After finding out that he could not open because of the stay on the Gamble-Longenecker property owing to the neighbors' appeal to the Zoning Board of Appeals, Doug had his lawyer file a motion to have the judge lift the stay on the property so he could operate. From the time a motion is filed to the time it actually sees a courtroom takes a little time, and as it turned out, Doug's court date was scheduled for 12 July 2010, only 2 days before the next scheduled Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.
Since the Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting was scheduled for 14 Jul 2010, the judge decided to let the Zoning Board of Appeals handle it. The stay remained.
The four voting members of the Zoning Board of Appeals were present this time, but Lyle, who is not allowed to vote, was absent. This time, the vote went down 2 to uphold, 2 to overturn. Now they were deadlocked. And since it was still in appeal, the stay remained in place.
Sometime after that, Mr. Longenecker decided to sue Hayes Township, and Mr. Dreyer found an excuse to put the case back in front of Judge Mienk to once again ask him to decide it. This would accomplish several things. It would allow the Township to abdicate its responsibility to take a decision and risk being unpopular with either side of the issue. It would also shield them from further litigation from either side based on the decision. I also think that if the Township could successfully pass that buck to the judge, then based on the judge's decision, there might be no need for the actions of the Township to be scrutinized in a courtroom.
Back to the courtroom for Round 3. Mr. Longenecker's lawyer took the opportunity to ask the judge to lift the stay. The judge declined to lift the stay. He also declined to hear it again until the Township had exhausted all of their options for taking a decision. He told them to make sure they have a quorum and to consider the appeal. Once again the ball was back in Hayes Township's court.
On 24 Aug 2010, Judge Mienk met with all the lawyers. Apparently, this was a required meeting. From all accounts, Judge Mienk indicated to Mr. Dreyer that the Township should perhaps add members to the Zoning Board of Appeals to better obtain a quorum and a simple majority to decide matters before them. That set Mr. Dreyer, a committee of one, in motion composing amendments to Sections 1501-1503 of the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance.
Meanwhile, the stay remained in place.
Mr. Longenecker had a problem. He had an upcoming Polaris WOTT training event scheduled on the Moto Mania property, but what to do about the stay? First he tried to get Jim VanWormer to lift the stay. Jim, who was very good at passing the buck, (a self-preservation move) told Mr. Longenecker that he couldn't lift the stay because of the court order. I think Jim was not sure at this point, to be honest, but passing it off as a court order absolved him of the responsibility for doing something that might tweak his Township bosses.
I don't think there was a court ordered stay so much as the judge let stand the stay that was put in place by the appeal to the Zoning Board of Appeals. The Special Use With Restrictions is, after all, still in appeal, so since the judge is inclined to let the Township business pertaining to this issue run its course before he steps in, it stands to reason that he left the stay in place as is. Apparently, that is too hard for the Township and their lawyer to wrap their heads around.
Doug's car was seen parked all day the Friday (27 Aug 2010) before the Polaris WOTT Training at a Planning Commission member's house, no doubt trying to figure out how to circumvent the system. On Sunday, 29 Aug 2010, the Polaris trucks showed up and pulled into Moto Mania. On Monday, 30 Aug 2010, the event was held. Members of the Planning Commission and the community, as well as Polaris employees, attended the event. And photos of the event were presented by the neighbors to Jim VanWormer, who then got in touch with Mr. Dreyer.
Apparently, this event has sparked Mr. Dreyer to ask for Courtroom Round 4, which does not take place until 20 Oct 2010. My understanding is that this date is for the judge to clarify for everyone the parameters of the stay.
I think there are several reasons for this. If Mr. Dreyer can put this in front of the judge again, there is a chance, however slight that the judge will decide something with regard to the Special Use With Restrictions on the Gamble-Longenecker property. Once again, if Mr. Dreyer can get the judge to decide this, then the corruption of the Board Of Trustees and the Planning Commission will not have to be dissected in the courtroom.
What the Township has is a law they don't want to enforce. I believe that they are only enforcing it because we, the neighbors are relentless in pursuing our cause and won't let them off the hook. They also want to see if there are any loopholes to exploit to avoid enforcing their own ordinance. Mr. Dreyer seems to be good at finding those. If the judge provides the loophole, he'll be all over it for his client, the Township.
Mr. Dreyer wants the judge to decide if the Polaris Sponsored event was a violation of the stay. After all, as Genine Hopkins of the Cleaver pointed out in her article about the Polaris WOTT Training several times, in case anyone missed it the first time, "no money exchanged hands." So the rationalization is that since Polaris ran their training event gratis, and Mr. Longenecker "donated" the use of the land, it was not in violation of the stay.
I would argue that it furthers the cause of Moto Mania and its Special Use as a Motor Sports Park so it does indeed violate the stay. If it doesn't, it bends the law until it screams. And it definitely skirts the spirit and intent of the law if not the letter.
The Township's elected and appointed officials have shown by their actions their willingness to ignore the laws that don't fit their agenda. Mr. Longenecker also has no qualms about skirting the law. I hope the judge does not reward this kind of behavior.
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