The 751 South rezoning passed a county commissioners' vote Monday night (read long version of online story here), but the development's opponents plan to take their case to a higher authority.
Kim Preslar, who lives near the 751 South site and filed a protest petition against the rezoning, says she and other opponents "will be pursuing" legal action to contest a ruling by County Attorney Lowell Siler that invalidated their petition.
Siler, before the commissioners' vote, said in his opinion the state DOT lacked authority to revoke its acceptance of a right-of-way donation from Southern Durham Development, which owns the 751 South site and is proposing to build a mixed-use subdivision there.
By making the donation, Southern Durham moved its property line beyond the limit subject to the protest petition, rendering it invalid and allowing the rezoning to pass with only three commissioners voting approval. A valid protest petition would have required four.
The rezoning passed 3-2.
Siler's opinion appeared to contradict that of the state Attorney General's office and some Siler received from the University of North Carolina School of Government.
"We're pretty shocked that the County Attorney's opinion did not take into account the opinions of the Attorney General and the School of Government," and seemed to follow that of the developers' attorneys, Preslar says.
Comments
Will Siler be defending the county?
Wed, 08/11/2010 - 23:24 — mmr121570If the county commissioners (well 3 of them) have such faith in Siler's legal experience and opinion, will they be relying on him for their defense in the opponents' lawsuit, or will the Durham taxpayers have to shell out more $ for an independent attorney, as they have in the recent past? Of course, the county will probably rely on K&L Gates to intervene and do the legal work for them -- why change course now?
"We're pretty shocked that
Tue, 08/10/2010 - 14:18 — spammer"We're pretty shocked that the County Attorney's opinion did not take into account the opinions of the Attorney General and the School of Government," and seemed to follow that of the developers' attorneys, Preslar says.
You shouldn't be.