Saturday, November 6, 199
Park-and-sell car lot to close
'They buried me,' entrepreneur says of city's rejection
By Sara Hammond
The Arizona Daily Star
After losing an appeal last week to the city's Board of Adjustment seeking permission to operate her for-sale-by-owner parking lot on East Grant Road, Kea said this week that she, will shut down her business on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25.
"In my heart, I felt that my enterprise was good for all involved - the cornmunity, law enforcement, the neighborhood and Tucson," she said.
Kea's idea was to lease space to people who want to sell their car privately,, providing a safe place for vehicles and a neutral place for negotiations between seller and buyer.
"I have been relegated to that of a flea market by planning and zoning. A cemetery would have been more apropos, as they have buried me," Kea said, tears welling in her eyes.
Kea's Space Station Parking Haven came under city scrutiny in August, shortly after the business opened.
A neighboring used car lot owner complained to city officials that Kea was selling cars in an area not zoned for that use.
David Najari said he had to rezone his property - a vacant lot when he purchased it and Kea and her business partner, Jack Fitzgerald, should have to do the same, including installing landscaping and setting vehicles back from the roadway.
Kea said she panicked when she first received a letter from the. city indicating she could be in violation of city ordinances and could face a daily fine of up to $2,500.
"I've never done anything illegal in my life. When, you get a letter like that, you want to run downtown to see what's going on," she said.
She said her plans for a parking lot had been signed off by several city planning department representatives who reviewed the proposal.
Kea said she does not want to go through the expense and hassle of hiring an attorney and going to court to try to fight the Board of Adjustment's decision that she is selling cars on the property.
At the meeting, members of the appeals board seemed sympathetic to Kea and her business idea but said they had to follow the city's land use code as it is written.
"The bureaucracy is too big, costly. From a practical business standpoint, I will place the property for sale or lease," she said.
Kea said she will honor contracts she has With people who have their cars and trucks parked on the property and will refund customers' money.
"The business was going so well," said Fitzgerald. Kea said that this week, an owner sold a $30,000 sport utility vehicle in just one day. "That beat my record of two days,"' she said.
"It was such a simple idea. It just didn't work."