I’m not sure if I’m missing something here. Guilford County attorney Mark Payne will move to dismiss the suit filed by private hoteliers against developers hoping to use federal recovery zone bonds to build a $50 million downtown hotel.
Inside Scoop writes:
Payne didn’t want to get into specifics before the filing, but said part of the reasoning will be the suit came too early. He said the motion, which seeks to invalidate the city and county resolutions moving potential projects toward approval by the county bond authority and Local Government Commission, may be looking at the wrong target.
“Any lawsuit trying to overturn the December 10 resolution is very premature,” Payne said. “The commissioners did not approve these projects with that resolution. They just said everyone who applied could move forward in that process, that they could go to the next step.”
OK, that may be the case on the county’s end, at least the way the Rhino reports it. Read the resolution for yourself — Item C under new business.
But that’s certainly not the way it was portrayed at the height of the controversy involving the Greensboro City Council. Remember the Dec. 15 meeting, where council member Zack Matheny —to his credit —specifically asked assistant city manager Andy Scott point-blank if council approval represented an endorsement of specific projects and was told ‘no.’ All hell broke loose when it as revealed that the council in fact did approve the hotel project with its unanimous vote. Remember all the heat Scott took for misleading the council.
Now Payne is arguing the exact opposite, at least the way I read it — also seems to me the City Council’s role in this whole mess would hinder his argument. Again, I’m not sure if I’m missing something here.
