A Virginia-based housing developer and a property owner in the town of Orange are suing the town and its officials, claiming Orange wants to condemn a 9.5-acre parcel of land to prevent its use for affordable housing. Developer AvalonBay Communities Inc. and landowner Ernest Cuzzocreo Jr. say the town cobbled together a last-minute plan for an industrial park on the property as a pretext to block the affordable housing development.
“The defendants have hijacked the legitimate powers of municipal government and have used them for patently unconstitutional, illegal and discriminatory purposes,” writes plaintiffs’ attorney Timothy S. Hollister in his post-trial brief.
