Budd Baer expansion criticized
Rhonda Dungee said a second lot owned by the Budd Baer car dealership that is adjacent to her home on Erie Street has a tree that is encroaching on her property. She said this and other issues have gone unaddressed.
Mark Baer, owner of Budd Baer, said an alley leading to a storage lot behind the dealership on Murtland Avenue will not be used once improvements are made to the lot. Rhonda Dungee complained to Washington City Council that the alley was being torn up by company vehicles.
Rhonda Dungee of 51 Erie St. stands on the boundary between her property and a parking lot owned by Budd Baer. She said the company’s development of the lot has caused water runoff that floods her yard and garage when it rains.
Mark Baer said his car dealership is simply running out of land to accommodate the 1,200 customers it receives each day.
“I either have to move or expand,” Baer said in his office while explaining plans to enlarge a parking lot behind the Budd Baer dealership on Murtland Avenue in Washington.
But some residents of the Highland-Ridge area criticized the company for “encroaching” on a residential neighborhood and asked city officials why it was being permitted during a nonvoting City Council meeting Monday.
The company owns 23 pieces of property, including small lots, but Baer said the only plan currently is to improve a lot in a general business zone to use for vehicle storage. Rhonda Dungee of 51 Erie St. said the lot is practically in her backyard.
When it rains, it pours, and water runoff from Budd Baer’s lot flows down the hill, through her yard and into her garage, Dungee complained. She said the issue started about two years ago when Budd Baer removed grass from the lot and filled it with gravel.
“Anybody with common sense knows that if you take grass out, you’re going to get flooding,” she said, adding the company used a “quick fix” of installing plastic pipes perforated with holes at the bottom of the lot.
She also complained about a tree encroaching on her yard from an adjacent lot that is also owned by Budd Baer. She said she contacted the company numerous times to address her concerns.
Baer said both the drainage and tree issues will be remedied soon, adding he waited three months to get a permit approved to install a retention pond. He said the lot adjacent to Dungee’s home is residential and too small to be developed, and he has no current plans for that property.
As for the lot behind Dungee’s property, Councilman Ken Westcott said the property is zoned appropriately.
“It’s not in residential,” he said. “It is in general business, so he meets all of the requirements there.”
Residents questioned if that land was ever rezoned from residential to business, and Westcott said he found no changes on maps that date back to 2004 and earlier.
Baer said the company has plans to improve the parking lot “ASAP” by paving it and installing low lighting comparable to “having a moon out.” He said Linn Avenue will be used to access the lot, instead of the narrow alley that is currently being used.
Phyllis Waller, who also lives on Erie Street, said Budd Baer’s business has been expanding for years. But now, residents want “to get ahead of the game” to halt any future development.
“I feel part of the problem is, this is predominantly, and always has been, an African-American neighborhood, and we don’t feel it would be happening if that wasn’t the case,” said Waller, who is president of the local chapter of the NAACP.
David Gatling, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council as a write-in candidate in the May primary, said he asked during the last town hall meeting why Budd Baer was allowed to keep expanding, but “no one could answer that question.”
Baer said he understands why residents may not want to live next to a business, but said he also has no choice.
“We’re selling more cars. We need a place to put them,” he said. “I also understand that if I was living that close to Route 19, and it’s commercial, that those things can happen.”