Thursday, June 17, 1999
Drive-in heading to court
Butler opposes adding screen
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HANOVER TOWNSHIP — The newest drama at Butler County's only drive-in theater will be in the courtroom instead of on the big screen.
After being rebuffed twice by county zoning authorities, Fred Baum, owner of the Holiday Auto Theater in Hanover Township, has decided to wage a court battle for the right to add a second screen that would show movies on both sides.
The Butler County Zoning Board of Appeals rejected on Tuesday Mr. Baum's second request for a zoning variance that would allow him to add a screen. He had made some changes in his architectural plans after the board turned down his first request in May.
“They're, in essence, denying us the right to make a living,” Mr. Baum said Wednesday.
Operating for 51 years
Mr. Baum said he will pursue a lawsuit that he filed in Butler County Common Pleas Court after the zoning board rejected his first request.
The Holiday, one of the few drive-ins in Greater Cincinnati, has been operating on a hilltop on Old Oxford Road for 51 years. Since buying the drive-in four years ago, Mr. Baum has spent more than $500,000 to improve the facility.
When the zoning appeals board rejected the first plan, its members said the new screen would be a distraction to motorists and would create too much traffic and noise for two houses on either side of the drive-in.
Existing screen visible
Mr. Baum said he addressed those concerns in the second plan he submitted to the zoning board of appeals.
“You would really have a hard time seeing the new screen from the road,” he said. “Besides, the existing screen has been visible from the road for 51 years, and it has never caused one iota of a problem.”
But safety is still a concern, said Steve Soltis, county building and zoning administrator.
He also said the board could possibly accept the second plan while a lawsuit is pending on the first plan.
The drive-in is permitted to operate in a residential area because the business was there long before the zoning came into effect. But Mr. Baum has to go to the zoning appeals board for a building permit because adding screens is considered an expansion of the business.
Mr. Baum said he does not understand why the county is fighting a vestige of America's past that draws customers from several states.
“We want to put up a couple of screens to keep a piece of history alive,” he said. “We've spent a small fortune to turn this place into something nice.”
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