`HOME' WRECKERS?

JACKSON -- The City of Jackson is seeking an injunction to stop Holigan Homes from operating what the city considers a sales office in the company's Savannah Ridge Subdivision.

"This is a commercial operation in a residential neighborhood," Alderman David Hitt said Friday, confirming that legal action is imminent.

City Attorney David Beeson said the injunction will be sought in circuit court Monday or Tuesday "to stop Holigan Homes from violating the city's zoning ordinances."

On Nov. 3, the Jackson Board of Aldermen rejected a request from Holigan for a special use permit to operate a sales office in the subdivision. Some nearby residents had spoken against the proposal at a previous public hearing.

At the November meeting, Hitt suggested that Holigan already was operating a sales office in the subdivision in violation of city ordinances. At the time, a Holigan spokesman said the company was operating an open house at a spec home.

"We are not running a model home per se," Purchasing Manager Bruce Bartmess said.

If Holigan Homes contends it is not operating a sales office it is "in serious error," Sander said. "A sales person is there 10 hours a day. This is a commercial endeavor in a residential zone."

Both Hitt and Sander are upset that Holigan opened the house before the aldermen voted on the special use permit.

"I think a problem existed when they operated a commercial endeavor before the council acted," Sander said. "And they continue to ignore the council's wishes. We have no choice but litigation."

John Marlin, president of Holigan Homes, Mo., this week issued a statement critical of the city's position. Holigan does business in 60 cities and 8 states, he says, and "it's never been an issue as to whether we are allowed to sell our own homes from one of our other homes."

The city researched the issue before the aldermen voted on Holigan's special use permit, Sander said. "It varied very much how other cities handled this sort of thing."

Sander said he has asked Marlin to propose a compromise but has received no response. No one with Holigan Homes could be reached for comment Friday.

Holigan Homes' current plans call for building 200 houses in the city. Sander said the city does not want to take the company to court.

"There may be common ground that can be reached... The city is open for further discussion if they wish to do so."

How the company operates in other localities is not the issue, Hitt said.

"He may well be doing it in eight other states. That doesn't mean we'll permit it in Jackson."

Marlin said in his statement that three developers have told him "they will never do another development in the City of Jackson."

Responded Sander: "I have had no developers tell me anything of the sort."

Marlin's statement implies that the company will fight the city over the issue.

"There's nothing we can do but try to protect our investment and the right to sell our own homes," Marlin wrote.