Soren Christiansen and Grace Ann Young have issued an open letter as a comment to an inDECATUR post.
It is in the continuation.
I'm moving posts and comments to posts regarding 444 over here to the Decatur Heights blog, where they logically belong. I'll post a link to any new posts on this subject at the inDECATUR newszine blog, but no more. Comments to previous posts there have been closed, but you can still read them. [I'll add links to them here later today.]
Thanks for your past and continued civil discourse on this matter. I reserve the right to edit and/or delete comments as I deem necessary. The best way to avoid that is to not speak about others, but rather the subject. Of course, I will not delete your comments simply because I disagree with you, or even if I feel your facts are incorrect (though I might comment on that.)
Hello fellow Decatur neighbors, We are writing to inform you of our decision to obtain legal counsel regarding the recent decision of the City Manager, Peggy Merriss, to allow the Peer Support and Wellness Center (PSWC) at 444 Sycamore Drive to continue to operate as it has for the last two years. The crux of the matter is whether the Center can be classified as a ‘family personal care home’ in order for it to meet R-60 zoning requirements. We want to point out that we are not looking for a long, confrontational legal battle. To the contrary, all we have wanted from the City was a very thorough study by the Commissioners, the zoning administrator and the City attorney of this unique program, especially because the program is unprecedented and thus, not easily defined. Our position has always been that we recognize and welcome a family personal care home’s existence in R-60 zoning. We would certainly welcome this program if it served a maximum of six people and was accountable to the rules and regulations of a family personal care home. However, it does not have a state license as a family personal care home and serves a daily maximum of 25 unscreened day care participants and 3 overnight respite beds. While we commend the intent of the Wellness Center’s work, we believe this is a business that is, in no way, a family personal care home, thus not allowable in our neighborhood. We forwarded all of the documents, contracts, e-mails with the city, etc (our research and actions over the last nine months), to the law firm of Dillard & Galloway (http://www.dillardgallowaylaw.com) on January 25th. They are a highly reputable firm that specializes in zoning issues and property rights. After the firm reviewed the extensive material, attorneys Doug Dillard and Laurel David informed us that they are willing to represent us in that they believe there is a question as to whether the PSWC meets current code requirements. Our hope is that our legal counsel will be able to get the clarification we seek, and, if the City is found to be on the wrong side of a legal issue, that it would be best to right that wrong sooner, rather than later. We are hopeful that you feel as strongly about this case as we do, and share our frustration with our city’s inability to respect its own zoning codes. At the meeting on 1/24/10 at Soren’s house, we discussed the financial costs of retaining a lawyer and several of you spoke up in support of this course of action and many of you left your e-mails to be kept apprised of the situation. The retainer fee is $5000, which is not a small amount of money, but we feel that retaining a lawyer is the only way for us to get the City to act upon the facts we have presented. If any money from that retainer is returned to us due to a quick decision on this matter, the unused portion of that money will be returned to the contributors of the legal fund. We would be most thankful if you would be willing to contribute to this legal appeal fund, in any amount you deem affordable; $10 is not too small and $5000 is not too large. We have set up a separate bank account for these contributions. If you are willing to contribute, please reply to Soren or to Grace Ann with your pledge and we will arrange to drop by at your convenience to pick up your check and give you a receipt. We will assume each contributor wants total anonymity and that will be completely honored, unless otherwise advised. We are completely transparent and will assure complete accountability of the collected funds. We have been told by the attorneys that we have no ability to recoup our losses from the City, even if we are vindicated in our fight against the City. We are also hoping that many of you will be willing to be included on a list of supporters of this appeal to the City and/or zoning board, i.e., that you believe this is a zoning violation that must be corrected. Please let us know by e-mail if you wish to be included on this list that can then be used to show our solidarity on this issue. We want to make it most clear that we value all of you as neighbors and our friendships will not be impacted by your decision regarding contribution, or whether or not you support our position. Whether or not you wish to contribute financially, we welcome your questions and comments, as well as your position on this matter. Please do not hesitate to email Grace Ann at gyoung707@aol.com or Soren atsorenvi@mac.com. If you would like to be removed from this e-mail list, please let us know and we will remove you from the list immediately. Also, if you know of any neighbors who would like to be sent this letter and kept informed of the status of the case, please tell them to e-mail us and we will add them to our list. When the weather warms up, we look forward to seeing all of you around the neighborhood so we can say hello. Thank you for your consideration, Soren Christiansen Grace Ann Young
