Managing editor
Members of Marion Board of Zoning Appeals were torn Thursday afternoon when deciding whether to allow a truck parking and storage business to continue on Grant Street, knowing it would upset residents in the area.
The board was given the task of reviewing an appeal by residents in Jex Addition who were concerned about large, over-the-road trucks driving and parking, possibly with their engines running for long periods, in the residential area.
The original appeal hearing was in July 2008 with a decision made in August 2008, determining that the truck parking and storage business was not a valid non-conforming use. Owners of the property, Darryl and Linda Brewer of Marion, took the matter to district court. Judge Steven Hornbaker ordered the appeals’ board to review and re-hear the case.
Although board members were sympathetic to the residents, in the end they determined the industrial and commercial use of the property at 316 Grant Street had not been interrupted and Brewer could resume his business.
The board had to determine if the non-conforming use, grandfathered in under the city’s zoning regulations, was valid. Zoning regulations allow non-compliant uses to continue in areas not zoned for that use as long as the use is uninterrupted. If the use ceases for six months or longer, the grandfathered status is null and void and a conditional use permit then would be required to operate a light industrial or commercial business in the area zoned residential.
Three members of the five-member board — Darvin Markley, Margo Yates, and Ralph Kreutziger — unanimously recognized the non-conforming use as a valid use. One board member was absent and one board member abstained from discussion and voting because of a conflict of interest.
Kreutziger said he was part of the original board that did not approve the non-conforming use by Brewer.
“I’ve been through this once. Unless I heard something different, I was going to stand by my original decision,” Kreutziger said. “My original decision was based on more of the residential zoning issue, which doesn’t have any bearing on my decision today.
“I believe Darryl has a valid, non-conforming use. However, I am sympathetic to the residents,” he said.
“We are sympathetic to the residents but that’s not the issue,” Yates said.
With that, Yates made the motion that “… the board will issue a ruling that the property in question is and has been a non-conforming use based on the greater weight of evidence we have heard here today. With the understanding that this property will continue to be subject to all rules and regulations of the City of Marion, such as there is a truck route in place and an ordinance that controls excessive noise.”
“The roads had no bearing on this decision,” Markley said. “The city is required to repair the roads.”
Board members heard testimony from previous owners of the property at 316 Grant Street, all verifying that the property had always been used for light industrial and commercial businesses.
It was also pointed out by the Brewers’ attorney, Peter Rombold, that there was no sewer or water line to the business; therefore, it never had qualified as a residential property.
Residents’ concerns
The attorney hired by the city to represent the zoning board, William Townsley of Fleeson, Gooing, Coulson & Kitch, said the existing use of the oilfield and drilling business had discontinued June 1, 1999. When Brewer purchased the property, the use was expanded and the property had ceased to be used as an industrial business for more than six months.
Some residents in Jex Addition filed an appeal with the appeals board, requesting the truck parking business cease. Brandi Williams, 220 S. Grant St., was the only person on the complaint who attended the meeting.
“My biggest concerns were the trucks on our street, the safety of our kids, and the condition of the roads,” Williams said.
She said she had lived there since 2003 and, when asked, Williams said she hadn’t specifically noticed truck traffic or the running of truck engines at night when truck parking was allowed.
Terry Killingsworth of 226 S. Grant St., and Lucille Bitner of 306 S. Garfield St., said they were also concerned about safety.
“Will there be electricity for the trucks or will they run all night?” Bitner asked. “Our tax dollars will have to pay to repair the streets.”
History of the property
Carl Stovall said he and his family moved to Marion in 1967 and purchased the property, which had previously been used as a body shop. Stovall operated it as a machine shop.
He said that when the property operated as a body shop, there were 100 automobiles at any given time in the process of being salvaged.
“Sixteen-foot rigs would come down Grant Street,” Stovall said, some weekly, bringing supplies for his business.
