Oct 31, 2002 By Steve Ferris 3 min read

At least one North Union Township homeowner was not happy with the Fayette County Zoning Hearing Board’s approval of plans to rent out five apartments in the Easter Seals building on Oakland Avenue. The board approved a special exception that allows building owner James E. Stambaugh II to have multiple-family apartments in the building, which is in a single-family housing zone.

Several Oakland Avenue residents voiced opposition to the special exception during a board hearing into the matter Aug. 14.

Homeowners Donald and Denise Robinson presented the board with a petition bearing the signatures of 45 neighborhood residents that were opposed to the plans.

Donald Robinson said the board ignored the opposition and waited until after the deadline to appeal the decision passed before notifying his attorney about the ruling.

“The zoning has always been R1. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Robinson said. “Forty-five other people agreed with me. Forty-five voters, 45 taxpayers in the neighborhood. Isn’t that enough? That should have been enough. That’s my philosophy. Forty-five people said they didn’t want it. I don’t think we were treated very good.”

He called the late notification an “under-handed trick by the zoning office.”

The board had to render its decision within 45 days of the date of the hearing. It approved the exception during a regular meeting Aug. 21, but the decision could be appealed up to 30 days from Aug. 29, which is the date the board approved a resolution containing its decision, said Dave Bukovan, zoning chief of the Fayette County Office of Planning, Zoning and Community Development (OPZCD).

Robinson’s attorney, Jason Adams, said the board should have notified him about the decision, but he found out on his own when he called the OPZCD on Oct. 2. He said the appeal deadline was the end of September.

“It might have been an honest mistake, but I don’t think so,” Robinson said.

Adams said he became part of the record of the hearing when he spoke on behalf of the Robinsons, and the state’s municipal code requires all people on the record in such proceedings to be notified about decisions.

“I made myself part of the record, but I didn’t receive anything from them,” Adams said.

Bukovan noted that normally the county doesn’t notify residents about their decisions but contacts only those making the request. He said residents are urged to call the zoning office for updates on rulings.

Noting that he is not an attorney, Bukovan said he believes the court would have allowed an appeal to proceed even if it was filed after the 30-day deadline.

Robinson said none of the people who signed the petition were interested in contributing money to pay for the appeal, which would have cost more than $1,000. He said filing fees, attorney fees and the cost of expert witnesses made the appeal an expensive proposition.

He also said a stipulation agreed upon during the Aug. 14 hearing indicated that the apartments would not be used for low-income housing, but the board’s resolution does not mention that agreement.

Residents also expressed concerns at the hearing about traffic, parking and sewage.

The building has a 30-space lot. Additionally, Stambaugh presented the board with a letter from the North Union Township Municipal Sewage Authority, stating it has enough capacity at the treatment plant to handle sewage from the apartments.