A BRIEF HISTORY

New Saint Andrews College (NSA) is a subsidiary of Christ Church, in Moscow, Idaho.¹ On paper it’s a separate entity but this is simply a shell game. In 1994 it opened for business, using a Kirk elder’s home as its classroom:

In the fall of 1994, New Saint Andrews opened her doors (actually the doors opened into a home belonging to one of the volunteer faculty members) to four full-time students meeting in a tiny dining room. In 1998, the College graduated its first class of two students. (NSA website)

In 2000, six years after NSA launched, a neighbor complained to the city about the school’s footprint in the residential neighborhood. Students’ cars lined the street, which prevented homeowners from parking in front of their houses.² The City of Moscow notified NSA that they had not obtained a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to operate. NSA stalled the city for two years, scattering classes in other homes throughout the city as well as using the Kirk’s downtown property (Anselm House) to host classes, in violation of the zoning code.

In September 2002 the school purchased a landmark building in downtown Moscow called the Skattaboe Block, to use as its primary meeting place for classrooms. The Skattaboe Block is located in the core of Moscow’s Central Business District (CBD), which prohibited educational institutions from using the CBD. Moscow firewalled its CBD from the University of Idaho taking over, and the law that applied to UI also applied to NSA. They were not permitted downtown.

In December 2003, Douglas Wilson publicly affirmed his intent to “take” Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Washington:

In the 60s, my father wrote a small but enormously influential book called The Principles of War. In it, he applied the principles of physical warfare to what he called strategic evangelism. This idea of warfare is necessary in order to understand a central part of what is happening here, and by this I mean the concept of the decisive point. A decisive point is one which is simultaneously strategic and feasible. Strategic means that it would be a significant loss to the enemy if taken. Feasible means that it is possible to take. New York City is strategic but not feasible. Bovill is feasible but not strategic. But small towns with major universities (Moscow and Pullman, say) are both. (Douglas Wilson, The State of the Church 2003)

He never described exactly what this “take” would look like, though time has filled in many of the blanks. In 2005 the Moscow City Council affirmed a second zoning complaint against NSA and resolved to amend the code to allow NSA downtown by conditional use permit (CUP). In 2006, council amended the law and NSA obtained a CUP to operate downtown, but it has continually violated the conditions of this permit without sanction. On Tuesday, April 25, 2017, the City of Moscow will hold a public hearing to decide if NSA should be permitted to expand its downtown land use.

CALCULATED VIOLATIONS

New St. Andrews College bought the Skattaboe Block with eyes wide open. On June 21, 2002, the Lewiston Morning Tribune quoted the selling broker: “He says the buyer has contract stipulations that allow for backing out of the deal based on inspections or zoning problems.” “Zoning problems” refers to legal restrictions, which would be an obvious concern for any buyer with one zoning violation on their record. They bought it anyway. Someone calculated the cost-benefit risk and decided that the benefit of a strong downtown presence outweighed the possible cost of the city shutting them down. Of course, it helped that no one in Moscow had skin in the game. Douglas Wilson bilked a donor in Seattle for the cash.³ Regardless, NSA’s Board of Trustees knew that the law prohibited educational institutions in the CBD.

On March 28, 2006, the city granted NSA a CUP to operate in the CBD. Eighteen months later, on September 30, 2007, the New York Times Magazine published a story on the burgeoning school, which included the photograph below. Please note the caption, which states,

“Dr. Mitchell Stokes (second from left), a fellow of humanities at New St. Andrews, leads a student discussion in his backyard.”

This photograph proves that NSA held class in a residential neighborhood after the City warned them against using residential neighborhoods and after the city granted them a CUP.⁴ To be clearer, NSA obtained a CUP to legalize their downtown presence and to permit 200 students, yet despite this they continued breaking the municipal law that they pretended to obey. NSA persisted in its violation of the zoning code even after the city amended the law to permit them. This raises the question, if NSA flouted the law 11 years ago after obtaining a CUP, why should anyone believe they would not do the same this time?

ZONING FOOTPRINT

New St. Andrews College has asked the city for permission to increase the size of its student body from 200 to 500 and for permission to occupy another downtown building. The Staff report contemplates the footprint this enlargement would create in the CBD but not elsewhere. For example, Staff failed to consider that many if not most of these new students would live in the Christ Church network of illegal boarding houses. This network is a web of kirker homes scattered throughout the Palouse — some inside city limits, others outside — which the Kirk organized to house NSA students. The vast majority of these homes, if not all of them, have not obtained CUPs from the City to operate boarding houses as required by municipal law. These students will clutter residential neighborhoods with their parked cars in front of other people’s homes. And the kirkers who run these illegal boarding houses will continue to rob legitimate housing operations in the city, as reported by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News eleven years ago.

