Town Council Responds to Old School Cape Charles Lawsuit
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
August 17, 2012
Cape Charles Town Council has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought against it by the citizens’ group Old School Cape Charles.
After Town Council voted June 14 to sell the old school and surrounding property adjoining Central Park to a private developer, Old School Cape Charles, LLC, sued.
Led by local resident Wayne Creed, Old School Cape Charles had offered to lease or buy the school property for use as a community center. The group contends that the Town rejected its proposal “without . . . logical basis or explanation,” choosing instead to sell the property to Echelon Resources, Inc., for $10. The lawsuit seeks a Circuit Court order declaring the Town Council’s actions “unlawful and invalid.”
In its response August 7, the Town’s attorney argues that:
— Old School Cape Charles lacks standing to appeal to the Court;
— The Town’s resolution is not a zoning decision that can be appealed, and issues concerning zoning actions “are not ripe for determination”;
— Alleged procedural errors have not been proved;
— Old School Cape Charles failed to state how the sale of the property was not in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan; and
— Old School Cape Charles also failed to state why a “lame duck” Town Council may not bind a future Council, and why the Council’s decisions were “arbitrary, capricious, or violative of constitutional rights.”
The Town response asks the Court to dismiss the lawsuit and to award the Town its costs, including attorney’s fees.
Town Manager Heather Acros told the Wave that the response had been recommended by the Town’s legal counsel, and that Town Council had been apprised of the action.
Old School Cape Charles president Wayne Creed said, “Both parties have presented their sides — the next step is to go to trial.” He expects the Court to set a hearing date.
“We also plan to appeal the zoning change and conditional use permit if they are passed by Town Council next week,” Creed said.
So let me get this straight….when the town’s lawyer told them to get a 2 million dollar performance bond from Echelon Resources..The town didn’t listen. When the town’s lawyer told them to get a buy back option…the town ignored the lawyer. But NOW they are listening to the lawyer. I guess they only listen to the lawyer when he is against Old School Cape Charles LLC. They don’t seem to listen to the lawyer in matters that are AGAINST what Echelon Resources and Edwin Gaskin wants. GEE WONDER WHY???? Am I the only person that sees that the town seems to be in business with Edwin Gaskin and his little troop of pirates?
I’m not sure whether what the Town Council did was legal or not. I am not an attorney. However, what they did was certainly not right. From what I gather/have read, the town didn’t bid out the sale of the school. That is not in the best interests of the town and its residents. Secondly, Echelon, once they consumate the sale, does not have to perform, meaning that they don’t have to do a thing as far as rennovations go, if they cannot secure the funding needed. So, for $10, in the end the taxpayers could lose a piece of real estate, and in turn get big, fat, whopping… nothing. That, to me, is a bad deal.
If either or both of those statements are truths, then the whole affair seems ill-conceived and wrong. Whether the Town Council could have sold the building or not, they should have presented the idea to its taxpayers — whom the Town Council works for — for their input and approval.
I would bet that the majority of taxpayers would have preferred the school be sold to the highest bidder, if they agreed to sell it at all.
I don’t like the arrogance of the Council’s handling of this. Despite the public displeasure over this, the Council is forging ahead with its plans. A Council that listens to its taxpayers would’ve decided that maybe more analysis should be applied to this problem and options explored before charging down a path that the taxpayers aren’t clearly on board with.
Of all of this, I’m most ashamed of our Town Council in that it has failed to understand that they work for me and the other taxpayers. We put them in office and we pay their salaries. In turn, they have an obligation to do what’s in the best interests of those that put them in office. From what I can tell, they clearly have not.