The Charlottesville City Council declined the request to authorize the filing of a suit to delay construction of the Ivy Road Parking garage until a pending traffic study is completed.
In response to a letter written by David B. Franzen, an attorney representing community members concerned about the ramifications of the garage, City Attorney S. Craig Brown voiced the Council's decision to reject the lawsuit.
Despite the Department of Environmental Quality recommendation that the University wait for the traffic study before beginning construction, Sandra Bowen, Gov. Mark R. Warner's secretary of administration, granted the University permission to begin construction of the garage.
Bowen said the University had to pay for all traffic and safety improvements resulting from the second traffic study.
The DEQ claimed the University should not start building or clearing ground until traffic issues have been solved, according to Art Lichtenberger, president of the Lewis Mountain Neighborhood Association, an organization opposed to the garage construction.
"My real problem was with the Secretary of Administration's changing of the recommendations from the DEQ," Lichtenberger said. "That has put the city in a very difficult position [because it] does not have the power or money that the University has."
As stated in Brown's letter to Franzen, "the preference of the Council was that the project not be approved until all outstanding local issues, including traffic, were resolved."
Brown does not foresee any great impact resulting from the traffic study.
"If we were to go to court, and if the judge was to enjoin the start of construction until the completion of the traffic study, the University still has approval from the state to build a garage as soon as the study is done," Brown said.
Brown is not implying there would be no point in delaying construction, but rather "the only point is that [a lawsuit] would delay it," he said.
Franzen and his clients disagree. They wanted City Council to be the moving party in the lawsuit because the results "would benefit all city residents" and not just the individuals involved, Franzen said.
"Suppose the traffic experts say the impact [of the garage] is so great and that remedial efforts for necessary improvement are significant and expensive," he said."Are those remedial efforts changes that the University will be willing to pay for?"
According to University Spokeswoman Louise Dudley, the University already has begun planning for methods to alleviate traffic problems, such as synchronizing the traffic lights on Emmet Street and Ivy Road so traffic flows more smoothly.
Franzen and his clients remain skeptical about how much the University can prepare before the study is done.
"We will have no scientific certainty until the study is completed," he said."Actually, not until the garage is really built. But there is a scientific methodology to determine what the traffic flow will be like.If possible, isn't it better to have that knowledge first?"
Lichtenberger agreed.
"We think that prudent planning is smarter -- get the information first, then plan and make decisions, not the other way around," he said.
City Council member Kevin Lynch says he respects the advice of the Council's legal counsel, but still expresses concerns over the University's decision.Originally the designated site for the garage was adjacent to University Hall, and Lynch questions the University's priorities in building this garage at the current location behind the Cavalier Inn on Ivy Road.
"The University administration has done a real disservice to the community," he said. "When the Council does its planning we need to be able to work with the University's master plan and what's been presented to us and have some assurance that it's going to be enacted."
Although City Council declined filing a lawsuit, Franzen said he and his clients are not yet certain whether or not they will continue to pursue additional legal action.
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