S.C. council debates Schenley Park condos

South Charleston Council debated giving a zoning exemption to adeveloper who wants to build a condominium in Schenley Park.

The city's planning board recently voted to change the park'szoning to only allow single-family homes.

But an exemption was extended to developer J.D. Strickland, whoowns property in the area and wants to build condominiums.

Councilman Butch Buckley, who has lived in Schenley Park for 24years, argued against the move, saying the condominium would addcongestion to the area.

"You're going to have four new families with potentially 16 newcars up there," said Buckley, who was the lone vote against theproposal. "A man, a wife, and two teenagers. It's a single lane roadup that hill. There's only a two-inch water line, and the closestfire hydrant is down the hill."

"That isn't necessarily true," said Councilman Ben Paul.

"Do all of your children have cars?" asked Buckley.

"From a legal standpoint we have to be clear," said Paul.

"If you let him build apartments, you have to let me," saidBuckley. "You can't discriminate. I've been there since 1982, and Ibought it because it was nice and quiet. There's only been one housebuilt there since 1977 as far as I can remember."

Mayor Richie Robb said the dispute is likely to continue.

"There may be litigation no matter who prevails," Robb said.

South Charleston Council passed a resolution to recognize thecontributions of CareCall.com, a service that calls subscribers everyday to check on their well-being.

The resolution passed without comment Thursday night.

The service costs $19.95 a day normally, but is being offered toSouth Charleston residents at half price.

"If we can't reach that person, we call the next one," saidsalesman Butch Evans in his presentation last month. "If we can'treach someone, we call manually. If we don't get a response, we call911."

"I think this plan could be very viable and useful for manypeople. I like the program," said Councilman Ben Paul last month.

"There's a lot of people that can't afford (other services at) 30bucks a month," said Councilman "Sonny" Holstine last month. "At 10bucks a month, people can afford this."