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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

One Day the Daily Times May Accurately Report on the Old Mall

The central premise of this morning's Daily Times article on the old mall project appears to be true. A judge has ruled that the developers must return a seven figure deposit to builder K. Hovnavian Homes.

It's those pesky detail that just keep getting in the way. You know, little things like what a TIF is or whether or not a suit was filed in the second re-zoning of the parcel.

It may seem like nit-picking, but if you're going to tell a story over a long period of time, you need to keep you story straight - even if the facts are wrong. Read More ...

4 comments:

Two Sentz said...

Unfortunately this project is probably dead in the water. The City DPW is putting up every road block possible. A development like this could be a boon for Salisbury long term. Why can't the City see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Anonymous said...

Quoting the Daily Times: "In 2007, four citizens filed an official petition for administrative review of the city’s approval of the project, which was settled through compromise but delayed the demolition of the mall."

THIS STUFF IS FILLED WITH ERROR (hey, it's the Daily Times)! Here are the facts:

The "four citizens" appealled the first rezoning in 2006 (not 2007), and in Sept. 2006 the Circuit Court ruled that the rezoning was illegal and struck down the rezoning (there was really no "compromise"). Then, in 2007 the City did a legal rezoning that was not appealled. None of that "delayed the demolition of the mall," which could have been done at any time over the years. Barrie Tilghman took no action to make them demolish the building even after it was condemned as unsafe, and instead, with Comegys' support, promised and gave them a huge subsidy ("TIF") deal in order to get them to do that work.

The K. Hovnanian Homes' suit is based on delay by the mall owner in getting other needed approvals for the proposed project, which has still not yet occurred.

Anonymous said...

they need to build this thing.

Anonymous said...

11:52 is right. Also, even tho the developers missed several deadlines and were found not to have just cause for missing them, no fines were leavied! Thanks again, Barrie and friends.