By BRIAN McGILLIVARY
bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com
March 09, 2008 04:00 am TRAVERSE CITY -- Acme Township Treasurer Bill Boltres wants his lawsuit against The Village at Grand Traverse developers to continue even if he cannot. Boltres, hospitalized repeatedly in recent years due to heart problems, alleges in his lawsuit that project developers damaged his health by harassing him for three years through their lawsuits and a failed recall attempt. Boltres told his attorney, Grant Parsons, that his case against developers will keep going. "After three years of their threatening my client he's fed up," Parsons said. "It's time for a public trial." Boltres' suit puts a potential kink in the township's hopes of ending three years of litigation over the Village, a proposed massive commercial and residential development anchored by a Meijer store along M-72. Both the township and developers appealed the state Court of Appeals decision last fall granting the Village a special-use permit but giving the township wide discretion in approval of the project's site plan. Developers also appealed dismissal of personal lawsuits seeking financial damages against four township board members including Boltres, and four planning commissioners. Township attorney Chris Bzdok said all parties agreed to dismiss their pending appeals with prejudice, meaning they could not be refiled. But attorneys for Village developer Steve Smith inserted language that will allow developers to file a new appeal. Parsons said the Village wanted Boltres to agree not to investigate or pursue any claims against the Village partners. "They had their fun being the bully for the last three years and they don't want to have anybody investigate what they did, but that's exactly what we are going to do," Parsons said. Parsons said Boltres wants to get to the bottom of who's done what in Acme Township, and isn't interested in a settlement. "They have single-handedly destroyed this community and it's not just the wreckage you see, it's the hidden wreckage that's destroyed the public's will to participate politically in Acme Township," Parsons said. The parties are waiting for the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals to sign off on motions to dismiss the appeals, before the cases go back to 13th Circuit Court Judge Philip E. Rodgers. Rodgers is expected to reissue his decision affirming the special-use permit and the township's discretion in issuing site plan approval. "Then The Village at Grand Traverse has 21 days to get together and decide if they will appeal the dismissal of the (personal) lawsuits again, for the third time," Bzdok said. Boltres filed a similar lawsuit against Meijer Inc. but settled before going to trial. Through depositions and subpoenas, Parsons discovered Meijer hired a public relations firm to secretly orchestrate a failed recall attempt against the township board 13 months ago. The revelation prompted a criminal investigation of Meijer's activities and illegal use of corporate funds in the election by the Grand Traverse County Prosecutor's Office and the State Police. The investigation is expected to conclude by mid to late April, officials said.
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