Stimson project opponent threatens lawsuit if city doesn't overturn apartment approval

The director of the Athens County Historical Society and Museum has sent a letter to the Athens law director's office, urging Law Director Patrick Lang to block a planned apartment development on Stimson Avenue, and warning that if he doesn't, the city may face an expensive legal battle.

Ron Luce's letter, addressed to Lang and city Chief Prosecutor Lisa Eliason, asks them to "act, pursuant to (state law), or otherwise, to compel the Athens city director of code enforcement to pursue appropriate enforcement."

The section of Ohio law Luce cites in his letter states that if "an officer or board of a municipal corporation fails to perform any duty expressly enjoined by law or ordinance," a village solicitor or city law director should seek a court order to compel it to do so.

The subject of Luce's letter is a project planned for 22 W. Stimson Ave., now the site of the BellaVino beer-and-wine store. Developer Ric Wasserman is negotiating to buy the site, tear down the BellaVino building, and replace it with a larger building containing apartments for 18 tenants.

Luce has spoken out vehemently against the plan, largely based on the fact that the building is a former stable used by the Athens brick industry, and is more than a century old. He has also argued, however, that city zoning code clearly does not permit the plans Wasserman has submitted to be realized in a B-3 general business zone.

Wasserman's plans call for the ground floor of the building to be a parking garage for tenants. City code requires that in a B-3 zone, buildings can have residential uses above the first floor, but the first floor must be a commercial use. Wasserman argues that the parking garage qualifies as a business, and city Code Director John Paszke essentially agrees with him on this issue.

Lang's office has told the Athens Planning Commission that it believes the parking lot does not meet the code requirement as a business. Despite this opinion, the commission on Jan. 11, by a three-to-two vote, approved the project as meeting code requirements.

Paszke has said that the code explicitly names "parking" as a principle permitted use in a B-3 zone; therefore, he apparently reasons, a parking lot can meet the "business use" requirement for the ground floor of a B-3 building.

Luce has not filed any legal challenge to the project in Athens County Common Pleas Court. In his letter, however, he warns that if Lang's office does not take action to block Wasserman's project, "I have no choice but to move forward with a citizens' suit."

(This might conceivably take the form of a so-called "taxpayers' suit," which allows a taxpaying citizen to sue a public officer, board or commission based on the allegation that public funds have been misused or the government body has not done its job properly.)

Asking for a "formal response" to his letter within 14 days of its receipt, Luce appends a list of 13 Athens residents he says are willing to sign onto a legal appeal of the Planning Commission's ruling. They include himself, former City Council member and mayoral candidate Ed Baum, former Athens County Republican Party chair Ellsworth Holden, and former Athens County Recorder Julia Michael Scott.