With a victory in court behind it, Southern Durham Development is pressing for a hookup to city water and sewer lines for its 751 South subdivision site.
In a Tuesday letter to City Attorney Patrick Baker (see link below), Cal Cunningham, an attorney for Southern Durham Development, requested that the City Council take up and vote on a utility extension agreement "at the next available session."
"It is Southern Durham's expectation that the Application will be brought to a vote within thirty (30) days," Cunningham wrote.
Cunningham pointed out that the company applied for the extension in April 2010, and that city policy is to process such applications within five months.
Last summer, the City Council put off any action on the utility extension, and Southern Durham's application to have its 167-acre site on N.C. 751, near the Chatham County line, annexed into the city, until a lawsuit involving the project was settled.
Superior Court Judge Henry Hight decided the suit in Southern Durham's favor Jan. 12, but the plaintiffs – the Chancellor's Ridge Homeowners Association and homeowners Kim Preslar and Kristin Corbell – intend to appeal.
Southern Durham has moved for an award of sanctions, costs and attorney fees from the plaintiffs, on the grounds their lawsuit was "frivolous litigation."
The plaintiffs sued Durham County over a 2010 rezoning for the 751 South property critical to the planned development. They claimed a protest petition against the zoning was improperly declared invalid. Southern Durham Development joined the case on the county's side.
Responding to Southern Durham's motion this week, plaintiff Kim Preslar said it "appears to be a SLAPP suit" ("Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation").
She and the the other plaintiffs "are not entirely surprised by such stunts," Preslar wrote in an email response to a question from Bull's Eye.
"It's not clear yet whether ... this is a political statement to the City who will determine whether 751 S receives the water they need to support this type of development," she continued.
As planned, 751 South would include up to 1,300 homes and 300,000 square feet of commercial and civic space. Project opponents claim it would threaten water quality in already polluted Jordan Lake.
