Minutes 07/25/1961 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3E TUESDA Y JULY 25. 1 (}61 July 13, 1961 Honorable J. Frank Wilson, 1>fayor, City of Hartinsville, YJ8.I'tinsville, Virginia. Dear ~hyor Wilson: / Relative to the public hearinG on Tuesday, Jul~l 25th, 1961, on a pet:1tion for rezoning property adjacent to Martinsvil1e General lfospital from rosidentiaJ to profe,-1~;ior..al clas,-~ification, I ,.;auld appreciate beinG heard by ,ray of this Jetter, as I vril1 be out of town on the c<ay of the meetin:s . I am related b:'l marriage to bott the petitioner, Dr. Bate C. Toms, and to 1.'Jr. Stafford G. Whittle, In, of the Plarming Corrnnission. ~ haye also been a:3sociated in busines~; vlith I'll'. r,T:1i ttle and respect his opinions in SUC:~l matters. I hc.Y8 not, ho',rever, discussed the milttcr of the rezoninG; ,-lith either Dr. Toms or Hr. Whittle, nor have I been reque:::ted by anyone to express m;;r feolings regarding this. ~.'Jy knowledge of the request for rezonin,c; and the action of the Planning Commi::;sion is based entirely on the contents of ne", reports contained in the H3.rtinsville bullet Ln. I quote as fol10w::; from a report contained in the Bulletin of .July 12, 1961: "In a letter to Council, the Planning Commission said it decided at its last meeting on June 6th, following a public hearing, to recommend that the petition be denied. The letter added: I It is the feeling of the Commission that the public interest Hill not be served by the use of the property for other than hospital purDoses. It is on this basis the above reco:n:rrrcndation is made. I Council decided on the further public hearhl[: on motion of Council- man Thomas J. Burch. ,- Dr. Toms at one time as]cea the comr.1ission to delay a vote on the request. He subsequently conferred ,lith hsopi tal tru::;tees on the possibility of the hospital assmning his option on the property. The discussions involved the pos'3ible exchanGe of property. Dr. Toms and his associates suggested that the hospital purchase other DToperty in the area and made it aWl.Eable for the med5.ca1. arts center, le.aving the old Thoma::; estate for hosDi.tal expansion. No agreement vras rea ched. " - Judging only from this report, it appears that the City Planning Cornmis:3ion has denied the request on the sole basis that the hospital should O\m this property. I do not disa[;I'ee with this feeling, and in fact it appears from the article that Dr. Tons vms agreeable to workinc out somethinf, '.-lith the hosr::,ital in this regard. I do, however, disagree strongly vdth the theory that the Planning Commission should be able to set a::;id€' private property and limit the potential pur- chaser:) of such property to one party, merely on the basis that they feel the party should use the nrnpcrty. If the hospital arrecs that