No quorum, no hearing

A public hearing on a much-debated proposed zoning amendment could not take place Thursday night because only two city council members attended the meeting; four members are required for a quorum.

The hearing was to allow citizens on both sides of a Liberty Avenue zoning issue to have their say before or if, the city makes the proposed change. About a half dozen or more residents came to the scheduled 5 p.m. hearing. Council members Aaron Bollinger and Kevin Waldo attended. Council members Bob Cleary, Beth Rist and Dave Frazer did not. Fellow members Mike Lutz and Philip Heald had told other council members two weeks ago they would not be able to attend the hearing or the council meeting.

When questioned by The Tribune about their absence during the regular council meeting that followed at 6 p.m. At first all three hesitated to respond. Cleary said his work kept him from attending.

“I couldn’t leave work. I was tied up,” Cleary said.

Frazer said he didn’t know about the public hearing. Rist said later that another councilman told her she was not required to attend.

The hearing had been discussed at previous council meetings and a notice of it had been published in The Tribune.

“I apologize,” Bollinger told the residents who attended the public hearing. “I think this is disrespectful. Both Kevin and I apologize.”

The absence of the three council members angered some of the residents who came to express their opinions on the matter.

“I think it’s rude,” Philip McMahon said. Annette Cooper pointed out that several residents had attended numerous meetings since October in an effort to get the matter resolved.

At issue is a portion of a parcel of land on Liberty Avenue adjacent to the University Mart. A portion of the lot is zoned commercial; the rest is zoned commercial. The residents contend the rezoning of the portion that is commercial was done in error because deed restrictions prohibit the lot’s use for business purposes.

The property owner, Doug Philabaun, who also owns the University Mart, did not attend the meeting but did submit a memo on the matter. In it, Philabaun said he and his wife, Linda, do not believe the rezoning was an error and purchased the property because part of it was zoned commercial.

“The whole initiative was started based on a lie,” Philabaun said in his statement. “Linda and I never had any intention of establishing a drive-through carryout and we absolutely had nothing to do with the wet-dry issue (on the ballot last year).”

Philabaun said he has initiated a strategy to remove the residential restriction on the property. “This can be done through negotiation and or court action,” Philabaun said.