A group of Francis residents who sued the city over its decision to greenlight a Best Western hotel on the corner of S.R. 32 and Lambert Lane is now requesting that a judge issue a decision on the case as it approaches the first anniversary of its filing. The lawsuit focused on the hotel’s pro ximity to residential neighborhoods in addition to the development’s potential effect on wetlands in the area. The complaint claimed Harwood Development LLC, the company spearheading the hotel’s construction, placed the hotel next to The Village at Lambert Lane, a nearby subdivision, even though the company owned 10 acres of land and could have distanced the hotel from existing homes. “There are also multiple wetlands on or next to the proposed development, but Harwood did not submit any of the required application materials for environmentally sensitive lands,” the complaint said. The plaintiffs also alleged that the Francis City Council purposefully opted not to follow city code, which prohibited “late-night facilities” from being located near residential areas. However, Francis city planner Katie Henneuse repeatedly told the City Council that the code was too vague to enforce because it did not include any specifics, such as explicit, measurable descriptions of the distance a 24-hour business needs to be from a neighborhood. She said denying the hotel’s conditional use permit because of the late-night facilities stipulation would likely trigger a lawsuit. “In making its decision, the City Council openly stated it would not follow the Code’s requirement that late night facilities be located away from residential areas because it believed Harwood would sue the City,” the complaint said. “In addition, the City Council never considered requiring Harwood to move the hotel to mitigate its substantial negative effects on the surrounding neighborhoods.” The lawsuit said the City Council “illegally ignored” the code relating to late-night facilities and failed to follow city procedure regarding developments on sensitive environmental lands. It also claimed the City Council “failed to impose reasonable mitigating conditions for the proposed hotel” despite its issuance of a conditional use permit. “The City Council never considered moving the hotel to a different part of the 9.92-acre parcel,” court documents said. “The single most impactful thing the City Council could have (and should have) considered in mitigating the hotel’s harmful effects was to require Harwood to place the hotel on the eastern boundary next to State Route 32. … None of the City Council’s adopted conditions could counteract ‘the reasonably anticipated detrimental effects’ of the hotel’s 24-hour noise, light and customers.” The plaintiffs requested Third District Judge Richard Mrazik reverse the hotel’s conditional use permit as part of a summary judgment, which is a court ruling issued before a case heads to trial.  Mrazik had not published an order on the case as of Tuesday afternoon, and there are currently no hearings scheduled. The post Francis residents ask judge to decide Best Western’s future in legal proceedings appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less