NEW PALESTINE — The New Palestine Board of Zoning Appeals has voted 5-0 against changing zoning in town to allow for an assembly hall.
It’s the second time the board has given a thumbs down on the proposal. The first vote, held Oct. 21, 2020, was 4-1 against the petition. That vote was challenged in court, and the BZA agreed to vote on the matter again.
Even though the board replaced a member whose impartiality had been challenged, the result was basically the same.
The latest vote appears to leave Ron Adams, a business owner who had sought to use a building in downtown New Palestine as an event center, with dwindling options.
Adams and his wife, Tamey Adams, who own Round the Corner Grill, 19 S. Bittner Road, filed a lawsuit and accused the BZA of violating state law after the October vote. They also accused the member of a conflict of interest. That member, the Adamses argued, should have abstained from the first vote because a relative had been one of the most vocal critics of the assembly hall proposal.
The couple’s attorney, John Merlau, also said the board violated the state’s Open Door Law when it conducted a secret vote.
For the most recent vote, held Thursday, June 17, each board member read their vote aloud at the end of the meeting.
The Adamses said they have invested $110,000 in the building at 121 E. Main St. and sought to change its zoning status from “storage” to an “assembly hall.” The couple had been holding events there for some time without proper town approval. They were seeking to formalize a variance after the town received complaints about noise.
A motion was filed by Adams after the meeting to collect a transcript of the latest happenings, giving the BZA until the end of June to respond to his complaint.
If Adams elects to continue the lawsuit, his likely only chance at success would be for the judge in the case, Scott Sirk of Hancock County Circuit Court, to substitute his opinion for the BZA’s most recent decision.
Bill Niemier, president of New Palestine Town Council, a real estate attorney who handles zoning cases and who also is a judge pro tem in Marion County, noted it’s highly unlikely for a trial court judge to overrule a local board decision.
“It was a fair meeting and vote by the BZA,” said Niemier, who attended the BZA meeting.
