Service Documents

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Just a few minor observations FYI:

1) Venturi had 30 days to file and his lawyer filed on the 30th day, June 15th,

2) The shop is now abandoned and the Cruchelow's have moved out on the weekend of June 9/10th,

3) In his complaint Attorney Sams repeatedly slams the City for listening "to citizens speaking in opposition to the request" (P. 19 at 66 and 67). Seems he thinks that the City should only have listened to him, however he did speak for 22 minutes for the zoning change, while the 'citizens' comments were limited to 10 minutes in total.

4) Attorney Sams is the same person who drafted the 5 page stipulation letter in '04 wherein client Mr. Venturi agreed to exclude 28 types of business from the mall - now Sams is in effect arguing that all those restrictions he had his client agree to were unconstitutional.

Q: So why did Sams draft the '04 document if he was getting his client to agree to something 'unconstitutional'?

5) If the various arguments 'for' a zoning change have any validity then they should have been argued 8 years ago. Venturi/Sams had ample opportunity to make their case then, but rather chose to waive any such claims in favor of executing the 5 page letter of stipulations. "If you snooze, you loose." IMHO Venturi/Sams waived any challenges in '04 by signing away their 'rights' in favor of a zoning change then.

No redo now Mr. Venturi, one bite at the apple is all you get.

On Tuesday June 19th the City of Kennesaw was served with a 24 page Complaint and De Novo Appeal by Mack Dobbs Properties (ie:  Clestino Venturi).   That filing is now available via direct click on link:  http://kennesawpawnproblems.blogspot.com/2011/06/mack-dobbs-properties-llc-v-city-of.html

The item is on this blog and is the last item. 

I would draw readers attention to page 19 and the statements made therein by Attorney Sams: 
"66. The Defendants have delegated their authority to zone property to the citizens at large by basing their decision on whether there is vocal opposition to a rezoning request."

67 "Specifically in this case, the Defendants delegated their legislative authority to rezone the Subject Property to citizens speaking in opposition to the request instead of making a legislative decision based upon the zoning guidelines as outlined by the Georgia Supreme Court."

I read this nonsense as Attorney Sams saying that the great unwashed citizens of Kennesaw have no business commenting to their elected representatives on matters he feels are reserved solely to the City Council and any such 'vocal opposition' should be ignored by the 'delegated authorities'.

Of course if Mr. Venturi had a decent attorney in the Fall of 2004 and not some incompetent lawyer then Venturi would not have relied on stupid advice and entered into a 5 page agreement with the City of Kennesaw in order to have his property rezoned from residential to business.

Oh, wait a minute, the incompetent Attorney from 8 years ago was the same Garvis Sams who now claims that the City did all sorts of improper things to his poor client.

That seems to be a classic case of arguing both side of the issue.

Bill Harris
Kennesaw

Council denies amendment for pawnshop

by Geoff Folsom
gfolsom@mdjonline.com The Marietta Daily Journal

May 17, 2012 12:53 AM  

KENNESAW — The Kennesaw City Council voted down an amendment Wednesday evening that would have allowed a pawnshop in a Cobb Parkway strip mall to stay open.

The council voted 5-0 to agree with a recommendation from city planning and zoning staff, as well as the city’s planning commission, denying the request from property owner Celestino Venturi to amend his strip mall’s zoning to allow for a pawnshop for the duration of its five-year lease. He had allowed the Cruchelow Jewelry & Loan pawnshop to open on Dec. 28, 2011, in his Mack Dobbs Point shopping center at Cobb Parkway and Mack Dobbs Road, despite having agreed not to let a pawnshop, or 31 other types of business, to open at the site when he got initial zoning approval in 2004.

But a city oversight last year, and subsequent city council approval, allowed the pawnshop to get a business license, as well as pawn and precious metal licenses.

Lawyer Garvis Sams, who represented Venturi, said after the meeting that he planned to appeal the decision to Cobb Superior Court.

“We’re disappointed. We were hoping that they would have a different opinion and decision,” he said of the city council.

Sams, who has 30 days to file a challenge, said the property owner’s constitutional rights were violated.

“Their decision to prohibit us from using the shopping center for the highest and best use is tantamount to a taking of Mr. Venturi’s property rights,” he said.

The decision came at the end of a 45-minute special called meeting, attended by around 40 people, though some of them were there for a council work session later in the evening.

Some residents of the nearby Summer Stream and Summerbrooke subdivisions spoke against the pawnshop.

“The impact of this particular business is directly on these two subdivisions,” Gary Greenhut said. “It’s also on the church that’s across the street, and the new school across the street.”

One person, Thomas D. Smith, who claimed to be the only person who can easily see the shopping center from his house, spoke in favor of the pawnshop.

“I’ve had no problem with this business,” he said. “I’ve seen no difficulty with anything they do. I visited the pawnshop and thanked them for being there.”

After the meeting, Bill Harris, who has maintained a website critical of the pawnshop, said that not only is Venturi likely to sue the city, but he expects the pawnshop owners, John and Serena Cruchelow, to sue Venturi for letting them move into two suites in his strip mall, despite knowing that was not allowed.

“I’m very much in favor of it,” Harris said of the city’s decision. “It’s a positive thing, and we’ll see where it goes from here.”

Kennesaw Mayor Mark Mathews, who did not vote on the matter, said he agrees with the rest of the council. He said he will wait and see whether a lawsuit is filed.

“We’ll have to go through the process and see what happens,” he said.

Councilman Bruce Jenkins said he was not concerned about the decision opening the city up to litigation; instead he was interested in “maintaining the integrity of the zoning that was originally in place and the agreement with the neighborhood.”

