Not so fast

Amy Trotto

2008-05-06 15:51:48

 Not so fast

As one of the founders of Citizens for Accountable Government, Inc., a non-profit corporation formed to provide public awareness and support for matters such as the Rohr v. Board of Supervisors and Cross Creek Investment, LLC lawsuit, I feel obligated, on behalf of our supporters, to point out the gross mischaracterizations reported in the April 30 edition of the Times-Democrat regarding Judge Parker’s recent decision in this lawsuit.

It is represented in the head-line article that Judge Parker ruled “that Fauquier’s board acted properly in approving Cross Creek Investments LLC’s project at U.S. 29 and Route 600.” This statement does not appear in Judge Parker’s opinion, and the Court made no such ruling.

The judge granted Mr. Rohr the opportunity to amend his initial pleading to add additional facts to support his claim that the board of supervisors acted unreasonably and contrary to the general welfare, public necessity or good zoning practices in approving Cross Creek’s application.

The amendment of a complaint to add additional facts, especially during the initial pleading stage, as in this case, is a fairly common legal procedure. To report that “Rohr could ask him to reconsider” these issues again incorrectly implies that the judge ruled on the merits of this claim.

The board of supervisors, the county, and the developer sought to have the entire case dismissed on their allegation that Mr. Rohr would not sustain sufficient personal impact from this development. The Court denied their argument, finding that Mr. Rohr does indeed have standing to challenge the decision in Court.

The paper’s headline “Costco court ruling favors developer, OKs county’s green light”, as well as the county administrator’s quotes that now “this project can go forward in a timely fashion and Costco will build the project,” are again very misleading to your readers. If Mr. Rohr pursues either of the legal avenues available to him — to amend his pleading or to appeal the judge’s decision on the notice counts — this case is far from over.


Amy Trotto, president

Citizens for Accountable Government, Inc.