Union City officials turned

down a zoning request, despite an impassioned plea from the developer's

attorney.

When attorney Doug Dillard

stepped up to the podium at last week's Union City Council meeting, a

game of polite verbal ping-pong started.

Dillard, on behalf of Diamond

Builders, was requesting that approximately 16 acres of a 26 acre parcel

of land be rezoned from general commercial (GC) to Residential Single

Family (R6). The property is located off Alexander Street.

The remaining 10 acres is zoned

R4, which requires a larger lot and house size. Dillard said his clients

were not requesting a change in the zoning for the R4 portion.

The rezoning request had come

before the Planning Commission initially in August. The owners initially

asked that all of the property be rezoned for the higher density category.

The Planning Commission recommended

denial. Diamond Builders opted to ask that the matter be deferred rather

than going before the City Council for a vote. It was deferred twice before

the group presented an amended plan for the property in October.

The Planning Commission again

recommended denial, however Diamond chose to pursue the rezoning with

the City Council.

Dillard presented his clients

case stating they were trying to do was "effectively zone as R4."

He noted that approximately 20% of the land through the center of the

parcel was wetlands and thus unusable. Thus the zoning Diamond was requesting

would, said Dillard, would not overall exceed R4.

The ping-pong tournament started

when he said Diamond would commit to meeting the larger house size requirements

of R4 although the R6 zoning allowed for smaller homes.

Council members reacted quickly

to the offer, noting they had consistently denied similar requests as,

according to their understanding it could not be upheld. They deferred

to Union City's Attorney, Dennis Davenport for clarification and support.

Davenport firmly and politely

stated his disagreement with Dillard's interpretation of the law.

If the builder for any reason

did not follow through to build larger homes consistent with the lower

density requirements the city would be unable to hold them to their commitment.

Dillard disagreed. At one point Dillard leafed through Union City's ordinances

to clarify a point, only to be again rebuffed by Davenport and the council.

On at least two occasions Dillard quietly mentioned the current commercial

zoning was not constitutional, however he did not elaborate.

Continuing to respectfully

and repeatedly hammer his points to the council at one point evinced a

quick response from Mayor Ralph Moore. Moore interrupted to tell Dillard

the council understood what was being presented.

When it appeared the Council

would stick to their guns and deny the zoning, effectively not making

a decision, Dillard told a story of three frogs on a log. If one of the

frogs made the decision to jump off the log, how many would remain. The

answer? Three. The frog had only made the decision, not actually jumped.

He used the story to illustrate

the point that making a decision not to rezone was, in his opinion, a

decision.

Ultimately, after a back and

forth exchange the Council voted not to rezone the property. They noted

they had received similar requests on many other occasions and had been

consistent in their denials.