The Wilmington morning star., 1945-11-02
BOARD REVERSES,
UPH0LDS FINDING
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and shop Immediately west Of the
Armory at 808-10 Market street.
The Adjustment board, constitut'
ed by the City council as board
of appeals from decisions by the
Planning board, is composed OF
Gilbert Morton, city building in
spector, chairman; ]. o. Loughlin,
city engineer; City Manager A. C.
Nichols, Mayor Ronald Lane and
Henry Emory, chairman of the
Planning board. Mayor Lane and
Nichols, with Emory. represent the
Planning board on the Adjustment
board.
There was little disagreement
among the board members on the
matter of reversing the Planning
boards decision relative to tn e
Castle street warehouse. the vote
being four-to-one in favor, Nichols
dissenting.
On the auto sales building mat
ter, however, the Adjustment
board divided sharply - and as a
result of the division later agreed
unanimously to ask the City coun-
Gil to add two more members to
its number in order to more .equit-
ably balance the three-to-two ma.
jority represented by the Planning
boards members.
Appearing before the board with
Smith asking reconsideration of the
, Planning boards decision on the
auto sale building, John R. Stew
ems, attorney, declared that it
would be "only a matter of time"
until the greater part Of Market
Street from Front street east would
be business in nature.
He cited that his client, Smith,
had p,lrshased two parcels Of prop
erty on Market street - the site
in dispute - at an investment ap-
proximating $40, 900 with the under
standing that it was available for
a structure such as he planned.
Stevens also added that the Nash
Motor company, the agency Smith
represents, might as well recon
slider its plans to establish a dis
tributor in Wilmington unless the
sales location is in. a desirable
sector"
In the course Of discussion about
the type of building Smith propos-
ed for the 84-foot frontage, Stevens
said his client would be willing to
conform with "any reasonable al
terations' the board might recon-
mend. This offer developed into a
round-table discussion Of the build.
ing plans filed with the City Plan
ming board. Nichols said that he
had not seen the plans, a state
ment that prompted Stevens to re-
mark that it was unusual that
the city manager. a member of
the Planning board, had not stud
led the submitted plans before
passing judgement.
Referring to this point later,
Nichols explained that his mega
tive vote on the Smith matter had
been predicated upon the issue of
whether or not to open that sector
of Market street to commercial
uses, conforming to the thunb-rule
offered by the city's planning
consultant: 'If two-thirds Of the
block is residential, no further
business structures.
The vote on the Smith proposal
was 3 to 0, with Loughlin and
Morton refusing to vote because,
as Loughlin explained ''the men,
bership OF this board is so con.
stituted to preclude a fair review
of the Planning boards actions. :"
THIS statement opened an en-
tire new channel of discussion:
was the Adjustment boards mem
bership fairly constituted to review
actions of the Planning board?
The unanimous reaction was that
membership OF the Adjustment
board should be augmented by at
least two members.
THE present board,'' City At
torney William B. Campbell offer
ed 'is in the position of sitting as
a body of appeal with three-fifths
of its membership composed o
men who have already acted upon
the very matters being appealed.
Obviously it is not quite fair"
Nichols. Emory and Mayor
Lane agreed with this thesis and
quickly supported Nichols motion
that the City council be asked to
add two members to the Adjust
ment board to give it broadened
representation.
The board adjourned after in
forming Smith that it would be
willing to entertain a second ap-
peal at a later date.
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