NOTN- The legal fight over the future of the historic Telephone Hill neighborhood will now proceed entirely in Superior Court, after district judge Kristen Swanson declined to rule on the city’s eviction cases tied to the planned redevelopment project.
City Attorney Emily Wright said Judge Swanson dismissed the eviction actions in District Court, to Superior Court Judge Daniel Browning of Sitka.
“Superior Court handles more complex matters than District Court, so Judge Swanson was only going to rule on the issue of, should we (CBJ) have possession of the houses, and should these tenants have to leave immediately?” Said Wright, “The tenants, plus a few others, have filed a civil lawsuit, and in that lawsuit are talking about the evictions, but they’re also talking about the larger questions of, what is the city doing on Telephone Hill? Should that continue? And so really, Judge Swanson’s not going to hear the small little piece. She’s going to send it over to the Superior Court to handle everything.”
The lawsuit alleges the city improperly evicted residents and violated state and federal historic preservation laws in its push to clear Telephone Hill for redevelopment.
Wright said the city accepts Swanson’s decision and plans to request an expedited hearing before Judge Browning.
“We are going to ask for expedited hearings on that case. Because even though, civil cases can take a very, very long time. The city is trying to move forward on the testing of the houses.” She said.
The city’s engineering department has already begun hazardous materials assessments on homes that are vacant. Three homes remain occupied.
“The city engineering department is working their way through doing the hazardous materials assessment, and we’re starting with the houses that are empty. We need to get to those other houses before this next step so we’re going to ask for expedited consideration in the Superior Court matter, which probably means a hearing, sometime after Thanksgiving.”
The city plans to redevelope Telephone Hill into higher-density housing and had issued Nov. 1 eviction notices.