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CITYSCAPE: Bella Vista mural battle heads to ZBA (UPDATED)
Neighborhood organizers face off against a developer who wants to build a house that will cover a beloved mural. "There's a good possibility it could be painted over and you don't know when that could happen," the developer's lawyer says.
CITYSCAPE: Bella Vista mural battle heads to ZBA (UPDATED)
Things are about to get ugly in Bella Vista, where a scuffle over a planned rowhouse that would cover up the "Autumn" mural is headed to the city's Zoning Board of Adjustments. Neighbor and Bella Vista Town Watch member Joel Palmer says he has raised $250,000 to purchase the lot, at Ninth and Bainbridge, from concerned neighbors to purchase the property, currently owned by developer Jim McIlhenny paid for it less than two months ago. However, the builder's lawyer, David Orphanides, says the sale price would have to be closer to $600,000, given the cost of the investment and the projected profit. "You might as well ask for $1 million," says Palmer.
Orphanides and neighbors have also exchanged words over the possibility that the developer — who Orphanides says feels "set upon" — could paint over the mural pre-emptively. "It's on his property," says Orphanides. "There's a good possibility that it oculd be painted over and you don't know when that could happen. It oculd be tomorrow. It could be today."
More than 400 neighbors have signed a petition to stop the construction, and Palmer expects 25 to 50 to come to the meeting and testify. ZBA hearings are at 1515 Arch St., 18th floor, and this one kicks off at 2 p.m. on Oct. 19.
Importantly though, the property is zoned residential and as such could be built upon even without a zoning variance, Orphanides says. So, even if the ZBA declines the variance request, McIlhenny could pursue construction following a different building plan.
I love that mural. My favorite in the city. But I hate parking lots, and arbitrary zoning laws, a lot more than I love that mural. This is a stupid perversion of both the mural arts program and the zoning board.— tsarstruck
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