1311 Prairie Ave. 3 December 2005
Lawrence, KS 66044
Mayor Boog Highberger & Commission
Lawrence City Hall
Lawrence, KS 66044
re: Z-09-60-05, 1246 Haskell Ave. C-1 zoning request
Dear Mayor & Commission:
I wish to present some facts to show that this C-1 zoning request is the culmination of a series of deceptions by the Polks. By so doing, the Polks have maneuvered themselves around the objections of the Brook Creek Neighborhood Association, the City Planning and Enforcement staff, and the Planning and City Commissions.
Without those deceptions beginning in early 2001, the property would have rightly remained RS-2 single family due to the cessation of the non-conforming use in 1999.
From all indications, the former owner, Park Hetzel III and the current owners, Greg & Mike Polk, (longtime friends and business associates) worked hand in glove to create the impression that the commercial use continued up until March 2002.
According to an e-mail of 21 June 2002 from Linda Finger to Mike Wildgen:
“The Planning Department has had on-going discussions with Park Hetzel and Greg Polk regarding this building and it's use. Park visited with Sheila (Stogsdill) several times early last year (2001), and met with me in December [12.10.01] to discuss the building's status. Apparently he had a troublesome tenant who was doing business and living in the structure [not supposed to be] and Park had to go to court to try to get the tenant evicted.” . . . “The letter, he assured me, that he would send to document the continuous use, did not come from Mr. Hetzel [as he was in . . . a hospital convalescing in another state]. He asked Greg Polk to meet with me and update me on his (Mr. Hetzel's) condition, and the forthcoming nature of a letter”
The letter from Greg Polk, dated 11 March 2002, documented nothing about any continuous commercial use. He simply listed a few types of businesses that had operated there, and then made the assertion “For the last fifty years, the building historically has had a commercial tenant”. His implication is that it was commercially active up until March 2002.
In a hand written note on this letter, Mike Wildgen takes Greg Polk's statement at face value, and no City staff seemed to challenge the veracity of either Mr. Hetzel's or Mr. Polk's statements. A copy of this letter is attached.
Meanwhile in April 2002, the Polks cleaned out the previous tenant's belongings, including hundreds of water logged law books from a leaking roof. They also began structural changes to the property, such as the new garage door opening, without a building permit, until BCNA triggered a Stop Work Order on 28 May 2002. And on 27 June 2002, BCNA met with Greg Polk at 1246 Haskell to negotiate.
At that meeting, Greg Polk reiterated the stories he and Park Hetzel had put forth. He said “John, the owner of the Picture Works, was a forensic scientist, had a law degree, and had been a sheriff's officer”. He said John had been staying in there occasionally, and . . . “that Park had him moved out in March 2002”. Even though we pointed out that there had been no business activity out of this dilapidated building since the late 1990's, Greg Polk argued that John's paying rent to Park Hetzel during that time maintained the non-conforming use.
When BCNA produced City utility records showing that the Picture Works services for water, sewer and trash were cut off on 8 October 1999, Linda Finger promised on 20 August 2002 to research business occupancy records at the Spencer Research Library, in phone books, and old Polk's Directories. But BCNA received no results of such research, and ultimately Ms. Finger accepted at face value the continuing use stories of Park Hetzel and Greg Polk. She took the position that the non-conforming use had not expired.
Receiving no help from a staff more inclined to advocate for the Polk’s assertions than to question them, BCNA felt compelled to negotiate with the Polks for the compromise of RO-2 zoning. But if the truth were known at the time, we would not have had to accept anything but RS-2.
In fact, John, the Picture Works owner died in mid 1999. No one was living illegally at 1246 Haskell. No one was paying rent there. No one was doing any business there for 2 ˝ years until the Polks bought the property.
Technically, 1246 Haskell Ave. is still RS-2, because it reverted to RS-2 sometime in early 2000. In his typical pattern of neglecting his properties, Park Hetzel apparently did not know Picture Works wasn't operating for 2 ˝ years - or knew but hid the fact. Either way, 2 ˝ years later, he and Greg Polk used revisionist history in claiming continuous use to to boost the property value.
I reject their methods, and I reject the validity of the RO-2 zoning, which was acquired under false pretense. I therefore also reject the C-1 zoning request that hinges on the progression from RS-2 to the invalid RO-2 zoning. I urge you to reject the C-1 zoning request as well.
Sincerely,
Michael Almon
attachment