Ruling on former convent expected
A Washington County judge is expected to rule next month on whether a developer may convert the former nuns convent in Washington into a boarding house for Marcellus Shale workers.
Judge Katherine Emery listened to oral arguments Thursday afternoon from lawyers representing both the developer, Phive Starr Properties, and city officials over whether or not Washington’s zoning ordinance excludes boarding houses and should be deemed illegal.
Her opinion that is expected to be handed down in late January will put an end to a contentious battle after Robert Starr purchased the North Franklin Street property in from his business partners earlier this year and spearheaded the redevelopment plans.
He said he plans to renovate the aging building that formerly housed nuns across from Immaculate Conception Parish, and rent out temporary rooms to 28 tenants.
“It really was a blighted structure and remained that way,” said Harlan Stone represented Starr during the hearing. “My client came in and saw it as an opportunity.”
“It’s an interesting concept on what to do with that building,” Emery said at the conclusion of the 30-minute hearing.
But Starr and his lawyers have faced a yearlong fight ever since city council rejected his request in February to amend the zoning ordinance. Council later denied the developer’s validity challenge brought forward by Starr over the summer after his attorneys claimed the ordinance was “defective” and needed to be updated because it omitted certain uses.
Stone argued the boarding house would become a multi-family dwelling and be similar to an apartment complex, which should be permitted as a residential use in the city’s business improvement district.
“Just because they’re being charged for housing doesn’t change the fact they’re still residential,” Stone said.
The city’s solicitor, Jack Cambest, said it would function more like a commercial structure because of the temporary stays of residents sleeping there. He added the plans put forward by the developer are significantly different than a bed and breakfast that would only have a few people staying in a house at any given time.
“I think we can agree that we don’t have any dispute of the facts … and the property itself,” Cambest said. “There’s substantial evidence that we’re not exclusionary even though we don’t have a definition for it.”
Emery will either affirm the city’s ruling or overturn it, forcing Washington officials to amend their zoning ordinance and allow the convent’s developer to locate a boarding house at the site.