Hawthorne may strike deal with Campen

More than three months after Ben Campen requested that a 2.64 acre parcel of land be rezoned to commercial, the Hawthorne commission may finally have ironed out a plan to satisfy Campen and nearby residents.

The property, which fronts State Road 20, is owned by Campen and is currently divided into six vacant lots, which are all zoned as “residential single family,” according to city records.

According to Campen, who had the subdivision annexed into the city and helped develop it in 1975, his land was originally zoned for commercial use. Campen said that he never had the property rezoned and that it was a scrivener’s error that caused the zoning of the land to be changed from commercial to residential.

Campen said that the change in zoning has devalued his property and violated his rights as a property owner.

“I am simply trying to take something that was wronged and make it right,” Campen said in a Sept. 7 commission meeting.

Campen even has tax records which he says prove he’s been paying commercial taxes on the parcel.  Residents of the Ashley Oaks subdivision, located behind the parcel, have said they don’t want the commission to rezone the parcel.

Several property owners voiced concerns about how allowing businesses to locate there would create more traffic and compromise the safety of the residents and their children.

By Tuesday night’s commission meeting, Campen was ready to hand the land over to the city.  But that didn’t come without its own set of issues.

Campen insisted that the agreement to donate the property would need to be signed by the end of this year so he could take the tax deduction for the 2010 tax year.

The property also includes a billboard which is owned by a separate company and Campen said would remain on the property.  That caused some commissioners to raise concerns as to the legal ramifications of the city owning a site with a privately controlled billboard.

Moreover, under the agreement offered by Campen, the city would acknowledge that the parcel he was donating to the city was a commercial one.  Campen’s concern was that if he donated the property and was then audited, having any records which show the property as anything but “commercial” could create issues in determining the value.

Several commissioners said they were not prepared to accept the property with the condition that they acknowledge it as a commercial site since the city’s zoning maps have no historical reference to that site having been designated commercial.

After an hour and a half of back and forth debate over the matter, commissioners and city staffers suggested that the city could conduct a second public hearing for the pending rezoning sought in September and approve the site as commercial.  During the same meeting, and after that approval, the city could then enter into the agreement to take the donation from Campen.

Commissioners scheduled a special meeting for Dec. 28 at 6:30 p.m. to take up the matter.