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New cathedral parking lot stymied by legal action
Proposed lot at Bethany Place will set aside 10 disabled-access spaces

By Melodie Woerman
Editor, The Harvest

A seemingly noncontroversial parking lot for Grace Cathedral has turned into a legal quagmire, and plans to get additional disabled-access parking have been pushed past the upcoming winter and into next year.

In 2006 the cathedral and the diocese agreed to a plan in which the parish would pay to build an additional small lot on a slice of diocesan-owned property near a door into the cathedral that has no steps.

The extra 40 spaces, with 10 designated for disabled access, would ease crowding in the existing 89-space lot. The new lot will be located on the northeast corner of Bethany Place and will be shielded from the street by existing shrubs.

The plan requires the removal of 14 aging trees tightly packed into the 60 x 200 foot strip of land designated for the parking lot, but new trees will be planted to take their place.

But plans have been put on hold because of a lawsuit filed by a local group formed to stop the parking lot. Trees being cleared for the project have been left as stumps or in varying states of removal. Legal actions still are pending.

Historic officer says ‘no’ to plan

Plans for the parking lot became complicated because the diocesan buildings at Bethany Place are on the Kansas historic register. As such, any construction project within 500 feet has to solicit the opinion of the state historic preservation officer.

She said “no” to this plan, calling the trees to be removed “historic” and offering an alternative she thought would work better and meet the legal requirements of being “feasible and prudent” — have the cathedral pay to turn city-owned parallel parking on the adjacent street into diagonal spaces.

That didn’t seem feasible or prudent to the Dean of Grace Cathedral, the Very Rev. Steve Lipscomb. The cost would be close to double, spaces would be much farther away from the church, and the city couldn’t guarantee the spaces would be available when the church might need them.

He and Bishop Dean Wolfe then filed an appeal with the Topeka City Council, the procedure called for in the state historic preservation statutes, asking that the church be allowed to proceed in spite of the historic officer’s ruling, and that construction permits be issued.

“We just want to use church property for church purposes, to provide adequate parking so disabled and elderly parishioners can go to church,” Bishop Wolfe said.

He noted that the Bethany Place property has been in the hands of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas for 147 years, and that the church has acted as a good steward of its land all that time.

While the issue was pending, a series of neighborhood groups got involved, too. Some circulated on-line petitions warning that the Bethany Place buildings would be torn down, something that never had been under consideration.

Others lamented the loss of any green space on the Episcopal campus, since they thought of the property as their neighborhood park. Another group, calling itself “Friends of Bethany Place, Inc.,” filed incorporation papers with the state the day before the City Council meeting, opposing the project.

City Council votes ‘yes,’ 9-0

Cathedral members and diocesan officials spoke to the City Council on Aug. 28, laying out the church’s case. In response, opponents called 19 speakers with more than an hour of testimony. In the end, the Council voted 9-0 to grant the church’s request.

The next day Lipscomb started the process toward construction by having the 14 trees in the designated area removed. Before that job could be finished, however, the “Friends” group filed a temporary restraining order stopping the project. Tree debris, including jagged stumps and large branches, could not be removed for more than a week.

The group finally withdrew the restraining order and allowed clean-up to proceed, but only with a promise that no further action be taken on the trees themselves. With the debris posing a hazard to passersby, the church reluctantly agreed.

The “Friends” group then filed suit against the city of Topeka, asking a district court judge to force the city to overturn its action and prevent issuing any permits.

The cathedral and the diocese have filed their own motion, asking that they be added as parties to the suit, since the property and planned parking lot belong to the Episcopal Church and not the city. The Shawnee County judge assigned to the case has yet to rule on that request.

Construction will remain on hold until the legal issues have been settled, and cathedral members and city residents attending events there will have to rely on existing parking options for the near future.