Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Church awaits decision on home
Unwed moms' facility at issue
BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MONROE — Solid Rock Church should know in a few weeks whether arguments before an appellate court Monday were successful for the church's battle to build a home for pregnant, unwed teen-agers on a site near the church.
The church on Union Road has been seeking to build the Darlene Bishop Home for about two years.
An Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals three-judge panel heard oral arguments in the case Monday, said C. Francis Barrett, attorney for the church.
“At the conclusion of the arguments, Presiding Judge Stephen W. Powell said the court was taking the matter under advisement and nobody should assume how the court may rule based upon the questions the judges asked the attorneys,” Mr. Barrett said.
Decisions typically take two to eight weeks, he said.
The nondenominational church initially announced its plans for the home in May 1998, and wanted to start the $1 million, 16,000-square-foot home for 30 pregnant teens that summer. Many proposals, including calling it a motel, have been rejected by the city. Neighbors Jay and Helen Frick have opposed the plans.
Monday's hearing was on the church's appeal of the August 1999 decision by Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Keith Spaeth, affirming a Monroe Board of Zoning Appeals decision. That decision denied the church's request to build the home under the conditional-use permit the church was granted in 1985 when the church structure was built on the 60-acre site in Monroe.
City officials say the home is not a church, that the 1985 permit did not provide for the home, and that the Board of Zoning Appeals has the discretion to interpret the code and deny the use.
“That was upheld in the common pleas court, and the judge interpreted the decision of the BZA as being the right one,” said Don Whitman, Monroe city manager. “I would hope the appellate court upholds that.”
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