Trafalgar Town Council member Jeff Eisenmenger holds up a notice of zoning violation sent to him in November by the town inspector at the town council’s Nov. 17 meeting.
Daily Journal file photo
Trafalgar Board of Zoning Appeals members voted unanimously against citing a town council member for an alleged zoning violation at his business.
Council member Jeff Eisenmenger was sent a zoning violation notice letter by the town of Trafalgar on Oct. 31, saying the town had evidence to believe he was violating zoning code at his business, Small Town Pizza and Sub Co.
At least three other council members have long been critical of Eisenmenger, saying he’s been violating zoning laws and other town codes with his business practices. They said Eisenmenger was rumored to have been allowing people to live at his business, which violates zoning laws as the building is zoned commerical.
But there was never evidence to prove the rumors. However, the town found an avenue to pursue a zoning violation notice after the September arrest of Hunter Rickenbach. He was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography and drug possession, and had reported he lived at Small Town Pizza. According to court records filed in Franklin City Court on Aug. 25 for a traffic violation, Rickenbach reported that his home address was 106 W. Pearl St. in Trafalgar, the address of Small Town Pizza.
Town officials instructed Tim Guyer, town inspector, to cite Eisenmenger for a zoning violation at the end of October.
Eisenmenger denied the alleged violation at the town council meeting on Nov. 17, and he did so again on Monday when appealing the notice to the town board of zoning appeals.
He said no one lives at, or has ever lived at Small Town Pizza. Additionally, no one from the town, including Guyer, Clerk-Treasurer Donna Moore or the other council members accepted his offers to come visit the shop to inspect it, he said.
“A phone call, an email, a text takes one second. And I got no response from anybody. Crickets,” Eisenmenger said. “No one lives at 106 W. Pearl Street.”
Eisenmenger went on to say the police report filed listing the Small Town Pizza address as Rickenbach’s home was inaccurate. He said he tried to explain that to Jessica Jones, the council president, but “she didn’t want to hear it.”
He called Jones and council members Jason Ramey and Kyle Siegfred — who have been most critical of him and took part in sending him a zoning violation notice— the “three ring leaders” running the town. He said he they would not discuss the allegations against him at public meetings, and instead went behind his back. Siegfred also sits on the BZA.
“I just don’t do business like that. I never have … I don’t know. It all goes down to jealousy. And I don’t get it,” Eisenmenger said.
Eisenmenger also received a second zoning violation notice letter for another property he owns on contract located at 100 W, Pearl St. and known as “the old bank building.” That violation was not taken up at the meeting on Monday, but he mentioned it.
As part of his appeal, Eisenmenger brought up that at least 20 properties in town are violating the zoning code. He pulled the town zoning map off the wall in the meeting room to show several areas with residential properties zoned as commercial, including some houses he owns. He suggested the town create a mixed-use zoning classification to remedy some of these problems.
To his knowledge and based on what he was told by the clerk-treasurer, Eisenmenger said he was the only person to receive violation letters.
He pointed out that the town hires Roadrunner Computers in Trafalgar to run their security cameras, and the owner operates that business out of his home. Eisenmenger asked why he didn’t get a violation letter.
“It’s called targeting. It’s called discrimination. And it’s not fair and equal treatment,” Eisenmenger said.
Guyer also presented the town’s evidence to the BZA, which was nothing beyond the court documents showing Rickenbach claimed he lived at Small Town Pizza in August. Guyer said he was instructed by the town to investigate 106 W. Pearl St. for a zoning violation, and after watching the property for several weeks, he didn’t witness anyone living there, he said.
He did note that by the time he began investigating, the only person who had claimed to live there, Rickenbach, was already in jail from his September arrest.
“I did my best to try to figure out if somebody was living there or not. I couldn’t determine whether or not there was somebody living at that particular address,” Guyer told the BZA.
Following presentations from both parties, BZA member Bryan Gregg said he was hesitant to punish Eisenmenger for a zoning violation with so little evidence. He did not believe one person reporting on a police report that he lived at 106 W. Pearl St. was enough.
Gregg added he was also concerned the two main parties who were accusing Eisenmenger of the violation — Jones and Ramey — were not at the meeting on Monday to present their side.
“It’s like someone threw a grenade over the wall and took off,” Gregg said.
With that, the BZA voted unanimously that, based on the evidence presented, they could not find Eisenmenger in violation of the town zoning code for 106 W. Pearl St.
The members also agreed that the town needs to look into amending the zoning ordinance because there are several violations, apart from Eisenmenger’s alleged ones. Sonya Krejci, BZA president, said she has been aware for years of violations such as people renting properties they shouldn’t or operating businesses in places they shouldn’t, but town officials never tried to look into it when she brought it up.
“It’s continuing and it gets worse. And to stop it, since we are a growing community, is going to cause a lot of problems and a lot of unhappy people and probably a lot of hatred talk,” she said. “In my opinion, it needs changing.”
