Old School Group Asks Judge to Overturn Zoning Decision
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
September 21, 2012
Following a contentious public hearing August 23, Cape Charles Town Council voted both to rezone the old school property adjoining Central Park and to issue a conditional use permit allowing the school to be converted to an apartment building in a single family residential area.
The contention has not gone away. Now the issue has landed in Northampton Circuit Court, where Old School Cape Charles LLC and two property owners are asking the judge to declare the Town’s zoning and conditional use ordinances illegal.
This is the second lawsuit filed by Old School Cape Charles. On July 18, the group filed suit to block the sale of the old school to a developer, Echelon Resources, Inc.
Old School Cape Charles maintains that Town Council’s decision to sell the school property without requesting bids, and refusal to consider a competing offer from Old School Cape Charles, was both arbitrary and illegal.
The latest lawsuit, filed September 20, also asks relief for two adjoining property owners, Laura Hickman McSpedden and John L. Hickman, who claim the Town failed to notify them of the public hearing as required by law.
Echelon Resources is also named in the suit as a “party in interest” that is the beneficiary of the zoning and conditional use ordinances.
The legal appeal lists six additional reasons why the Town ordinances should be overturned: [Read more…]
