Friday, July 5, at 3 p.m., the Zoning Hearing Board will meet to determine the fate of the Bethel AME lot at N. 6th and Herr Streets.
The question before the board is whether to extend a temporary exception to the zoning code, which would allow Bethel AME to resume use of the lot as a site for commercial parking. The meeting had previously been scheduled for June 17, but was cancelled due to an error in the notice the city had sent out for publication.
I wrote about the history of the lot, and of the temporary exceptions granted to Bethel in the past, early last week on the blog. (The truly curious, or truly idle, might also refer to our May feature about this historic block of N. 6th—which, besides explaining how a few people at loggerheads can stall an entire block’s development for decades, might also explain why we’ve been following this zoning-code story with particular interest.)
Ted Hanson, a resident of the Fox Ridge neighborhood near the lot, has mounted a somewhat aggressive campaign against the church’s application. His charges are detailed in the earlier post. Last night, I had a chance to speak with the Reverend Micah Sims, who became Bethel’s pastor in February.
Sims said he doesn’t understand why Hanson has singled out his church’s application for scrutiny. “You have one person who has belligerently attacked this church since 1988,” Sims said. “It’s a personal vendetta, not a neighborhood or community concern.”
He acknowledged that the church has applied and re-applied for the temporary exception without developing the lot, but said this was not unusual for Harrisburg. He took issue with the claim that previous exceptions were granted with the expectation of more appropriate development in the future. “’Expectation’ is not the correct word,” he said. “There is hope and interest.”
Sims also said that there’s a “demand for parking” which the lot could help meet, and that the lot would bring revenue into the city. “People can park, go downtown and shop, and not have to run out of the city because parking’s running out on the meter,” he said.
“It’s the church’s property, and it needs to go back to its original use,” he added. “I’m paying insurance on it. It’s sitting there dormant, and it needs to provide a service to the community.”
The word “community” has proven to be the main sticking point in the saga. Hanson objected that the petition of “community support” Bethel submitted with its application was misleading, because none of its signatories actually lived in the Fox Ridge neighborhood surrounding the lot.
Sims acknowledged that the petitions had been circulated in his church and at select “retail outlets,” and confessed he wasn’t quite sure what the boundaries of the Fox Ridge neighborhood were. But he stressed that he had spoken with a property owner in the neighborhood, Annette Antoun, and had her support. (Antoun, a main player in the May feature, does not reside in Fox Ridge; a building she owns on the corner of Boas and N. 6th was condemned in 2010 due to persistent neglect.)
Sims also said that several residents living near the lot had called him and voiced their support, though he declined to provide any names or addresses.
He said he saw a better use of the land on the horizon, but insisted it would require community involvement. For the moment, he said, “we don’t know what the ideal use is.” Whatever happens, though, should reflect the block’s unique role in the history of African-Americans in the city, he said.
In any case, Sims would like Hanson to let the church go about its business in peace.
“He’s not God, he’s not the pastor, he’s not the bishop,” Sims said. “Why is it his lifelong pursuit to make the church develop this land?”
Interested citizens can pursue an answer to that question at next Friday’s hearing, during which Hanson is likely to testify. Enjoy your 4th of July—then come watch the fireworks.
