Image courtesy of Encore Multi Family LLC
The legal team for the Peak’s Addition Homeowner’s Association (PAHA) in their battle to scale back a development at the corner of Peak and Swiss reads like an all-star roster of East Dallas legal minds.
Most recently, City Councilmen Adam Medrano and Philip Kingston joined the fight. They filed a brief last week against EMF Swiss Avenue, the property owner at 4217 Swiss Ave. in Peak’s Addition, who hoped to allow construction to continue while it appeals a stop-work order on the property. Melissa Kingston, wife of councilman Kingston, and former Councilwoman Angela Hunt are also working on behalf of the neighborhood association.
Neighbors successfully challenged a city permit that approved a building they say is taller than the neighborhood’s planning district allows. The city did not appeal the court’s decision that disagreed with their interpretation and pulled the permit, stopping construction. The developer did appeal the decision, which is working its way through city channels. EMF Swiss Avenue has asked to continue work while the appeal is considered.
The councilmen disagree with a city attorney’s position that would allow construction to continue before the case is decided. “The city’s interest ought to be to prevent further construction in a case such as this one because of the risk that the building will have to be partially or totally demolished in the likely event that the judgment is upheld,” Kingston and Medrano’s brief states. They added that EMF Swiss Avenue’s desire to continue construction reveals their “overconfidence in reversing the trial court.”
If the appeal fails, at least part of the existing construction would need to come down while the rest of the project was scaled back.
