Fayetteville’s deal with Prince Charles Holdings, LLC (PCH) for a parking deck on the land beside our new baseball stadium is a mistake.  The details of this mistake have been kept from public view.  Thus far, the city council has hammered out the deal with PCH and its lawyers in “closed sessions” with only the minutes from these sessions being released to the press, providing little insight into what Fayetteville is getting and what we are giving away.

City officials are keeping the negotiations secret by claiming the deal falls under an “economic development” exception to the public meetings law, giving the council cloudy legal cover to act behind closed doors while it decides how to spend millions of tax dollars.

Few questions have been asked by the press, and there seems to be an underlying assumption that the general public will get to use the new deck.  The Fayetteville Observer’s editorial board recently supported the overall project, stating on March 18:

“The parking deck is likely to get plenty of use by the hotel, the office building and the ballpark, as well as by downtown visitors.”

After making a public records request on March 28, I received the city’s Downtown Development Agreement (and amendments) with PCH and its affiliated businesses.   The latest amendment can be viewed with this link.  Here’s what’s happening:

Continue reading →