BZA puts off vote on trailer

DUNKIRK - Several residents showered city officials with questions and complaints Saturday over a proposal to re-locate a mobile home in their neighborhood.

Meeting for the first time in more than a year, Dunkirk Zoning Board of Appeals members had scheduled a public hearing on a request by Irwin Fields to replace an mobile home with a newer model on property at 320 E. Ohio St. in an R-3 (residential) district.

Irwin had already removed the older mobile home and the lot is now vacant. The previous mobile home was permitted because it was in place when Dunkirk zoning was adopted in 1983. Placing a new mobile home at the site will require a special exception from the Dunkirk BZA.

Most of the residents at Saturday morning's meeting voiced objections to that idea, but no final decision was reached after city officials and residents agreed that proper notification of nearby property owners was not completed.

Former Dunkirk councilman and city plan commission member Bill Blankenbaker said certified letters had never been sent to nearby property owners, as required by the city's own zoning regulations.

"This meeting is illegal. You didn't send out certified ... letters. Don't you read your own rules?" Blankenbaker asked.

Blankenbaker said he had been on the city plan commission for many years, and "I've never seen anything like this," referring to the failure to send out letters and the fact that Dunkirk Mayor Ron Hunt was chairing the meeting.

There was also confusion about the starting time for the meeting, which in a legal advertisement was set for 10 a.m. Some residents showed up one hour early on Saturday.

Responding to Blankenbaker's comments, Hunt said, "We'll have to postpone this meeting and send out certified letters."

The meeting was also attended by zoning board members Keith Bullock, Daniel Willoughby and Robert Johnson, as well as the city's part-time zoning administrator, D.J. Cassell.

Before the meeting was adjourned, several members of the audience raised concerns about how granting this request might set a bad precedent and about nepotism - as both Johnson and Cassell are sons-in-law of the mayor, and both of them were appointed to their positions by Hunt.

As in the case above, several times during the meeting, discussions veered off the agenda topic which Hunt described at the beginning as: "This board is here to say yes or no, if he (Fields) can do it."

Fields said Saturday his intent was to replace the previous trailer with a newer model.

Former Dunkirk city councilman Dan Watson said that the only special exception to the mobile home code that he could recall, was granted to allow a resident to place a mobile home near that resident's house so the resident could use it to be closer to a relative who needed special care. But that is not the case here, Watson said.

"Either you've got to stop them or allow them," Watson told the group, pointing out that you can't differentiate between the mobile homes or trailers you think look nice and other ones.

Dunkirk resident Jim Miskinis said that persons who purchase trailers should understand they have to be put in properly zoned areas. "I can't build a house in the middle of Main Street - that would be stupid," he said, pointing out that zoning codes are needed to prevent these sort of things from happening.

As the discussion continued to ramble and heat up, Hunt said that he would consult with Dunkirk city attorney Bill Hinkle prior to scheduling a time for another public hearing. Hinkle was not present at Saturday morning's session.

Meanwhile, local resident Dorothy Mays said that, "This meeting has turned into something besides what it was supposed to be."[[In-content Ad]]