plan is, “it looks a little diff erent when you’ve been rezoned.” He said, “It’s a very uncertain feeling; it’s like you’re living on borrowed time.”Resident Lenae Marshall, who resides outside the rezoned area, referred to what she called the city’s desire to make Centerville a destination town as “a want, and not a need.” She said, “It is unethical to take what is not theirs and redistribute it to another … it is not the mayor’s role to elevate the collective good.”
City Attorney Kurt Glaser advised, “We cannot take people’s property for redevelopment [purposes]—we can’t. It’s not legal.”
But Olaf Lee asked, “Isn’t indefi nitely holding our property hostage, ‘condemnation’? Where we have to maintain it, with no future? Otherwise, you don’t buy a fixer-upper. Why bother?”
Mayor Mary Capra, who last month said that allowing nonconforming uses to expand would cost city residents money in the long run, reminded attendees that the downtown redevelopment plan was “reviewed by the entire community.”

Deb Barnes
The Citizen
3/17/2010
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