This was the second high-profile case Sams had lost in as many days, with the Cobb Board of Commissioners voting Tuesday against a permit that would have allowed another of his clients, the Bankhead C&D Transfer Station, to take in household garbage at its site in south Cobb. In both cases, Sams’ clients had gone ahead with their plans without zoning approval.

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - Council denies amendment for pawnshop

City refuses zoning change for Venturi 5-0

On Wed. May 16th at 6 PM a Special Call Meeting of the Kennesaw City Council was held. The meeting lasted 45 minutes and 50 people attended. All Council members were present. John and Serena Cruchelow and Tino Venturi were present.

After Zoning Administrator Simmons outlined the subject matter of the meeting, Mr. Garvis Sams spoke for 15 minutes in support of the Venturi/Cruchelow request for approval of an Ordinance to amend a rezoning condition which had earlier been submitted by Mr. Venturi's Mack Dobbs Properties. Nothing 'new' was added, just restated for the record. A stenographer was present to record what was said. Future litigation is probable.

4 people spoke in opposition to any change in zoning and one person spoke in favor of having the Pawn Shop remain.

The 5 member City Council voted 5-0 to deny the request for a change in zoning to allow the Pawn Shop to remain.

The Venturi attorney, Mr. Garvis Sams, said that he would file a challenge in the Cobb Superior Court within the required 30 days.

Planning Commission voted 3-0 to deny request for rezoning.

The City of Kennesaw Planning Commission met Thursday, May 3, 2012 and addressed items A-D in the 2 hour long meeting.

Item D was the request for Rezoning of the Mack Dobbs Properties, LLC to allow the Cruchelow Jewelry and Loan, an admitted Pawn Shop, to remain in the Venturi mall despite it being listed as an excluded type of business per the 2004 restrictions on business types that Venturi agreed to in order to have his property rezoned from residential to business.



Kennesaw Zoning Administrator Mr. Simmons spoke and gave a complete review of both the 2004 City Council decision and summarized the City error in letting the Pawn Shop get a business license. He stated that the Zoning Department did NOT recommend the requested change and asked that the Planning Commission deny the request by Sams/Venturi.

Mr. Sams, the same zoning lawyer representing Venturi in 2004, spoke to 30 minutes but did not manage to explain why he had agreed to exclude Pawn Shops 8 years ago and was suddenly now in favor of them. Mr. Venturi spoke for 3 minutes.

5 people spoke in the public comments section, 4 against the Rezoning Request and 1 in favor.
When I spoke I mentioned that it was understandable that Mr. Venturi would want the shop to remain as he had a 60 month lease with the Cruchelow's and over the 5 years of the lease it would result in rentals of approx. $300,000.   I further pointed out that area residents felt that they were being 'stabbed in the back' by this reconsideration of the zoning to allow the Pawn Shop to remain.

Attorney Mr. Sams had earlier mentioned that there was a petition presented to the City with approx 160 names of people in favor of the Pawn Shop remaining.   Later Mr. Simmons provided this petition to one of the speakers who were against the shop and both he and I looked at it briefly while other people spoke. We both noted that some of the handwriting seemed similar and also that there were a lot of people listing out of area addresses (Marietta) who would not be impacted by the Pawn Shop.

The vote was taken and it was 3-0 to deny the request for rezoning of the mall to allow Pawn Shops. The next meeting on this topic will be May 16th at 6 pm in the City Hall Council Chambers.
































My Opinion:

On May 3rd we did get 2 small but significant 'wins', with the Zoning Department recommendation not to change the zoning and with the Planning Commission voting 3-0 to defeat the request to make the change, the issue is still not decided and area residents should not become complacent and assume that the matter is now resolved.

We still must have the City Council make a decision as to either enforcing the zoning, giving in to the property owner or making some middle of the road decision which would allow the shop to remain for the term of the 5 year lease.

One of the main items for the City will be the possible cost of litigation if they decide to remove the pawn shop. I am sure that the City Attorney has (or will) inform the Council on what to expect if they decide to go forward and require the pawn shop to close.

With recent litigation costing the City 1.8 million for a discrimination suit settlement*, it may be that they will be reluctant to embark on a course which almost surely will result in a civil suit for the City. Continued public pressure is the only way to make sure that our initial tentative gains are not thrown out by the reluctance of the City Council to make a firm decision to uphold the 2004 agreement.

If readers think that the matter is now over and stop attending Council meetings and no longer contact Council members, then we risk having the Council give in and grant a variance allowing the pawn shop to remain in the mall. Keep up the contacts with the City Council and also attend the meetings, if you do not then our initial gains will mean nothing and the threats of the Venturi/Cruchelow lawyers to sue will have swayed the Council into a compromise that will allow the pawn shop to remain.


* details at:  http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/3269184/article-Kennesaw-doles-out--1-8M-for-racial-suit

Venturi reneges on 8 year old promise!

Pawn Shop 'landlord' wants Kennesaw to change zoning to allow Pawn Shop to remain!

ABC News aired a report at 11:15 PM 4/2/12, saying that the 'property landord' is petitioning the City to change the zoning so the Pawn Shop can stay' in his strip mall.
 
The Kennesaw Planning and Zoning Commission will consider a petition to change the zoning to allow the Pawn Shop to stay on May 3rd and it will be before the City Commission on May 7th. There should be 2 hearings before the City Commision before they take a final vote.

Mr. Celestino (Tino) Venturi and wife Linda, can be contacted at 630 Willeo Road, Roswell, Ga. 30075 (770) 992-2264. You might drop him a line or phone to let him know that we are greatly disappointed in his conduct in this matter.

You might recall that Mr. Venturi agreed to restrictions on what would be allowed on that property in 2004, this in return for area residents dropping their objections to changing the zoning from residential to business. 

Some people have very short memories.

Mack Dobbs Properties, LLC, v. City of Kennesaw

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