Newark Zoning Board meets

The Newark Zoning Board of Appeals met Monday and sent a downtown building owner back to the drawing board.

Board members requested that Don DePauw come up with more specific evidence that a hardship exists in connection with his property. He has been attempting to obtain permission to convert the second floor of 202 South Main St. to apartments. This property is in a B-2 Business District, and apartments are not allowed, according to current village zoning laws.

In addition, a supplementary regulation governing conversions of existing buildings restricts this to "buildings currently used for dwelling purposes."

Zoning board chairman James McHale cautioned DePauw that the board has to stay within the law and must consider what precedent they mght set in granting a use variance. Board member Kathy Morse expressed concern with the figures that DePauw presented, indicating a financial hardship. She was willing to allow him to return to another meeting with updated facts, showing that he is not able to realize an income with the building as it is.

Board member John Zornow expressed his concerns with several items unique to the situation. These items dealt with the lack of any outlying areas for storage of garbage cans, lack of green space, and the fact that the proposed apartments would only be suitable for 1-2 persons.

"Who is going to police this situation down the road?" asked Zornow. "We didn't go through Urban Renewal to have this situation exist again."

Zornow expressed dismay with the Newark Village Board, which recently voted to allow DePauw to park up to six cars overnight in the municipal parking lot behind his building for the apartments. Zornow said he was also upset to learn that Newark Police Chief Bogan had given a building owner on East Miller St. an "exemption" from the village all-night parking ban. Zornow said, "All this interferes with the job of zoning and and code enforcement."

Morse made a motion to table DePauw's application to allow him additional time to gather specific details regarding his application. The motion passed 3-1.

In other zoning business:

Ken Hannon, representing ViaHealth of Wayne, was granted area variances to install new free-standing signs with square footages that exceed the allowable limit. In making a motion to allow the signs, board member Tim McCusker said the signs would not be a detriment to the neighborhood.

The board received a letter from Tom Hornsby of 107 Maple Court, withdrawing his application for a use variance to convert an existing apartment into two apartments.

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