B&B Rezoning Rejected Council Splits On Proposal
Mirroring an earlier vote taken by the Planning Commission, Buena Vista City Council voted 4-3 last week to reject a rezoning that would have allowed an expansion of a lodging business in the 2000 block of Chestnut Avenue.
The rejection of the request to rezone the property from R3 (residential limited) to MU (mixed use) means that the Blue Ridge Abbey bed and breakfast inn at 2068 and 2056 Chestnut Avenue won’t be able to increase the number of bedrooms available for lodging from 10 to 16.
Voting in favor of the rezoning were Ron Cash, Michelle Poluikis and Stephanie Noel-Branch. Dissenting votes were cast by Amy Gilliam, Danny Staton, William Kerr and Mayor Jesse Lineberry.
Following the split vote, individual Council members offered emotional explanations for how they voted on what has turned out to be a contentious debate over the limits of what ought to be allowed in residential neighborhoods.
“I’m saddened that we’re not able to move forward with the plans at the Abbey,” said Cash, who made the motion to approve the rezoning. He said his colleagues on Council are going to have to become more open to new ideas if the city is going to have a chance to reverse years of decline.
He cited two jurisdictions to the west that he believes have followed different paths and have had contrasting results. Clifton Forge, he said, failed to adapt to losing the railroad and, as a result, reverted from a city to a town, which meant the loss of city schools and a police force. He claimed Covington, on the other hand, followed a different direction, accommodating the growth of its dominant industry, Mead-Westvaco, and is prospering.
“Just about everything that was in Buena Vista has left except for Modine,” said Cash. “Thank God they stayed and they’re expanding. And if we get in the mindset of shutting doors and shutting down, we’re gonna wind up like Clifton Forge. We’re gonna dry up and blow away.”
Alluding to the rejected rezoning, he continued, “I understand these code things, how uncomfortable they make us sometimes and we itch in the wrong places. But folks, if we do not start doing things differently in the universe than how we’ve done them in the past, if we’re not open to change, if we’re not open to being stretched a little bit and being a little bit uncomfortable at times, we’re gonna dry up and blow away. … Thank God we’ve got some people in town who are willing to spend some money, stretch themselves, take a financial risk in growing this city, and we have got to be willing to expand, stretch ourselves a bit here if we expect to survive.”
Amy Gilliam took exception to Cash’s remarks. “I take quite offense to what you just said, Ron. I’m not closedminded. I’m doing what I said I was going to do when I ran for City Council, and that was represent the citizens of Buena Vista. We sat here in this room two nights in a row and heard people that live in the area, including you, stating some opposition to that. I do not appreciate being called [out] and I would ask you in the future not to do such.”
Noel-Branch defended Cash’s comments, saying they weren’t intended as a personal attack on anyone: “In all due respect, yes, the residents of Buena Vista did come up and speak. But we have to understand that these individuals that are running this business are part of the residents of the city of Buena Vista as well. So, they have a right to come and speak and they have a right to try to expand their business. We can’t stand up here and only listen to one [side] and not listen to the other one as well. And even if those individuals have not lived here their entire life, they still pay taxes just like everybody else.”
She added a quip, “Maybe some don’t [pay taxes],” a reference to news reported earlier in the meeting by interim City Manager Wayne Handley that $1.3 million in personal property taxes is currently delinquent.
Poluikis explained her vote in favor of the rezoning. She said she thought the business was being unfairly targeted, that there is multi-family housing in the neighborhood as well as two churches that generate a lot of traffic.
“There are other things going on there than just homes, residential homes. “So to me, it really seems like a good place for it. … I’m afraid the arguments against it just don’t line up.”
Lineberry said he cast his vote against the rezoning because he felt it is important to support the recommendation of the Planning Commission and the many neighbors who spoke against it, including at last week’s meeting. He said the applicant, when he scaled back his plans by eliminating eight cottages that were to be part of the expansion, should have had to return to the Planning Commission since it was then, in effect, a different proposal.
Referring to there being more people opposing the rezoning at public hearings, Lineberry said, “I would encourage anybody in the future who’s trying to start a business or take a chance in this city, certainly bring those who support you with you … because numbers matter in this world.”
