Fallout from Belmont dispute spills over to College Hill neighborhood vote

Trish Hileman has been president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association for five years, the last three of which she’s been begging for someone else to take the job.

Two people stepped up for a vote on Tuesday, and it resulted in a tense, sometimes even hostile meeting.

“It took me about 24 hours just to process everything that happened,” said candidate Katie Perry. “I could not believe what happened.”

Resident Tim Goodpasture won the presidency 78 to 44.

At the heart of the tension was the same issue that’s divided College Hill for months: Should the owners of the popular Belmont restaurant be allowed to tear down three houses for a new parking lot?

Two of the houses have been demolished — the owners didn’t need permission for that — but they still don’t have the rezoning they need for the parking lot.

The issue — or people’s reaction to it — is what prompted Perry to run.

“I just watched the neighbors just attack this company,” she said.

There was so much negativity, she said, “It didn’t feel like community.”

Perry was raised in College Hill and returned to the neighborhood last March after living outside of Wichita.

Her newness is one issue that came up during the meeting, but the bigger concern seemed to be Perry’s refusal to share her position on the Belmont parking lot.

“That’s why people were getting a little upset,” Hileman said. “They were pretty vehement in asking tough questions.”

Perry said she told neighbors, “It doesn’t matter what my opinion is, I’m here to represent all of you.”

Some wondered if she was running to represent the Belmont owners, but Perry said she doesn’t know them except to say hello. Also, she said she met one of the owners at a meeting once and “apologized to him because of how our neighbors . . . talked to him.”

“I do feel disappointed in how we acted as a community.”

Perry said she also felt like a lot of people’s viewpoints weren’t represented.

Goodpasture said he doesn’t see the same issues as Perry.

“I think that things are great in the neighborhood.”

He did, though, think the Belmont debate brought up a good point.

“The Belmont brought to light an issue that is important to the neighborhood, and that is preserving the integrity and not losing our housing stock,” Goodpasture said. “We’re at a place where we have an opportunity to look at ways that we can insure the integrity of the neighborhood.”

He said Hileman started that process by working with the city on a protective overlay, which would set development standards. He said he’ll continue that work.

Belmont partner Tory DeMarce attended the meeting and was surprised to see the parking lot issue be such a big part of the debate.

“We’re just one little sliver of College Hill.”

He said there seemed to be a divide between older people and younger people who attended, with the older members being “extremely passionate” about their viewpoints.

DeMarce said it was disappointing so few people attended when the neighborhood is so large.

He said he also felt for Perry and was “really disappointed in the way that she was treated.”

Beyond the Belmont issue, Perry said she sees work that’s needed on the voting process and communication within the association, especially via social media.

Goodpasture said that like any organization, “We can always improve our communication.”

Hileman said she’s glad more people are getting involved, even if their opinions differ.

“It’s healthy for the organization. It will help it to grow.”

She said, “If everybody thinks the same way, that’s easy, but that’s not reality.”

Hileman is chairwoman of the Halloween committee and has reached out to Perry to get involved.

That way, Hileman said, Perry can get experience serving in the neighborhood and later run for the presidency again “and not have the neighborhood push back so hard.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 2:48 PM.