Ark Valley News - Truck stop loses in lawsuit

Truck stop loses in lawsuit
By Taylor Messick
Last Updated: January 20, 2022

A Sedgwick County judge late last month ruled in Park City's favor in a lawsuit brought against the city for failing to approve a zoning change. Park City was sued by L&P Properties over the denial of a proposed truck stop at the northwest corner of 85th North and I-135.

Lou Robelli owns 18.6 acres of land at the intersection and asked the court to overturn the city council's decision to deny a rezoning of the property. The suit challenged the “lawfulness and reasonableness" of the city council's Nov. 10, 2020, decision to deny a zone change from commercial to industrial. Although a service station is already allowed on the property due to its current zoning, an industrial zoning would have also allowed overnight truck parking on the property.

The Park City Planning Commission approved the rezoning with a 6-1 vote on Oct. 26. The city council voted 5-4 to deny the zoning change and afterwards voted 6-3 in favor of killing the request so it would not go back to the planning commission. The decision was made after hours of testimony and pleading from residents of Saddlebrook, Bear Hill and other surrounding neighborhoods who were concerned about crime, pollution and property values.

L&P had 30 days from Nov. 10 to appeal the decision to district court and a suit was filed on Dec. 10. It stated that the property owner was aggrieved by the council's decision and accused the city council of failing in several different respects to the process.

One of the claims in the lawsuit was that the city council made an unreasonable decision in this zoning case, which the judge disagreed with. The suit alleged that the city council pre-judged the application in the zoning case and the judge also disagreed with that claim.

The suit accused the council of deferring to a vocal minority that didn't want the zoning change rather than thoroughly deliberating about the facts of the case. Again, the judge disagreed with that accusation.

Council members were accused of communicating with people who were opposed to the zoning change without making those communications public. The judge found that those communications weren't relied on by council members to make the final decision.

The judge essentially found that all of the claims in the lawsuit were without merit. She issued summary judgement in favor of the city.

Ryan Meyer of Fleeson, Gooing, Coulson & Kitch LLC represented Park City in the suit. He said written transcripts of the planning commission meetings and council meetings were provided as evidence. YouTube videos of the meetings were also available, although Meyer said he isn't exactly sure how much of that material the court reviewed before making its decision.

Meyer expects a journal entry of judgement within the next two weeks. That will give the judge the chance to issue an official judgement in accordance with her oral ruling. After that occurs, L&P Properties will have 30 days to appeal the decision. If an appeal isn't filed in 30 days, the suit is dead.