Court action often appears glacial, but there is an update in the two suits filed by Wake Forest attorney Nathaniel C. Parker on behalf of Frank and Olga McCoy in September 2014 after the town commissioners approved the Tryon subdivision.
The couple has subsequently filed a third suit against the Town of Wake Forest in December alleging there were violations of the state’s open meeting law while the commissioners were considering the rezoning and master plan.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Hardin, who heard arguments from the town and the petitioners in December about certiorari for one of the first two suits, has now asked the same parties to appear before him Friday at 9:30 a.m.
Certiorari is an appeal to the Superior Court to review the town’s approval of the developer’s application. The McCoys and their attorney have asked the court to review the decision by the town board to ensure it followed the proper procedures and law in making the decision to approve the application by Tryon Wake Forest, based in Knightdale.
The town has made motions to dismiss the first two suits, but Judge Hardin has not yet issued a decision on those requests. In December attorney Tobias Hampson with Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton, the law firm the town uses, said, “Once Judge Hardin rules on the Motions to Dismiss we will know whether the case will be heard on the Petitioner’s substantive arguments in the certiorari petition.
The McCoys own property just south of the 131.5 acres the town rezoned for the Tryon subdivision in July.
The couple argues they might be required to provide connections to small tracts in the subdivision that are cut off from other access by wetlands, thereby losing some lots in their property when and/or if they develop. They also question the timing of the approval and other aspects. A separate suit challenges the conditional zoning and master plan.
Also, there has been no action in a related situation about the Tryon subdivision. Two men, Robert Cooper and Tony Gordon, are refusing access to their property south of N.C. 98 (Wait Avenue) for the City of Raleigh to build a sewer line that will provide sewer service to most of the Tryon subdivision and a large swath of land extending eastward to Averette Road, all north of N.C.98.
Gordon said by email this week that they have talked with the Tryon developers but have not heard any response. He said the City of Raleigh could schedule a public hearing next month about condemning their land for the easement.
