Tuscaloosa ZBA Chair Steps Down Amid Squabbles Over Short Term Rentals

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Former Tuscaloosa City Attorney and current chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustments Robert W. Ennis has removed his name from consideration for reappointment to the seat following disagreements with city staff and one resident in particular relating to short term rental properties (STRs).

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"I enjoyed my time serving on the Zoning Board, and I hope everybody thinks they got a fair hearing with me as chair," Ennis told Patch on Monday.

In a letter to Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox and members of the City Council on Sunday, Ennis insisted that he had been informed he did not have the Council's support to be reappointed and formally announced his decision to withdraw his name from consideration.

"I find it disingenuous for anyone to claim that a Short Term Rental (STR) in The Highlands should be treated any differently than those in other neighborhoods," Ennis argued in his email on Sunday. "No neighborhood is better or more entitled than any other in the city. The wealth of a neighborhood is irrelevant and no one is above the law."

Ennis also cited email communications with City Attorney Scott Holmes, who informed Ennis that he had not been in attendance or watched the live stream of the Sept. 26 Zoning Board of Adjustments hearings relating to STR properties in The Highlands.

However, he did say Holmes had mentioned that Ennis had lost the support of the Council after concerns had been raised following the hearing on Sept. 26. Ennis told Patch that he had spoken to several councilors who confirmed as much.

"You have dedicated your life to making this City great and have left a tremendous legacy and I know I personally benefit from your hard work daily," Holmes wrote in the email. "Neither I nor the City could ever thank you enough for that."

Ennis insisted — and confirmed in an interview with Patch — that the request came immediately following a heated exchange over the phone involving himself and a resident of The Highlands, attorney Randy Fowler.

Fowler has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Patch as of the publication of this story.

Ennis pointed to Fowler as one of the most vocal opponents of short term rentals in the historic neighborhood, sending out numerous emails to City Hall officials blasting the ZBA and short term rentals. Fowler is also someone Ennis says he has a personal history with, including Fowler writing the wills for Ennis' parents.

In Holmes' initial email to Ennis, no mention of his exchange with Fowler was mentioned, but the city attorney did say that whatever had happened had upset Council members, who then brought concerns to Holmes and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox.

Holmes also mentioned in the email that the incident in question comes on the heels of a particularly heated disagreement several months ago between Ennis and the city's Executive Director of Urban Development Ashley Crites.

"Based on these issues, I do not believe you will have the Council’s support for reappointment to the ZBA," Holmes wrote to Ennis. "I’m telling you this not to suggest right or wrong, but out of courtesy to give you the opportunity to avoid a public debate on the subject."

According to an email response from Ennis to Holmes, the ZBA chair alluded to Fowler and said he had not been given an opportunity to defend himself, but refused to be intimidated by such tactics on the part of a resident who disagreed with the approach of the board.

"I must be honest that I deeply resent the disrespectful and disdainful manner with which I have been treated on this particular issue simply to appease a sense of entitlement of one neighborhood," Ennis wrote to city officials. "I love my community and I am certain you will find someone as committed as I have been to take my place."

Ennis explained in an interview with Patch that following one particular email sent out to elected officials and others in City Hall by Fowler, he called the man to talk things out.

Fowler says in one email:

Residential zoning is to protect the homeowners who reside in their homes from the encroachment of businesses. It is just that simple. Homeowners are not allowed to operate businesses out of their homes ... allowing this is nonsense, a failed experiment, and the ZBA and the city Council should put a stop to it.

During this first phone conversation, Ennis said he went over the precarious situation the ZBA found itself in with respect to short-term rentals.

As the law stands, short term rental applications are typically granted a one-year probationary status if the property owner meets all of the specified criteria and has had no troubles with police relating to the property.

"The ZBA has courageously administered the often controversial STR cases fairly and professionally," Ennis said in one email to city officials. "The Highlands case was no different from the other 200 or so cases. We could not treat them any differently than all the others, which have included numerous neighborhoods across the city."

Still, Ennis said after his initial conversation with Fowler, the resident of The Highlands sent out an even more pointed email to city officials, mentioning details of his conversation with Ennis intended to be between two people.

Angered by what he viewed as a continued assault on his integrity and the process by which the ZBA considers short term rental requests, Ennis told Patch that he called Fowler a second time and said "What the f*** are you doing sending that email?"

Email records obtained by Patch show that after the exchange, Fowler told Ennis he was "obligated" to inform Tuscaloosa City Council President Kip Tyner, Mayor Maddox and Executive Director of Urban Development Ashley Crites of the language Ennis used in their previous conversation. He also instructed Ennis to never contact him again.

"I shouldn't have said that," Ennis told Patch. "But I viewed the email as disinformation and here I was trying to calm everyone down and after I tried that, he sent out another email. I called and tried to apologize, and after I was told I wouldn't be reappointed, I left a voicemail apologizing and he sent out another email."

Fowler's final email correspondence with Ennis said The Highlands neighborhood will now be forced to tolerate an "intrusion" by business owners operating as short term rental property owners in their neighborhood — raising the range of concerns that typically come with allowing short term rental properties.

"I’ve been told that some time ago someone advised you to retire, you’ve done enough for our city," Fowler wrote. "I second that suggestion."

While making no excuses for his language in the aforementioned conversation, Ennis explained that the Zoning Board of Adjustments has been handling the complex landscape of short term rentals for the last three and a half years. During that time, Ennis recalled contentious meetings where individuals rushed the podium, in addition to more than one occasion where board members had to be escorted to their vehicles by police at the conclusion of meetings.

However, ZBA members recently found themselves in the unenviable position of having to consider short term rental requests as the law is written, despite the Tuscaloosa City Council likely to pass a moratorium on STRs during its next meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

The next meeting of the ZBA was scheduled for Monday night, with Ennis not be presiding over the board, so as to not push the issue of reappointment after withdrawing his application.

This is due also to Ennis not wanting to be the chair overseeing decisions at such a contentious moment and on the eve of the City Council possibly putting a stop to short term rental requests altogether for the time being.

"I didn't think it was fair to the neighbors or the petitioners to make a short term rental ruling by the Zoning Board and the very next day the Council declare a moratorium, " Ennis told Patch. "Without the confidence of the Council, how could I possibly act? I felt like I was in an impossible position and so I felt like I should pull my name out so the other two [candidates] can be considered and so I wouldn't be a lame duck making these controversial rulings hours before the Council declares moratorium."

When asked about Ennis stepping down from the ZBA, City Council President Kip Tyner said little apart from expressing gratitude for the longtime public servant and his time with the city.

"The only thing I want to say is I truly sincerely appreciate Bob's 30-plus years of service to the city and wish him well," he said in a brief phone interview with Patch on Monday.

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