For the week of December 18 - 23, 2002

Bellevue mayor 
comes under fire

Zoning compliance of 
developments questioned

---

By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

A former mayor of Bellevue last week demanded that the City Council investigate whether five houses developed for sale by Mayor John Barton are compliant with the city’s zoning ordinance.

Monte Brothwell, who has served as mayor and on the Bellevue City Council, issued a letter to the council Thursday that claimed Barton has unfairly benefited from building and selling single-family homes that do not include the mandated number of off-street parking spaces.

The letter was read into the public record by Councilman Wayne Douthit during the onset of Thursday’s City Council meeting. The document immediately sparked a debate among council members as to whether the panel should be asked to review a matter that might normally be addressed by the city building inspector.

At issue are five houses in central Bellevue that the mayor and his wife Janet Barton in the last year have sold or prepared to sell.

Brothwell last week asserted that two of the homes which sold last summer provided no off-street parking, and thereby violate city regulations that require certain homes to have two off-street parking spaces. In addition, Brothwell said that three other homes being completed for sale also have inadequate off-street parking.

Brothwell said the city’s parking requirements are arbitrarily enforced, and should apply to all residents, including the mayor.

"At this point I feel the council needs to address this discriminatory practice," he noted in the letter. "There should be an immediate letter sent to the developer to abide by the ordinance that anybody else has to."

In the letter, Brothwell apologized for not being able to attend the meeting and requested that Barton remove himself from the discussion of the matter.

Barton declined to leave as Douthit read the letter.

Brothwell’s letter immediately drew strong statements from Council President Parke Mitchell, who suggested that the issue was an inappropriate matter to be brought before the council.

"I get the sense this is sort of a personal vendetta against the mayor," Mitchell said.

Councilman Douthit said he believed the questions raised by Brothwell were legitimate. "It concerns me," he said.

Mitchell added that he thought city staff, not the council, should handle the matter. "I don’t think it belongs in this room," he said.

Councilwoman Tammy Schofield issued a motion that the matter be tabled while an investigation is conducted to determine if proper procedures were followed in the development of the homes. The motion was seconded by Councilman Jon Anderson, and was immediately approved by the panel.

After the meeting, Mitchell reiterated that he believes the council should not handle the matter. "I think this is a matter that should be settled by the building official or the Planning Department," he said.

However, Barton on Monday said he thought the council should participate in the review of the situation.

"It is my understanding that Monte was asking the council to apply additional scrutiny to the developments," Barton said. "As an elected official, I welcome that additional scrutiny. I think it would be appropriate for the council to look at."

Later in Thursday’s meeting, during a discussion of whether the council should approve a new set of modified parking requirements for various types of developments in the city, a second—and considerably longer—letter submitted by Brothwell angered Mitchell and Councilman Jon Wilkes.

In that letter Brothwell asserted that a new proposed parking ordinance submitted by the Planning and Zoning Commission could potentially hurt business.

"I find it laborious, tenuous, and a few other words," Wilkes said.

With the panel ultimately divided over the plan, council members voted 4-2 to continue the discussion at a future meeting.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.