After three and one-half hours of mediation between the City of Blue Ridge and Ada Street LLC, Ada Street LLC decided to take Blue Ridge City Council Member Angie Arp back to court.  This time, only Council Member Angie Arp is involved in the pending litigation.  Claims against the City of Blue Ridge are dismissed.  Mayor Donna Whitener and Council Members Harold Herndon and Rhonda Thomas are not part of the Ada Street LLC’s lawsuit.  The Superior Court of Fannin County has found insufficient evidence that Council Members Bruce Pack and Rodney Kendall voted with “malice, willfulness or corruption” in their votes against Ada Street LLC.  In the upcoming lawsuit, Ada Street LLC will be suing for attorney fees and damages.

According to City Attorney David Syfan, two very different items are left in the lawsuit Ada Street will bring against Ms. Arp.  The first item is whether Ms. Arp was disqualified from voting in the Ada Street rezoning request due to state rules surrounding unethical voting in zoning decisions.  The second item is if Ms. Arp should receive legal immunity since she voted on zoning as part of her responsibility as a City Council Member.  During the three and one-half hours of mediation, Ada Street LLC and the City of Blue Ridge were not able to reach a decision on Ms. Arp’s voting actions or legal immunity.

In May, Judge Christian of the Fannin County Superior Court found that Mr. Kendall had no financial interest or malice in his vote against the Ada Street re-zoning; although the Court did say that Mr. Kendall should have abstained from voting because he and his aunt-by-marriage both own property on Ada Street.  The Court found Mr. Pack voted his conscious as a Council Member when voting against the Ada Street development because he believed that the development would have a negative impact on residents to the north and east of the property.  Mr. Pack cited his reasons for voting against the Ada Street development was due to its plans for 32 units with 42 parking places along with the City’s Future Land Use Map showing only residential properties along Ada Street.

In the case of Ms. Arp, on the other hand, questions still remain.  For Ms. Arp to be found guilty, Ada Street LLC must prove that Ms. Arp acted with “malice, willfulness or corruption” in her vote against rezoning the Ada Street property from residential to commercial.  The plaintiffs must show that Ms. Arp immediately benefited or stood to benefit financially from her vote regarding the Ada Street property.  Court documents from My 6^th also state that Ms. Arp may have acted with malice to Steve Oyer, who is one of the Ada Street LLC plaintiffs.  Witness statements contend that Ms. Arp has a personal feud with Mr. Oyer.

The evidence against Ms. Arp is strong enough that in its May 6^th ruling, the Superior Court of Fannin County found that “genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether Ms. Arp held such bias, prejudice or conflict that would have disqualified her from voting on the issue of Plaintiff’s application to re-zone its property.”

Ada Street LLC brought legal motions against the City of Blue Ridge, Mayor and Council Members after the Council denied Ada Street LLC’s zoning variance request.  Ada Street LLC bought the Ada Street property in July 2014.  At that time, the property was in a residential zone.  On October 31, 2014, the Council heard Ada Street LLC’s request to change the property from residential to commercial.  On February 10, 2015, the City Council voted 3-2 to deny Ada Street LLC’s request.  Council Members Arp, Pack and Kendall voted against re-zoning.  Council Members Thomas and Herndon voted for re-zoning.  Ada Street LLC’s property is directly on the east side of Hamilton Square shopping area.  The property consists of two adjoining lots on Ada Street and two adjoin lots on River Street.

Blue Ridge City Council’s unethical zoning decisions are also at the center of another investigation, the one being headed by Jarrard & Davis.  Jarrard & Davis will release their findings for the second phase of the City of Blue Ridge investigation tomorrow night, June 14^th at the Blue Ridge City Council meeting.