NEW PALESTINE — A businessman has dropped his lawsuit against the town’s board of zoning appeals after a months-long fight to secure a variance for an event center the board had twice rejected.
Ron Adams said it’s time to move on: “We gave it a try, but there was no way we were going to change their minds.”
The BZA voted two times on the issue, first rejecting Adams’ request for a variance in October 2020 and then again in June. Adams and his wife, Tamey Adams, who own the event center on Main Street and the nearby Round the Corner Grill, filed a lawsuit that accused the BZA of violating state law after the original vote in October. They questioned the legality of the vote because it was recorded by secret ballot, and they also accused a BZA member of a conflict of interest. That member, the Adamses argued, should have abstained from the vote because a relative had been one of the most vocal critics of the assembly hall proposal.
As the case was making its way through the court system, the BZA agreed to vote on the matter again. The board replaced the member whose impartiality had been questioned and announced their votes vocally, addressing two of the Adamses’ complaints. But, the result of the second vote was the same, denying Adams the zoning he needed to run the assembly hall-type business.
The Adamses said they had invested $110,000 in the building at 121 E. Main St. The couple had been holding events there for years without proper town approval. They were seeking to formalize a variance after the town received complaints about noise.
Adams filed a motion after the second vote to collect a transcript of the proceedings, giving the BZA until the end of June to respond to his complaint. However, Adams said it didn’t make much sense to keep fighting for something he likely had no chance of winning.
“I’ve already got enough money invested into this, and I just didn’t want to spend any more,” Adams said.
Adams anticipates the family will be putting the event center property up for sale within the next couple of months. He said he understands people living in the area not wanting the business to grow despite him using the building as a gathering spot for events in the past without issue.
“We just weren’t up to date with all their codes and that’s something we got done, but it didn’t matter,” Adams said. “It’s frustrating because we had been there for 20 years operating with no problem.”
The lawsuit, which is still open in Hancock County Circuit Court, is expected to be dismissed soon. A status conference was canceled in late August, and a continuance was filed as Adams pondered his options.
The town council late last week authorized the attorney representing the BZA to enter into dismissal proceedings.
“We’re thankful that the litigation is being dismissed,” said Bill Niemier, the town council president. “It’s unfortunate it was filed in the first place.”
Niemier noted the BZA has the authority to make decisions it thinks are best for the town, and that’s what they did on two separate occasions.
“The likelihood of this being reversed on an appeal was very slim,” Niemier said.
