THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120468
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Suffolk lawyer Joshua Pretlow Jr. is calling for an investigation into whether the city's planning director refused to take action on an alleged zoning violation by Mayor S. Chris Jones.
Jones, a pharmacist who is building a new pharmacy in a shopping center in the city's Bennetts Creek section, has called Pretlow's complaint ``baseless'' and also has asked that the matter be investigated by Commonwealth's Attorney C. Phillips Ferguson.
Pretlow alleges that Jones' new pharmacy violates the city's zoning code because it is classified as a zero-lot line subdivision - a building whose property line contains no easement and starts where the building begins.
Pretlow alleges this is a violation of the city's zoning code because the building is in a special ``corridor overlay district'' that requires property easements and landscaping.
In a letter dated Oct. 6, Pretlow wrote to city Planning Director Robert A. Baldwin complaining that Baldwin had ``failed and refused to take any action'' on a previous letter accusing the mayor of the zoning violation.
``I have every intention of asking the Commonwealth's Attorney to investigate this complaint by copy of this letter to him,'' Pretlow wrote. ``I hope it will not be necessary to have a criminal complaint filed against you or a grand jury investigation begun.''
Jones and Baldwin both said Tuesday that Pretlow's point is moot. The decision to allow for a zero-lot line subdivision in the shopping center was made in 1992 - less than a year before Jones expressed interest in buying the property, they said.
In addition, Baldwin said, the zero-lot line was approved in 1992 after James G. Vacalis, then director of community development, interpreted how a general business district and a corridor overlay district should mesh. In the end, Vacalis decided to allow a zero-lot line subdivision after requiring easements around the entire shopping complex.
``It simply had to be interpreted,'' Baldwin said. ``As far as I'm concerned, everything that has been done on that property has been done properly. That is the bottom line as far as I'm concerned.''
The skirmish began Aug. 31, when Pretlow notified Baldwin about the alleged violation. Baldwin responded by saying Pretlow could not file a protest because he was not an aggrieved party and did not file within 30 days of the decision, as required by city code.
``My complaint isn't with Chris,'' Pretlow said. ``My complaint is that the department of planning is not enforcing the ordinance. They just refuse to deal with it.''
Pretlow said he requested a ruling on the matter because he recently had a client who was not allowed to do the same thing in another part of the city.
``But yet they allowed the mayor to have a zero clearance on his?'' Pretlow said. ``I don't know. But I haven't been able to get a satisfactory answer as to why the mayor could do it and other people can't.''
Jones said Pretlow's complaint was a ``personal attack'' and that Pretlow's charges have no merit. He said he responded to Pretlow's complaint only because he did not want the planning director's ``reputation of professional integrity and competence to be impugned.''
``While I feel Mr. Pretlow's attack is directed to me personally,'' wrote Jones in a letter to the city attorney, ``I do not want any city employee to be an indirect target.''
Jones has letters showing that the property was zoned for a zero-lot line subdivision in July 1992. Jones expressed interest in buying the property in early 1993, according to a letter from Jones to the property's previous owner.
Commonwealth's Attorney Ferguson said Tuesday that he had just received the letters between Pretlow, Baldwin and Jones.
``I'm not in a position to make any comments on what I am going to do or what I'm not going to do,'' Ferguson said, ``until I find out if this office should even address this.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Suffolk Mayor S. Chris Jones, left, said the zoning complaints made
by Joshua Pretlow Jr., right, a Suffolk lawyer, are ``directed to me
personally.''
by CNB