Court wallops developer in epic NIMBY fight
A federal appellate court today sided with the city of Fresno, city officials, and neighborhood activists who have been sued since 1997 by an unsuccessful developer who blamed them for sinking an affordable housing project called "Wellington Place." The short title of the case is Affordable Housing Development Corporation v. City of Fresno. The full official description takes up an exceptional 16 pages of case captions before the text of the opinion even begins.
It seems that back in 1996 the aforementioned Affordable Housing Development Corporation (AHDC) lined up a land purchase, affordable housing tax credits, a prospective tax-exempt bond deal, and a sale of the tax credits to Related Capital. However, after loud neighborhood opposition, the Fresno City Council refused to give its approval for the bonds under the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA). AHDC and its affiliate, Ashwood Construction, sued the city, the council members, and other opponents of the deal beginning in 1997, accusing them variously of "vicious, old-fashioned rabble-rousing," illegal housing discrimination, and breaking promises not to oppose the project -- among quite a few other things.
Today's opinion is by Judge John T. Noonan for a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He applies considerable pointed language to AHDC en route to upholding judgments against the company and ordering AHDC to pay both attorneys' fees and court costs to the private defendants, though not to the city itself.
This one is worth a read simply for the drama factor. It's practically a TV movie. And a quick Google on the subject suggests the background to the case is even hairier than the opinion makes it sound -- e.g. it looks like a right-wing activist law office, the Center for Individual Rights, came in on the side of the deal's opponents. Folks working on cases involving TEFRA may also find the case of practical importance. There's no story yet at the Fresno Bee, but they ought to have something posted by this time tomorrow.
It seems that back in 1996 the aforementioned Affordable Housing Development Corporation (AHDC) lined up a land purchase, affordable housing tax credits, a prospective tax-exempt bond deal, and a sale of the tax credits to Related Capital. However, after loud neighborhood opposition, the Fresno City Council refused to give its approval for the bonds under the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA). AHDC and its affiliate, Ashwood Construction, sued the city, the council members, and other opponents of the deal beginning in 1997, accusing them variously of "vicious, old-fashioned rabble-rousing," illegal housing discrimination, and breaking promises not to oppose the project -- among quite a few other things.
Today's opinion is by Judge John T. Noonan for a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He applies considerable pointed language to AHDC en route to upholding judgments against the company and ordering AHDC to pay both attorneys' fees and court costs to the private defendants, though not to the city itself.
This one is worth a read simply for the drama factor. It's practically a TV movie. And a quick Google on the subject suggests the background to the case is even hairier than the opinion makes it sound -- e.g. it looks like a right-wing activist law office, the Center for Individual Rights, came in on the side of the deal's opponents. Folks working on cases involving TEFRA may also find the case of practical importance. There's no story yet at the Fresno Bee, but they ought to have something posted by this time tomorrow.
posted by Martha Bridegam at 2:06 PM
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