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Show 'i I t. - - -s li I - " ? , ? - j fc - t 0' r '' i i :rn , , j oo . i J" , f ; - . t j i it, The hotel he wanted to erect, "The China Bridge", would have employed 19 people and included 34 family type hotel rooms, a 70 seat Oriental restaurant, and two small shops. He hoped to build an actual China bridge and a fountain. Everything was to be custom made with Chinese motifs, including hand-cut rock walls and huge doors from San Francisco. Rixey believes part of his problems came from"not doing my homework and preparing people to vote my way." At the time of his efforts, many much larger projects were under consideration consid-eration by the city. Lehmer recalls, "When a big company came, they'd get what they wanted. Everybody Every-body else we'd scrutinize like a spider under a magnifying glass." However, she said that by the time Rixey abandoned his project about three months ago, he'd won most needed city approval. When asked to speculate about the future, Rixey said, "If I were to build in this town, I would build in Prospector Square because its new and the services are already there. We get no write-off for continuing to fight inadequate services on Main Street. There's no tax relief for buildings we keep in repair at cost to ourselves and not the city." Bill Rixey on Main Street. Case Study Lists Development Pitfalls Bill decided that the cost of construction and lot size (27'2 by 75 feet) required a three-story building to be economically feasible. He began work on hotel designs and came up with a 55 foot building. He was told his plan exceeded Main Street height limitations, but claims the ordinance referred to was Master Plan zoning which has still not been passed. The old law allows 60 ft. or four stories. City officials report that builders have been asked to comply with Master Plan stipulations for a couple of years. And the Planning Commission passed "Architectural design crit-teria" crit-teria" which calls for a 50 ft, maximum. Rixey estimates spending $5-8,000 more in work to cut down the ceiling height, to eight feet. He said the original intention was for "old-fashioned ceilings of 12 feet," in keeping with Main Street's historical designation. designa-tion. He estimated it would cost 'A more than usual to "construct old," including extra decor and wood finishes. fin-ishes. Other costs were to be about $1,000 in fire protection protec-tion equipment and the cost , of constrtucting and then camouflaging fire walls. He said a controversy erupted'... when he announced plans for a fire escape (one of the few in town). Some claimed that a fire escape couldn't overhang over-hang a public sidewalk. Anothr major problem was that Rixey could not put a tool shed trailer on his property because of an ordinance against such structures on Main Street. During his unsuccessful attempts at-tempts to get a variance, he counted 22 construction trailers elsewhere in town. Rixey believes that trying to build without an on-site construction shed is extremely extrem-ely expensive, if not impossible. impos-sible. He reported, "I realized there was little to be gained by working further with the city. As one thing was settled, two other things were presented. There is no way I would waste my time trying to build on Main Street, and there's no way to do it economically." A major issue in the recent municipal campaign was the need for Main Street improvements, im-provements, and the special need for construction on Main Street vacant lots. Several candidates endorsed city-fee breaks for those wishing to build on Main, and all agreed that unsightly gaps detract from the town's appearance. Yet several individuals who have wished to construct on Main Street during the past few years have encountered encoun-tered problems they considered con-sidered insurmountable," and have abandoned building projects. Some problems have been alleviated by new policies, clearer ordinances, and the learning process undergone by city officials. Other problems remain. For this reason, it seems relevant to present a case study, a summary of difficulties difficul-ties encountered by one Parkite who spent nearly two years and $26,000 estimated costs, only to abandon his proposed hotel. In August 1973, Bill Rixey futile l.y fought the fire which completely destroyed his Main Street building. The structure, which housed sev eral businesses, shouldn't have been a complete loss, according to its owner. He believes the lack of water, hydrants, and the failure of personnel to acquaint themselves them-selves were partially responsible. respon-sible. Rixey was told he would have to pay a new water hook-up fee and six per cent of the land's value to the city if he wanted to rebuild. Councilmen explain that the six per cent was one of 17 resolutions required of sub-dividers sub-dividers and developers before be-fore the impact fee was adopted. Councilman Mary Lehmer said these were supposedly in the amended subdivision ordinance, but she admitted "This part went by the wayside." Rixey reported he was unable to get the loan he planned to finance the building with, because, "you can't borrow from the government gov-ernment if you don't know how much you're borrowing," borrow-ing," and he couldn't make an accurate prediction because be-cause of city stipulations. Lehmer admitted that city fees at the time were not completely assessed before construction . |
