Special Council Meeting 10-15-2007

9616-9622 Midland Ave, Overland
Image thanks to Google Maps

The Overland City Council convened for a Special Council Meeting to consider the lot consolidation for 9616-9622 Midland Avenue. This was a short meeting, but not without its issues. City Attorney Robert Herman explained that an ordinance is required to subdivide or consolidate property lots and that this is a simple administrative process.

It was explained that this property was going to be sold, but the bank would not approve the loan unless the lots were combined and the closing date was set on a date prior to the next Council meeting.

Councilpersons Conlon and O'Connell were the most vocal opposition to this. The issue was the precedent this action would set. While the property's sale might be expedited by taking care of the consolidation at this special meeting the issue here is really the property owner's poor planning. If you know that you cannot close a sale without combining the property and you know an ordinance needs to be passed for this to happen why would you even consider setting a closing date prior to the next City Council meeting?

Thankfully, the Mayor listened to these concerns and said he wanted to table the issue. Surprisingly, Councilperson Jones moved for a second reading anyway. That motion was seconded by Councilperson Owensby, though the Council never voted on the measure. This is another example of Mayor Schneider listening to all sides in my opinion. Had he moved forward with this issue there may well have been enough votes to pass it. If this happened the City Council would likely have to hold Special Council Meetings on all issues like this in the future to avoid potential legal action for making this effort for one party but not another.

Earlier in the meeting Mr. Herman referenced a sign on a local judges door that reminded me of one of my favorite sayings:

Failure to plan on your part
does not constitute an emergency on my part.

The bottom line here is that had the property owner properly planned for the closing of this sale there would have been no need to even consider holding a Special Meeting to begin with. Frankly, I am surprised this meeting was scheduled to begin with.

Also raised at this meeting was the concern that the company looking to purchase the property was a swimming pool maintenance company. Taking a look at the location of these properties (map), it's a stones throw from Legion Park, at least one Day Care provider and an extensive residential portion of Ward 1. Pool Maintenance companies store hazardous chemicals, usually in large quantities. Allowing this sort of risk in this area seems foolhardy at best. Though consolidating the property does not circumvent the rest of the process to open such a business (zoning changes and variances if needed as well as the commercial inspection process), I thought residents of this area of town (which includes my family) should be aware of this potential future issue.

What follows is the video of this short meeting in its entirety.