SALISBURY, MD - Local developer Green Street Housing is broadening its lawsuit against the city of Salisbury and Mayor Randy Taylor to more than $5 million as the dispute over downtown development continues.
SBY Market Center LLC is an affiliate of Green Street Housing and the name of a proposed $20-million affordable housing project. Developer David Layfield says the project is already fully funded and the comprehensive development plan review by the city’s planning commission is the final step.
In late July, SBY Market Center filed to force the City to hear an administrative appeal connected to the review of its proposed development. Layfield alleges that Mayor Randy Taylor interfered with the project's review process.
The City of Salisbury asked a Wicomico County judge to dismiss a lawsuit in early August, arguing the legal fight was moot after the City issued comments on the project's development plans.
The expanded portion of the lawsuit hinges on some of the comments left on that site plan review.
"He added a new section to the planning department's letter called Administrative Comments, which has not existed in any comment letter ever to this point,” Layfield said. “We are being treated differently."
It is in those administrative comments that Layfield told WBOC News Mayor Taylor said the plan did not meet parking requirements.
SBY accuses Taylor of deliberately delaying the process by imposing parking requirements that are not yet written into the city’s code. The city has rejected those claims as speculative and says the Mayor has no role in the Board of Appeals process.
Mayor Taylor was not available Wednesday for an interview. WBOC News previously spoke with him in July about his parking concerns.
“The site plan, in my view and based on, you know, the surrounding properties, has far less parking built into it than it should by a factor of about 25%,” Taylor said.
The current plans call for 23 parking spaces on the development site, along with another 18 spaces on a nearby parcel next to Perdue. Layfield said the city is contractually obligated to lease that additional property to Green Street for 99 years at a cost of $1.
The dispute over the project has raised questions about the future of the proposed development and the costs associated with moving forward with the approval process.
"Am I no longer a developer? Am I just a litigant trying to get back the damages that have been done to me?” Layfield said. "Every $10,000 in legal fees that we incur is another day that we aren't developing housing."
The Mayor told Layfield via a letter in July that he was willing to meet with him and his legal team to discuss the project.
