By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
ELLIS — The Greyhound bus stop in Ellis is facing a zoning violation.
SJ Singh, owner of the A&W and Ellis Days Inn, manages the bus stop on Second Street and said the site is not appropriately zoned for a bus stop.
The bus stop in Ellis is the only bus service in Ellis County. A bus used to stop at the Golden Ox on Vine Street in Hays, but that business stopped the service.
Ellis County was without bus service for more than a year.
SEE RELATED STORY: Greyhound bus service returns to county at A&W in Ellis
"We were not aware of this," he said. "I don't see it as a big issue because the bus stops once or twice a week for pick up and drop off."
Olavee Raub, the legal counsel for the city of Ellis, said Ellis is divided into different districts, each serving a specific purpose.
"The highway service district is where the bus stop is located and does not have a designated place for a bus stop," she said.
Raub said the only place for a bus stop would have been within the central business district, on East 10th Street, a site that hinders Singh's capacity to run operations.
"I'm not going to pursue anywhere else in this town because I don't have ownership in any other places," Singh said.
Despite receiving a citation on Oct. 17 following a warning, Raub said Singh continues to operate the bus stop as of late December.
"The Ellis Public Works administrator had sent a notice of violation to Mr. Singh prior to being cited," she said.
Singh said there are often stranded individuals at his hotel location in Ellis, some of whom are occasionally dropped off by the police.
"We thought it'd be a good idea to help them out. There's a lot of people in the town who don't have transportation," he said.
The Ellis bus stop is capable of taking passengers as far as Garden City, Wichita and Kansas City, Singh said.
Singh's case is set to be in court on Feb. 2 and if found not guilty, would exempt him from paying fines for each day the bus stop has remained operational after the initial citation by the Ellis Public Works Department.
A guilty verdict could potentially lead to the termination of the Greyhound bus stop, an operation that Singh said functioned smoothly during its first six months of establishment.
"They've never thought about those people who don't have transportation. They think everyone is rich and has a car," he said in response to the city of Ellis.
Residents raised concerns at a recent council meeting in the city of Ellis that share similarities, Raub said.
"I know folks have expressed concerns and I think they've been consistent across the number of people who have spoken at that meeting and others as well," Raub said.
Raub said that the citation Singh received was not a result of concerns raised by residents of Ellis but the unlawful location.
"The governing body heard the concerns and certainly discussed what options would be available to address them," she said. "It just happens that it was not operating lawfully because it's not in the proper zone."
Singh said he is in communication with Greyhound for support through the legal proceedings and intends to resume full operations after an appeal to permit the bus stop on Second Street.
"We intended to help people who needed transportation because a lot of time we overlook those people," he said. "I just want people to think about them."
Singh said that Hays residents frequently utilized the bus stop in Ellis as well.