Interesting rezoning case in Winston-Salem that is going to cost a property owner —and maybe the city —both time and money:
Officials will be asking the owner of a house in Ardmore to turn the dwelling into the single-family residence that it was many years ago, following a 6-1 vote Monday night by the Winston-Salem City Council to turn down the owner’s rezoning request.
Bradley Kelly, the owner of the house at 617 Brent St., said after the vote that he would consult an attorney and could file a lawsuit against the city. Kelly, who bought the property in 2008, had asked the council to rezone it so that he could continue to use it as the duplex he thought it was when he bought it.
It’s not clear from the Journal article exactly who brought it to the city’s attention that the house was not zoned properly—the owner himself or the neighbors who filed the protest petition, which requires a supermajority. It was a moot point anyway given the 6-1 vote, with the lone ‘no’ vote cast by council member Derwin Montgomery, who said— according to the Journal— “that better procedures need to be in place for detecting a zoning problem.” Indeed.
Following the vote the owner said —imagine this — he would consult an attorney and consider filing a lawsuit against the city.
