Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park

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The Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park (CPMP) is a group formed to fight the construction of the Meadowcreek Parkway, a portion of which would traverse through the City's McIntire Park. The coalition consists of several environmental groups that are opposed to the Parkway.

Members

Piedmont Group of the Sierra Club Sensible Alternatives to the Meadow Creek Parkway (STAMP) Priority for Community Transportation Preservation Virginia Neighborhood Association for North Downtown

Current legal actions

The group solicited donations for a litigation fund beginning in December 2008.[1].

On February 24, 2009, Attorney Jennifer McKeever filed two motions in Charlottesville Circuit Court designed to stop the parkway's construction[2]. McKeever’s first action was to file a motion asking for the court to declare that the City illegally transferred land to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). In June 2008, City Council approved permanent and temporary construction easements on 9 acres of land owned by the City in Albemarle County[3]. The motion for declaratory judgment claims the action was unconstitutional because state law required a supermajority to convey public land to another body [4 votes on a 5 member body]. The vote on June 2, 2008 was 3-2 with Councilor Holly Edwards and Mayor Dave Norris voting no.

The second action is a request for a preliminary injunction to immediately halt all activities related to the construction of the Parkway. This request builds on the argument being made in the motion of judgment. The request claims that VDOT has caused and is causing “irreparable harm” by using the 9 acres as a staging area for the parkway’s construction.

Hearings for both motions have not yet been scheduled.

Pending legal actions

CPMP is also pursuing another legal angle to stop the parkway. Andrea Ferster, an attorney from Washington D.C., sent a letter to the Federal Highway Administration which outlines their case for why the federal guidelines from both the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act need to be applied to the entire Meadowcreek Parkway, rather than just the Interchange between the 250 Bypass and McIntire Road.

Ferster serves as the General Counsel for Rails to Trails Conservancy and has extensive experience with enforcement of federal environmental and historic preservation law. The letter ends with the proposition, “Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park intends to pursue all available legal remedies, including but not limited to litigation to enforce NEPA and Section 4(f).”

Notes