A state district judge has denied a temporary injunction to stop the city of Orange from buying a bank building on 16th Street and moving city hall to the commercial strip.
260th District Judge Buddie Hahn Monday morning ruled the city of Orange’s comprehension master plan is a suggestion and not a law; so the city can legally move city hall away from the Old Town Center.
The Orange City Council in January voted, without discussion, to buy the bank building for $2 million and move city hall from downtown to the commercial area.
A lawyer living in the Old Orange Historic District and a non-profit group, Historic Orange Preservation Empowerment, sued to stop the purchase and moving city hall. The lawsuit contends the city charter, approved by voters, requires the city to follow the comprehensive master plan unless it is changed through a process that includes a public hearing plus votes by the council and planning and zoning commission. The last comprehensive master plan says city hall should be in the Old Town Center, or in the historic area of downtown.
During a hearing before Hahn last week, City Attorney John Cash Smith argued the comprehensive master plan is a suggestion and not a law.
Hahn in his ruling writes “The Plan provided that City and County services should be centrally located to increase their identity and effectiveness to the public. There is no requirement that City offices must be located in the Old Town Center. The purchase of the Bank and the moving of the city services is not in accordance with the suggested Plan, but it is not prohibited by it and therefore not in conflict with the Plan.”
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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