The machine shop was sold in 1973 to Stovall’s father-in-law, Howard Ford, who operated a welding business on the property. Stovall said he could remember trucks hauling settling oxygen bottles around town and on Grant Street.
Stovall said city sewer and water lines served a house at 314 Grant St. but did not go any further.
There were no permits or licensing required by the state and there was no city zoning at that time.
An aerial photo provided by Stovall showed the property in the 1970s, with few houses in the area.
Billy Rogers of Hillsboro said his family owned the property beginning in 1979, operating Kansas Drilling, until Rex Savage and Theo Bond, owners of K.C. Development, purchased it in 1991.
“Dad (Don Rogers) used it as a ‘catch-all’,” Rogers said. “Trucks would turn off Main Street onto Grant to get to the business. They (the trucks) were in and out for a million years.”
Rogers said his father’s customers in need of welding services would bring whatever needed to be welded — farm equipment, trucks, and trailers — and leave it until the job was done and the customer returned to pick it up.
He said he visited the property even after his father had sold it and it always was used as light industrial and commercial.
Savage, of Florence, said he owned it for 15 years, and used it for storing commercial construction and oilfield equipment as well as over-the-road trucks and customers’ vehicles.
“Trucks were always in and out,” he said.
Grant Street was the street of choice by larger vehicles because the railroad crossing on Burbridge Road was not conducive for the large trucks and trailers.
Savage said the city’s zoning map indicated the property was zoned low-density residential but it would be expensive to develop it for residences.
He also recalled a time when Jack Regnier was mayor and Savage was asked to allow truck parking on his property at that time.
“I declined a long-term arrangement because I didn’t have the space,” Savage said.
Brewer purchased the property from Savage in February 2006, with the understanding that Savage could use it for storing some of his equipment. In return, he paid the electricity for the property.
A former employee of Kansas Drilling and K.C. Development, Brewer said he drove many trucks on and off the property as an employee.
“The property had always been used to park trucks and farm equipment,” Brewer said.
Even before his direct affiliation with the property as an employee, Brewer said the property was well known in the area.
“Everybody knew where Howard Ford’s shop was,” he said.
When Brewer purchased the property, the city provided a conditional use agreement to assure Brewer that he could use the property as he had intended — storage of boats and recreational vehicles.
City zoning administrator Marty Fredrickson verified that the conditional use agreement was provided by the city. City officials believed the use was consistent with the previous use and would be considered a valid, non-conforming use.
After Brewer purchased the property and began to develop it, some local over-the-road drivers approached Brewer when parking areas in town became limited for the parking of the large rigs overnight and on weekends.
The city council also became aware of the drivers’ plight. Brewer asked the council for $1,000 to help his property accommodate the drivers but the request was denied.
Brewer began the operation of the truck parking business on Grant Street in August 2008, causing concern with the residents.
“I put the trucks away from the residences,” Brewer said, “so they wouldn’t be heard.”
He also said he had purchased the necessary equipment to allow trucks to be connected to electricity, which would not require the trucks to run for long periods.
“I can’t say trucks won’t run all night,” Brewer said.
Diesel semis require about 30 minutes to warm up.
“Most truck drivers will be considerate,” Brewer said.
Randall Bryant said he lived at 314 Grant St. for 28 years, renting the property and then buying it in 1986.
“I’ve seen businesses come and go,” he said.
Bryant said he bought his house from Don Rogers who operated Kansas Drilling. The adjoining property was used for storing oilfield equipment, trucks, and scrap metal.
There was an auction to sell much of the scrap and inoperable equipment, Bryant said.
“After Darryl (Brewer) bought it, he cleaned it up,” Bryant said.
After the meeting, Brewer said he was glad they were over this hurdle.
“Right now, I don’t have any trucks waiting to go in there,” he said, but he wants to return to his original business plan — to have provide boat and recreational vehicle storage.
“All I’ve ever wanted with this property was to have something for my children after I’m gone,” Brewer said.