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On Wednesday an affidavit was filed in Marietta Municipal Court representing 44 complainants, residents in Marietta's Third Ward, who allege criminal behavior committed by the owner of 1099 Colegate Drive (the former location of North Hills School).
The affidavit alleges retaliation following the loss of a sale deal to Life and Purpose Behavioral Health for the former school site in 2020.
According to Municipal Judge Janet Dyar Welch's order entry dated Wednesday and timestamped 9:36 a.m. by her clerk, the municipal court has accepted the citizen complaint for criminal charges "for probable cause review for a summons."
The residents who live around the property allege intimidation, fraudulent advertisement, zoning violations, property maintenance code and health violations, and the deliberate placement of a Tier III sex offender in the center of their residential community.
Also separately filed Wednesday by the residents of the North Hills community at 8:16 a.m. was a public records request naming Mayor Josh Schlicher, Safety-Service Director Steve Wetz, Law Director Paul Bertram, City Engineer Joe Tucker and Code Enforcement Official Wayne Rinehart.
That request carbon-copied in addition to the aforementioned elected (Bertram and Schlicher) officials and Schlicher's staff (Wetz, Tucker and Rinehart), both information technology managers (Schlicher's staff) and the following elected officials and their staff:
¯ City Auditor Sherri Hess.
¯ Council President Susan Vessels.
¯ Council Clerk Jennifer Starkey (appointed).
¯ Councilpersons at-large: Bill Farnsworth, Cassidi Shoaf and Susan Boyer.
¯ First Ward Councilman Mike Scales.
¯ Second Ward Councilman Mike McCauley.
¯ Third Ward Councilman Bill Gossett.
¯ Fourth Ward Councilman Geoff Schenkel.
The request also names both development companies listed in ownership of the property and a separate land development company connected to Bertram.
Property background
North Hills closed in 2003, part of a reorganization of Marietta City Schools as the district adapted to declining student populations. The property sat idle until the board of education moved to sell it in 2008.
Fast-forward to 2012 and purchase of the property, 2013 demolition of the school on the grounds and latter 2013 records concerning the property and the land under the ownership of Brunton Development Co. Ltd., and BRB Development Co.
Past Times' reports show Marietta City Council's approval for platting the land to be redeveloped for housing in 2013.
According to neighbors, additional records exist concerning asbestos and other environmental concerns of the property.
In 2020, council again saw mention of the property with a sale discussion for Life and Purpose Behavioral Health and its consultants looking to the legislative body for zoning change options at 1099 Colegate.
Following delays and instead legislators' call for a wholesale review of the zoning process and inconsistencies within city codes concerning citizen-led or developer-led changes, council is still as of last month edging toward an outside assessment of its zoning laws.
Meanwhile, the affidavit filed Wednesday offers a timeline following the subsequent loss of the deal with the behavioral health firm which Bertram has said is now eyeing property on Pike Street between Memorial Health System's Wayne Street medical campus and the low-income housing at Marietta Mills.
Sex offender
Roy Dale Greathouse, 58, of 1099 Colegate Drive, appeared on the Ohio Attorney General's registry as a Tier III sex offender living in a camper at that address a week ago.
As of press time Wednesday, his address was changed to homeless.
"He moved in the day we got out of the hospital with our new baby," said Hannah Frazier, 26, a resident who abuts the Colegate property and is a mother of two. "(Because) I had a (Cesarean) section I couldn't be left alone because I couldn't defend myself if something happened. We kept my (older) son inside."
Similar fears have been shared by neighbors, according to Schlicher, Wetz and residents contacting the Times.
According to a 2002 edition of the St. Marys Oracle, among Greathouse's history are sexual crimes against minors under the age of 16.
Wetz said the subsequent complaint, brought into the public eye by resident Jared McGilton at council's virtual business meeting on March 4, net an in-person meeting in the mayor's office the following day with Schlicher and Bruce Brunton concerning his resident Greathouse.
"We met with Bruce and he told us that yes, he says he didn't know that (Greathouse) was a Tier Three, (but) he thought he was a Tier One," said Wetz. "But here regardless, Tier One, Tier Three, it's a sex offender living near a neighborhood."
Schlicher said Greathouse, who also previously was allowed to live in his camper at the former K-Mart building during the dispute between U-Haul and hoteliers on Pike Street, was referred to the site to place his camper by an Ohio State Highway patrolman after Brunton erected a sign stating "homeless tent sites available."
According to the criminal complaint filed Wednesday, that sign appeared on Jan. 19, and residents allege it is in violation of Marietta Codified Ordinances 705.03 and 705.05.
"(The trooper) was the one that guided the sex offender to that location," described Wetz. "He goes, 'I know all about him, but at the time I didn't know that it was like a neighborhood dispute, joke, kind of thing. I've driven by there a few times and saw homeless camping.' … So he didn't know that it was being said like a joke, a fraud. (The trooper) felt bad after."
Schlicher also noted the signs up on the property advertising camping space Wednesday.
"Yes, that is opening the door and advertising that property, which would be a zoning violation … It looked like that sign was working for its intended purpose," said Schlicher. "So somebody acts upon it, which we've seen this week, then that opens a different case, I guess. But as far as us, you know, we can enforce, we can try to protect the neighborhood as much as possible. We felt like we did with the one case."
Gentlemen's agreement
As of noon on Tuesday, the camper was not at the property, and neither were previous signs reading "Bruce Brunton moved a Tier III sexual predator onto 1099 Colegate Drive, the city is doing nothing just ask 740-373-1387."
"I just made a simple call to the owner of the property and asked if he would politely remove that individual, which he did and that's where we left that," said Schlicher, who in a separate email Tuesday also notified council of the meeting.
"I have been informed the camper and occupants have been removed from the property," he wrote. "I returned many calls and even made personal visits to the neighborhood only to be criticized for keeping my word to the residents and working with the owner of the property in a friendly manner to reach a gentleman's agreement and get a timely resolution."
On Wednesday, Schlicher said that waiting on due process of an injunction against Brunton would have taken more time.
"If we filed an injunction and had to go through all the motions … that camper would still be there, the neighbors would still be concerned and I would still have a resident at the end of Janet Road concerned for her safety," he said.
Signs that remained on the property as of press time Wednesday included one in the shape of a gravestone referencing neighbors, the homeless tent invitation and a trailer with siding reading "Kellys pet cemetery coming soon."
Gossett and Schenkel also noted review of the citizen concerns in recent weeks and said they saw ties to similar patterns of action and inaction by the city's appointed officials.
Schenkel chairs Planning, Zoning, Annexation and Housing Committee which is reviewing its next steps concerning zoning law review and Gossett chairs Police and Fire Committee and is reviewing additional changes to fine structures concerning property maintenance code violations.
Under review by both and the organized residents of North Hills are the International Property Maintenance Code (2012) which is referenced in city codified ordinances as adopted for code enforcement; Ohio Revised Code for health and advertising law and city zoning laws identified in Chapter 11 of the "green book."
Gossett said in an email that he is questioning the "precedent set" by the "gentleman's agreement."
"Others may want to be treated the same when dealing with similar situations," he wrote. "By circumventing normal procedures, the city has been somewhat undermined in the enforcement of such violations. How can the city enforce laws and fine some residents, when those laws were overlooked this time? How will this look to the citizens you are representing?"
Bertram confirmed that Welch's order now requires him to review whether a crime or crimes have been committed by Brunton.
Janelle Patterson may be reached at jpatterson@mariettatimes.com.