City settles one suit, appears to encourage another

Maricopa appears to have avoided one law suit and spurred another by agreeing to settle with the developers of Legacy Traditional School.

The City Council on Tuesday in a special meeting voted to approve a settlement agreement with MA Maricopa LLC, which had filed a $1.9 million suit against the city claiming it was not treated fairly by the Planning Department causing the land developer and its tenant, Legacy Traditional School, significant delays.

Under the settlement, the city will grant zoning changes and provide infrastructure such as traffic signals, in addition to purchasing the portion of right-of-way along Porter, Honeycutt and Continental alignments adjacent to the developer’s land.

Both parties will be required to agree on the purchase price of the land by following a highly structured appraisal process as outlined in the settlement, said William J. Sims III of the law offices of Moyes Storey, who is representing the city in the matter.

“I think we have reasonable defenses,” Sims said shortly after the one-hour Council meeting adjourned, explaining that the city would likely fare well if it had opted to seek its day in court rather than settle. “The problem is that legal defenses are not certain. They are not quick, and they are not cheap.”

Sims added that by making improvements to the parcel, the city would be accommodating continued economic development by providing better access to the area where a Wal-mart, Home Depot and other businesses have expressed interest in opening nearby along the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway.

“We’re really just accelerating improvements we’d make anyway,” Sims said, adding that it just makes sense to divert money that would otherwise pay court costs to upgrade the streets, sidewalks and more.

Meanwhile, a Maricopa resident who has plans to open a charter school of his own, said he has been watching how the city has handled MA Maricopa’s notice of claim now pending in Maricopa Superior Court. He said his project has suffered significant road blocks of its own.

The cost alone of producing required engineering studies and reports, for example, could run as high as $500,000.

If the city is willing to pay many of Legacy Traditional School’s development costs, why not pay his, too? asked Shannon Johns, a marketing manager for a financial firm who recently resigned from the Governing Board of the Maricopa Union School, effective in late May.

On Monday, Johns said, the Phoenix-based law firm of Dessaules and Harper filed a notice of claim against Maricopa seeking similar treatment from the city.

“I don’t even know if the city has been served yet,” he said.

Jim Hull, a frequent contributor in meetings in which there is a call to the public, said during conversations outside of the closed executive session that he wasn’t surprised to hear that the settlement already appeared to be setting precedent.

“It’s the first example of opening the flood gates,” Hull said.

When the open meeting resumed, Hull told the Council he felt the Legacy claim was frivolous and urged them to hold off on adopting the settlement until all property appraisals are complete.

“We ask you to stop rushing and to start communicating openly with the citizens of this community,” he said. “We ask that you stop these proceedings and allow more sunshine on this agreement and a full public review.”

Shortly thereafter, the Council voted unanimously in favor of adopting the settlement agreement.