Councilwoman Campbell Responds To Jerry Black Referencing Forbes Hall & Dave Suiter

Mr. Black –

I have profound respect for veterans and the sacrifices that they and their families have made to defend our country and our rights. My family has a long history of military service. My father served in the Army, my father-in-law was a Navy officer, my uncle served in Korea, and his brother flew missions over Germany. My son-in-law is a decorated Marine, having served two tours in Iraq. Many of my friends are veterans; some lost their lives serving our country. As a child, my classmates and I packed “care packages” for soldiers in Viet Nam. I have sent packages to soldiers in the Gulf War and Iraq. This year, I visited veterans at a local nursing home on Veteran’s Day with members of DAR to pay my respect.

The veterans that I know hold dear the laws of our country (and its municipalities). Those who I have spoken to regarding the issues related to the property at 505 Collins St. understand and respect that this is a zoning issue. The owner of the property applied for and received a permit to build a single-story, single-family home, as is permitted by law in an area zoned R-5.

Apparently, without proper authority and in violation of the zoning code (the law) a building was constructed for a purpose that is not permitted by law. According to officials in the Building Permits & Inspections Office, Mr. St. Fleur, the owner of the property was informed of this many times, including prior to applying for his permit. His application clearly states that he is building a single-family home, which is permitted in the R-5 district.

In addition to having great respect for veterans, I have great respect for the law. I have explored other options for allowing a veteran’s home to operate at 505 Collins St., without putting the city’s zoning code at risk for those who have lawfully occupied their properties. Since 505 Collins is not contiguous to any other properties that are zoned as anything other than R-5 single-family, and because spot-zoning is illegal, I have been told that those approaches are not possible. If you listen to the audio of the work session where this was discussed you will also hear the cautions of the city attorney. You can access the file at http://www.onyoursidesby.blogspot.com/ .

Perhaps you had not fact checked when you wrote your letter. I am validating my assertions by attaching copies of the permitting documents, which I obtained yesterday from the Building Permits and Inspections Department. These are public records. Perhaps you would like to go and view them yourself.

Additionally, I would like to know how you have reached the conclusion that I have had any involvement, in any way, associated with inspections of Mr. St. Fleur’s properties since the claim is categorically false.

I did suggest that Councilwoman Shields not participate in reaching consensus on the matter since she has a financial relationship with Mr. St. Fleur, which could be construed by the public as a conflict of interest. He is her landlord, a fact about which she has been vocal. There have been times when I have not participated in votes in order to avoid the risk or perception by the public that a conflict of interest could exist. This was, and still is, an appropriate request.

A portion of the letter that you distributed could be construed to encourage harmful acts “consequences” to be initiated against me or my family. This is very inappropriate and could be viewed as a threat. I am simply upholding my oath of office and the laws of our city.

As for your assertion that your letter was not intended to be made public is curious in light of the comments that you were making while circulating your petition at the festival this weekend.

You appear to be so intent upon locating your facility at 505 Collins St. that you may not be concerned that the building itself has been built in violation of the law. Nor, do you seem to understand the potential consequences to the integrity of the city’s zoning code that the city attorney has cautioned about.

Personalities must be removed from these matters. This is about zoning and the law. This is not much different than when a drug store chain wanted the zoning changed so that it could expand an existing commercial parcel into a residential area. The difference is that they asked and were told “no” before they proceeded in violation of the law. From all that I can ascertain from city officials and the official record (documents in the file), Mr. St. Fleur was fully aware of the zoning limitations on his building lot, yet still pursued a use not permitted by law. He can still use the structure as a single-family home. Salisbury can still have a veterans facility, but one that is located in one of the many zones where higher occupancy use is permitted by law.

Sincerely.

Debbie Campbell
Member, Salisbury City Council

From: Jerry Black [mailto:jrblack@natra7.org?] Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 7:49 PMTo: alberobutzo@wmconnect.comCc: Terry@TerryCohen.com; debbiescampbell@comcast.net; 'James Ireton'Subject: Forbes Hall Importance: High


Mr. Albero

I would like to ask that this email be placed in your blog upon receipt.


Please allow me to apologize to your readers, Council Women Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen regarding the email that was published in your blog yesterday titled, “We Need All Hands On Deck.” The email in question was actually not to be released to the public at large but I failed to make that part known to my team. It was an internal email sent out to supporters and team members who are working hard to bring the first veteran transitional residential reintegration program to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Unfortunately and as will happen over highly charged issues such as this veterans program the email which I should have never written upon reflection made its way to Mr. David Suiter. I don’t blame him for his response he was acting on a very limited amount of information that by itself was taken out of context.

I can only ask your readers and to those whom this email has been addressed for their understanding...I am sure they too have all said things behind closed doors that would be very difficult if not impossible to explain if they got out in full or in part to the public...Add in the stress, resources and long hours that it takes to bring such a program to the area and well this time around I am the one with mud on my face.

I know that your readers have many questions regarding me, our proposed veterans program and my organization NATRA. Forbes Hall is a veteran education, training and service center and hopefully will be the first program of its kind serving veterans on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. If our proposed Text Amendment that was unanimously passed last month by the Planning and Zoning Committee gets the thumbs up at the City Council Vote next month it will be the culmination of almost two years of work and worry.

Therefore I am encouraging everyone who is interested in learning more about this issue to please attend the City Council Public Hearing on May 10th. There in full disclosure these questions can be addressed and the issues clearly defined.

Again I am very sorry and embarrassed over this situation...I pray that the discussion can move forward on the merits of this proposed veteran program and the issue of the zoning text amendment that we are bringing before the City Council.

Thank you,

Revealing the wholeness of you,

Jerry R Black
Executive Director
NATRA Inc.

EDITORS NOTE: Be sure to look at out 9:59 AM Post showing the questionable documents involving this matter. Here is the Audio File from the work session referencing this matter.