Minutes 06/14/2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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June 14. 2005 2. Dr. Joe Chase Jr., 645 Wickwood Drive, Chesapeake, spoke in support of this item. "Y The following is a statement from Councilman Smith: It is my intent to oppose this item simply because you've already outgrown that building at 812 Washington Street. From what we see here in the documents from what our staff didn't really dig into, you are far above that property. Even as Councilman Whitehurst said, I too feel enough for the situation that I would also be willing to or be in favor of supporting his suggestion that we try to help you in some kind of way because of your spirit. I believe you are doing a great thing and want to do a great service in this City but technically and legally we were told it was against the law to even vote against it. We are here to uphold that law and according to that law, that is a building, it is a shell of a building. When the Garden of Prayer left that building in 1998, the Bishop and the church at that time totally stripped that building, I believe with intentions of probably tearing it down because they had out grown the use. Since then, homes have been built up in close proximity to that church and even closer and I just see it in the future as your being just too big and believe that you have already outgrown the building and in the future it just doesn't fit. There would be problem after problem after problem and I believe our Planning Commission staff should have looked a little further into some of those things because it's possible. Almost cater cornered from you is Bishop Marion Jones' church that she left, she's since moved to Turnpike Road but she's getting ready to start a church there again. From my understanding someone is there starting it up now. I'm not against churches in the City of Portsmouth. I don't advocate that there are too many churches in Portsmouth; I look at a situation at a time. It aggrieves me to vote against this but looking at the circumstances it just doesn't fit. I feel comfortable in that position and I'll go so far as to tell you I prayed about it and the Spirit has not led me to be uncomfortable with it because I believe you are way above 812 Washington Street. With your dynamic persona and your capability and what you're going to do, I think we need to find you a bigger and better place so you can stretch out. The use permit says 188 people, even with that you will have to have 2 or 3 services in order to meet that and who from staff is going to insure that it happens. I just ask that you understand. I did not grant your request to meet with you when you asked me to talk with you because, quite frankly, I just wanted to keep my head straight. I prayed about it and I just wanted to make sure that I looked at it from both sides as a Councilman and personally because that's what we do in a lot of matters. I'm comfortable standing in opposition to this and hopefully we can help in some other way. "Y The following is a statement from Councilwoman Randall: First of all, I would like to say that while we tried, in all instances, to abide by what the law as it is interpreted to us by the Attorneys who represent City Council and based on the information that was given to us at the last meeting that we had, I was one who made a special plea to all the many citizens that were seated here for us to do something. It's unfortunate that the information is subject to interpretation as the legal system is. In some courts one thing would go and in others courts it may not go by the same rule. Based on the information that we received, I have to express appreciation to the Planning Department because we look to you to give us the advice on what can and cannot be done based on the rules and ordinances. You are supposed to be our eyes, ears and interpreters of that and we look to you for that guidance. On the other hand we have an attorney that is always present with us when we are in any form of a meeting and his role to give us accurate, current information to help us in making our decisions. I bank upon these people because I, like, maybe some people, do not consider myself to be an expert in many things. Here, I'm a neophyte; when it comes to schooling that's another matter. So I apologize to you because in the recommendation that I made to the group assembled, I made two requests, first, that the two bodies would meet and somehow try to come to some resolve, to iron out your differences. The second request was to check to see what type of parking privileges could be provided should parking be a problem. To ensure that there would not be any discomfort to the neighborhood because at the time I'm thinking harmonious relationship.