Common Roots - Housing cooperative that has been working on renovating one property on South Main Street since October of 2018.
Common Players - You'll see familiar names and faces as members of Common Roots, Vote for Meadville, Crawford County United, PA United, NW PA Investment Cooperative, Environmental Advisory Committee, Meadville Neighborhood Center, and even Allegheny College. If you think we're kidding, just look into it.
Some key players though;
Start looking into these individuals and their involvement and you'll see what we're saying. We would be here all day if we start to pull every single connection to show you. In case you weren't aware though, Julie Wilson is the wife of Joe Tompkins. We all know the connections and control that he has.
Recalcitrance - Unwilling to obey orders or do what should be done. You'll find out why we chose that word once you finish reading.
Now, back to the point of this piece. We've received a few messages asking us what Common Roots is up to with their variance request. If you're unfamiliar with this, here is the posting from The Meadville Tribune;
In short, the floodplain management ordinance, which is basically a law in the city, states that if you make a substantial amount of improvements to the property, you must comply with all of the current codes and ordinances. Common Roots does not want to fill in their basement at 1189-1191 S Main Street and bring it at or above the floodplain elevation.
What some of you may not recall, or be aware of, is that Common Roots made this exact same request in May 2020. That request was denied, and we know that because we have the hearing recording. We also know they wouldn't make the request again, had it been approved.
Let's explore just a little bit of that hearing. In total, the hearing lasted about an hour. It started with Doug Lodge, the project manager, giving some insight into the project. Common Roots attorney, Brian Cagle, then asked some follow-up questions. After that, the zoning hearing board was given an opportunity to ask questions. Here are just a few key moments.
Estimated project cost of $250,000 if they hired everything out, or $100,000 if they can get mostly volunteer labor. If you're familiar with real estate investing, which is what Common Roots is trying to do, it's generally not great to invest more than a property is ever going to be worth.
"Now this is a fault here."
What really is the hardship that they are requesting a variance for?
"The hardship is not the ordinance, the hardship is the cost to you to comply with the law."
Does creating your own hardship grant you a variance on the ordinance?
So what was the vote at the end?
Their variance request did not pass. Meaning that in May 2020 they were told they need to comply with the floodplain management ordinance. After 3 years, they are yet again requesting a variance. Meaning, they have yet to comply with the order of the law and again want to be given a pass on compliance.
But wait, there's more....
If you pull up the GIS mapping you can see if there are any permits that were approved. As of writing this, there are none showing and none posted on the property. However, during a drive-by of the Common Roots property last week we found something interesting. Work inside technically can't be seen, however, the dirt that they are adding to the backyard area is quite visible from the road behind their property.
This could be construed as a violation of the Floodplain Management Ordinance; https://www.codepublishing.com/PA/Meadville/#!/Meadville13/Meadville1370.html
Which states that any construction in a floodplain designated area, shall first obtain a permit.
But also, it's a little funny that they don't want to fill the basement, but are seemingly filling in their backyard. Different process of course, but you'd think in the 3 years time since the denial of the original variance request that they would have been able to find the funding to fill the basement. Especially considering all of the donations and grants that they have been recipients of.
Just taking line item 1 from all forms and adding it together;
$66,725+$15,893+$33,788+$44,048=$160,454. This is pretty in line with the amount they list on their website;
Lest we forget the $125,000 they received last year. This bringing the total contributions, donations and grants to $285,454.
And, the cherry on top is Julie getting a $12,000 grant to document the whole thing;
Let's make sure our non-profits are held to the same standards, and abide by the same rules as the rest of us. Creating your own financial hardship should not negate you from complying with the law.
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