Superior Court Judge overturns Lebanon Planning Staff; re-instates Building Permit.
Decision overrules Lebanon Planning Board's recent action to deny extension and kill the River Park project despite Staff delays.
November decision grants River Park a Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order against City of Lebanon. Property rights have been restored, but legal actions continue.
N.H. Superior Court overrules City of Lebanon
Read Decision from Superior Court Judge
28-page decision supports River Park's claims, rejects City of Lebanon's arguments and City Attorney's attempt to dismiss case. Municipal Estoppel confirms Staff acted improperly.
“when pressed, [the building inspector] did not identify what harm he sought to prevent by invalidating XYZ’s permit.”
Petition to Compel: Right to Know Request
On June 14, 2024 River Park filed a N.H. RSA 91-A Right to Know request. After 174 days of not receiving any files that are required to be made publicly available, we have Petitioned the Court asking the City to comply with State law.
Questions/Comments
If you have any questions or comments regarding River Park or the ongoing legal case, please complete this form and your inquiry will be directed to the appropriate party.
For the past 2 years, River Park has been navigating repeat delays and obstruction from the Lebanon Planning Staff; the latest in pattern of behavior that has plagued project.
Staff's decision to invalidate the building permit was overturned 4-1 by Lebanon Appeal Board.
At 4:30pm on 30th day of 30-day appeal period, City Staff and City Attorney filed an appeal of own Appeal Board to State, knowing further delay would prevent project from proceeding.
N.H. Attorney General's office directed River Park toward filing Municipal Estoppel case, leading to 3-days of testimony and evidentiary hearings held in October/November.
Amidst Superior Court proceedings, Lebanon Planning Board voted 5-0 to deny an extension of River Park Approvals, effectively killing the project despite City delays.
River Park's Attorney filed a N.H. 91-A Right to Know request in June, requesting City's files and communications as State law requires. City has not provided any files for over 170 days.
River Park has provided exhaustive evidence and costly legal filings in our defense, and all Architectural and Engineering plans are proactively updated to current codes and ready to proceed.
Comments at Lebanon City Council budget hearing
Following the Superior Court’s decision on November 25th, we attended the Lebanon City Council hearing on December 4th and made comments during the hearing on the 2025 Budget (11.9% increase).
Earlier in the meeting the Council approved an additional $100,000 allocation for ongoing legal matters, and the City Manager’s office represented to the public their successful legal actions. So we asked two questions?
1. Why is the City Manager spending hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting against an addition to the tax base…while he’s proposed 12% tax increase?
2. Was the City Council even made aware of the Staff’s obstructions and costly actions, or is this Administration operating below sea level?