Judge: Montreat board members' ties to MRA force overturning of lodge approval

Board members who voted to approve a proposed development in Montreat had direct ties to the organization behind the project, a judge ruled in overturning the board's decision.

Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Peter Knight in September released his written decision that overturned the Montreat Board of Adjustment's January 2022 approval of a new lodge proposed by the Mountain Retreat Association, questioning the impartiality of the board.

“The BOA erred as a matter of law by violating petitioners’ constitutional due process rights to an impartial decision maker when at least four of the seven members who participated in the quasi-judicial hearing were financial contributors to the applicant and did not disclose this information prior to participating in the hearing,” Knight wrote.

The order said these contributions were evidence of a “close associational relationship” between board members and the MRA, a violation of North Carolina general statute 160D-109(d).

When asked why Board of Adjustment members with ties to the MRA did not step down from the decision-making process involving the MRA's proposal, Montreat Town Manager Savannah Parrish told Black Mountain News that the town does not have a comment at this time.

MRA spokesperson Tanner Pickett said the MRA is considering what to do next after receiving the judge’s order.

“Our Board and staff leadership are working with our legal counsel to better understand its impact and implications so we can weigh options and determine the appropriate next steps,” Pickett said in an email to Black Mountain News.

The permit for the lodge was initially approved by the Board of Adjustment in January 2022 after nearly 50 hours of Board of Adjustment hearings.

A group of families, namely the Hayner and Jones families, opposed the lodge and said it would negatively impact their property. In January 2023, they filed a brief with the Buncombe County Superior Court.

A hearing was held May 3 after both the MRA and the town of Montreat filed responses to the original brief. Later that month, Knight informed attorneys of all parties involved that he would be overturning the special use permit granted by the town of Montreat’s Board of Adjustment to the MRA.

The lodge would have sat between Assembly Drive and Georgia Terrace. Outlined at 40,000 square feet, it would have included 40 guest rooms with private baths, a courtyard area and a 30-space parking garage.

The building of the lodge would have meant the demolition of three original structures on MRA property: Galax House, Chestnut Lodge and Lord Apartments.

The opposition group argued that their due process rights were violated because several Board of Adjustment members donated to the MRA, as well as undisclosed ex parte communications. The ex parte communications involved a board member responding to an email blast sent out by the MRA expressing her support of the project.

Knight's written decision said the petitioners’ due process rights were not violated by the email communication.

Knight's decision also said the board made an error in using the testimony of the MRA’s traffic engineer because the testimony was “not competent” in addition to being “not sufficiently trustworthy.”

According to his written decision, the engineer “relied exclusively on the verbal representations of the applicant for the data supporting his opinion” and “did not independently investigate or verify the data provided by the applicant.”

The decision said the matter will be reversed and remanded back to the Board of Adjustment because the board’s decision was not supported by “competent, material and substantial evidence.”

“Even if the record was supported by competent, material and substantial evidence and did not include the above-identified non-due process errors of law, the violation of petitioners’ due process right to an impartial decision maker would still require that the decision be reversed," Knight wrote.

The order does not prevent the MRA from submitting “further or future application or petition.”

Karrigan Monk is the Swannanoa Valley communities reporter for Black Mountain News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Judge: Board members' ties to MRA force overturning of lodge approval