Opponents of the Meadow Creek Parkway have filed another federal lawsuit seeking to halt construction of the road.
The new suit, filed by the Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park and one of its members, accuses the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of not sufficiently reviewing the environmental impact of the road and of using the wrong sort of permit to allow the Virginia Department of Transportation to build the road.
“The construction and … use of the [Meadow Creek Parkway] would literally destroy much of the east side of McIntire Park,” reads the complaint. “As for those parts of the park that would not be destroyed by construction of the road itself, many would be devastated by the … traffic that it would support.”
Coalition member John Cruickshank said that the park itself is a historic resource and that several other historic properties sit nearby.
Fellow coalition member and Charlottesville resident Daniel Bluestone asked the court to invalidate the Corps of Engineers’ authorization for the project and grant an injunction barring VDOT from building the road until the review and permits that have not been done are completed.
Cruickshank said coalition members feared construction and the felling of trees would be imminent if they didn’t sue.
“This is an issue that’s been very contentious, and it was perhaps inevitable that it would end up in the court, so we will wait to see how the courts respond,” said Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris.
Vice Mayor Holly Edwards said she is against the road in general, but didn’t want to comment on a lawsuit she hadn’t seen.
Councilor Satyendra Huja said he doesn’t think there’s any need to stop the parkway and that it won’t have any significant impact on historic property or the environment.
“We’ve been talking about it for 45 years,” he said.
Timothy Hulbert, president of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, hadn’t yet had a chance to review the suit when contacted for comment, but he said he believed the Corps of Engineers had acted properly and did not expect the suit to be successful.
Cruickshank said he doesn’t know if the requested environmental study would determine the project too disruptive to go ahead.
“I just know that we feel that that was a requirement and they didn’t do it,” he said.
Cruickshank said the group’s main objective is to save McIntire Park. He believes that if the city put the road to a referendum, voters would reject the proposal, he said.
VDOT spokesman Lou Hatter said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
The Corps of Engineers did not return a call requesting comment.
Because officials treat the interchange with the U.S. 250 Bypass as a separate project from the section that would connect the interchange to the already-constructed portion of the parkway, activists have filed suit seeking to stop each section. The previously filed lawsuit challenges the use of federal funding for the interchange.
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