Jordan Lake developers sue Durham County over 751 Assemblage
Southern Durham Development, the company seeking to develop 164 acres of land near Jordan Lake into a massive, mixed-use project, has sued Durham County for “wrongful intentional and grossly negligent actions relating to plaintiff and its real property.” The lawsuit seeks compensation for damages, and for county decisions to be “declared invalid,” in regards to Southern Durham Development’s property. Tax records show the company’s property in Durham consists only of the so-called 751 Assemblage project site, which it bought from Neal Hunter, a minority shareholder, in 2008.
The company filed the lawsuit in District 14 Superior Court (PDF, 3.5 MB) on June 12, and has until July 2 to explain the full details of its complaint.
Although 751 Assemblage is not mentioned by name, the filing refers implicitly to former Durham Planning Director Frank Duke’s decision, in 2006, to approve a survey, funded by Hunter, that removed the site from a one-mile protected area surrounding Jordan Lake. State regulators have since found Duke’s decision to have violated state code, because it did not go before a local governing body or state regulators–requirements of watershed map changes.
The lawsuit seeks to “uphold an official interpretation of defendant’s planning department”–presumably, Duke’s interpretation in 2006–while invalidating Durham County’s “attempts to disavow that interpretation.” Last year, Durham County submitted the survey to state regulators for the first time; in April 2009, commissioners voted to subject the resulting map change to a public hearing process.
Southern Durham Development and its attorneys have long defended Duke’s original approval, in correspondence with government officials, presentations at public hearings, and interviews with the Indy. During a Durham County Commission meeting in April, Neal Hunter and his brother, Jeff; Southern Durham Development principals Alex Mitchell and Tyler Morris; and lawyers representing the company claimed that their property rights would be violated by a public hearing process.
“The commissioners should put an end to this continuously moving target, and acknowledge the property rights that I have,” Neal Hunter said then. “You have no right to change the rules on taxpayers and citizens. As landowners, how can we rely on anything in the future?”
Patrick Byker, an attorney representing Southern Durham Development, refused to comment or elaborate on the suit. Chuck Kitchen, the attorney for Durham County, was not immediately available for comment.
More details to follow.
5 Comments
“The Rule of Law:
1. If the facts are against you, argue the law.
2. If the law is against you, argue the facts.
3. If the facts and the law are against you, yell like hell.”
— Steve Bocckino 17 June 2009
These guys must have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on attorney fees and other related fees) associated with their attempts to rezone this property out of the critical watershed. Meanwhile, Durham county officials have received a $90,000 quote for a thorough, gov’t-overseen, ‘independent’ survey.
If these guys truly believed their property to be out of the critical/protected watershed area, why wouldn’t they have just ponied up the $90,000 and let Durham county do its own unbiased survey of their portion of Jordan Lake?
It certainly would have saved the development team/company a tremendous amount of time and money.
Of course, I think we all can deduce the answer to the million dollar question posed here…
— Melissa Rooney 17 June 2009
So, the law firm that’s suing the County here is the same law firm that’s trying to overturn Durham’s ban on billboards — a move that would allow big, bright, electronic billboards on mono-poles flashing more than 10,000 ads/day near our schools, parks and neighborhoods.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”
-Mahatma Gandhi
— John Schelp 20 June 2009
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