POLITICAL FOOTPRINT

If the Board of Adjustment grants this CUP to NSA, they will unknowingly set in motion a series of events that will result in a radical power shift in Moscow politics. When NSA students arrive in Moscow every August, they receive one assignment before school begins: REGISTER TO VOTE, because Douglas Wilson is a political animal first, before anything else. And he is bent on flexing political muscle.

The Kirk’s current adult membership is somewhere between 400 to 500 members. These kirkers vote in unison according to Doug Wilson’s instruction. Add the current NSA student body of 200 (it’s probably larger) and you flirt with 700 voters. If the BOA adds another 300 students to this voting bloc, they will essentially give Douglas Wilson the key to the city. He will control.

The first thing Doug Wilson will do with his newfound might is vote yes men, or puppets, into office, just as he did with the Kirk elders. The second thing he will do is amend the zoning code to allow educational institutions in the CBD without restriction. The third thing he will do is amend the zoning code to permit boarding houses without restriction. And if a councilperson or other politician raises their eyebrows, Mr. Wilson will see to their recall or termination — “without prejudice” — to use his words.

This is not hyperbole. In 2007 he swung an election with fewer votes and one blog post:

But before getting to that, it is important to note that Moscow has a horse race style election. There are three four-year seats open, and one two-year seat. The top three vote-getters scrambling for the four-year seats will be elected and the top candidate for the two-year seat will be elected. Those who want to clean out this council should therefore keep it simple and not vote for any incumbents (even if they wind up voting for only two candidates), because that could contribute to bumping out a candidate they did vote for. If for your third choice you vote for the least crazy of the incumbents, that vote could help defeat your first choice. (Doug Wilson, No Incumbents)

Eleven days later two out of three incumbents lost their seats. The Moscow-Pullman Daily News ran this headline: Moscow City Council takes a sharp turn as GMA-backed candidates sweep into office. Give Douglas Wilson 300 more votes and he’ll have 1,000 voters who march in lockstep, like disciples of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. And Doug Wilson will sit in the driver’s seat.

IT’S OVER

The Board of Adjustment will conduct this Tuesday’s hearing for New Saint Andrews College. The mayor appoints these commissioners according to his pleasure. The vice-chair of the BOA is a gentleman named Mark Monson. He is not a member of the Kirk. However, he is Steven Sitler’s criminal defense attorney. I doubt the Sitler’s will keep him on retainer if he votes against the CUP.

Additionally, Staff has recommended approval for the CUP:

RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends approval for the proposed Conditional Use Permit at 112 N Main Street for an Educational Institution with the following conditions:

1. The Applicant be required to provide 47 off-street parking spaces within approximately ½ mile of the subject property subject to the approval of the Zoning Administrator. The applicant may be allowed up to a maximum reduction of 10 of the required off-street parking spaces by providing bicycle parking in accordance with the following standards:

1. 1 vehicle parking space may be waived for each 6 bike parking spaces that are provided, up to a maximum reduction of 10 vehicle parking spaces;
2. 50% of the provided bicycle parking spaces shall be covered as approved by the Zoning Administrator.

2. The Applicant shall be allowed to phase in the off-street parking requirement by providing 50% of the required parking mitigation upon occupancy of the building and the remaining 50% to be provided when enrollment of the Educational Institution use upon the subject property reaches 150 students, or five (5) years from the date of the issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy of the building, whichever occurs first. (Packet, page 11, emphasis original)

And Douglas Wilson appears confident that he doesn’t need to uncage the monkeys. He has signaled his position by scheduling another event for kirkers to attend instead of the public hearing:

Join us for an evening of preaching from our Greyfriars Hall ministerial students. They will each be preaching a short sermon on an Ascension text. (Kirk website)

Moscow has had two opportunities to legally stop Douglas Wilson, but each time no one had the stomach or the will to do the right thing. Tuesday night will be Moscow’s third and last chance to stop him. If the BOA doesn’t hold Mr. Wilson accountable this time, then everything will change. The Bhagwan of the Palouse will have succeeded in another coup. This appears inevitable to me. Barring a miracle, the CUP is a lock. Doug Wilson’s “take” of Moscow is almost complete.

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¹ Douglas Wilson enjoys full executive authority of Christ Church via a clever parliamentary procedure that requires a unanimous vote to remove him. This requirement confers all power on one person.
² Most homes in this neighborhood were built before garages were essential and therefore they park on the street.
³ He was a former Microsoft executive with membership in a CREC church. He retired from Microsoft and helped launch an ACCS school, where he worked in an administrative capacity. He eventually ran off with the school secretary, leaving his wife and children behind. From that point forward, the story gets worse.
⁴ Last night I searched the city website to see if NSA applied for a CUP to hold class at Dr. Mitch Stokes’ home. I found nothing. Such a CUP for this otherwise illegal use may exist, but I doubt it.