City threatens owner of car lot with permit revocation
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
In no uncertain terms Tuesday night, the City of Burlington plan commission made it clear that Jeff Way – and his business at 1157 Milwaukee Ave. – was down to its last chance.
“My feeling is that we’ve played enough with this,” said Mayor Bob Miller at the city’s Plan Commission meeting Tuesday night. “Revoke it. Be done with it.”
But in the next breath, Miller acknowledged that if the city could avoid court action – and as a result, costly legal fees – one last warning to Way would be the way to go, and the commission approved that action.
The lone nay vote to the proposal to let this last chance stand came from commission member John Lynch.
The commission discussed the situation with Way and his used-vehicle business at the former TSC store next to Shroat’s Flooring Center for about a half hour Tuesday night, and all agreed that Way’s business was a community eyesore.
“I think that the history shows that he doesn’t want to follow the rules,” said Lynch. “It’s not going to be a retail outlet.”
Way applied for a conditional use permit for the site as a B-1 zoned business district in April 2007. His stated use for the ground was for car sales and service, and he received conditional approval from the Plan Commission on June 12, 2007.
However, since then, many of the conditions of the approval haven’t been met.
The city apparently communicated the various problems with Way, who, according to Miller, spent time “thumbing his nose” at the various complaints, which included outdoor storage that wasn’t outlined in the conditional use permit, as well as barbed wire fencing that was supposed to be removed.
There was supposed to be a maximum of 85 vehicles on the lot, but Way had been exceeding that until the last week – when the threat of revoking permit came to light.
The commission conceded that Way had begun to comply with the orders from the city, and apparently all but two vehicles were removed from the front of the land by Tuesday. Those two remained as a crude security system to keep people from opening the front doors of the building.
However, as much as members of the commission believed Way had been given enough chances, they also felt taking him to court to revoke the permit and guarantee compliance with the city orders wasn’t feasible.
Attorney John Hotvedt said that Way is complying now with what the city wants, and plans to come back in 120 days to apply for a new conditional use permit that he can completely comply with.
“I can’t contradict some of the history,” Hotvedt conceded. “What I can do … is make sure we follow through with this.
“You’ve got his attention now.”
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