Bart Shea, managing partner for N-Shea Group, the development company proposing the completion of the downtown Park Place Phase II and Phase III, was before the Town Council last week providing his perspective on what the council is “walking away from” by allowing the development agreement for the project to expire (as of June 17).

The Town Council voted in April to approve a concept site plan Shea proposed for the project. However, when he asked for a one-year extension to submit plans to obtain a permit in May, the council rejected that. A motion for a 90-day extension was also turned down by the council.

The deadline for those plans was June 17, which Shea had agreed to back when the project first kicked off in 2016. He waited until a month before that deadline to request the extension.

Shea spoke during the “call to the public” portion of the meeting, precluding any discussion by the council due to open meeting law. He provided The Times with written notes of his comments.

Shea has filed a claim in Superior Court saying the council acted improperly concerning the development agreement and he is seeking relief.

Shea said that by terminating the agreement, it would cost the Town $2.6 million in infrastructure that the developer would have paid instead.

“The Town is walking away from the linear park adjacent to the Community Garden, which I would have built out of my own pocket, consisting of multiple art nodes which was contemplated to be a solar walk in conjunction with the new planetarium,” Shea said. “This would have been the connection between the Centennial Circle and a walking path to the Avenue and finish the connections for the downtown plan that was being paid for by the developer.”

He said the Town is also walking away from the completion of the Avenue of the Fountains’ final stretch of sidewalk lighting and landscaping, giving the Avenue a finished look.

“This would have completed the consistency and look from one end to the other,” Shea said. “Both the north side and the south side would have matched, paid for by the developer.”

He also cited an additional 70 public parking spaces that would have been part of the development, with the development paying for the landscape and maintenance for that lot.

He said construction of the final two phases of the project would provide more than $500,000 in construction sales tax. The Times has not verified this.

“The Town’s position has caused the developer to file a lawsuit that has begun in trial court that could cost the Town millions of dollars,” Shea said. “A good deal of money that could be spent on other things for the Town and its residents for no other reason than personal hubris of the current majority of the Town Council.

“They have walked away from any chance of completing the downtown in a condition that would be viable and marketable. There is not another plan that would be salable.”

Dori Wittrig also spoke at call to the public in support of Shea, saying she does not know how the process unraveled.

“Completion of the downtown has always been important to citizens,” Wittrig said. “Phase I has brought hundreds of people into the downtown as residents and visitors.

“You need to be bold to take risks, and I support what (Shea) has done for the town.

“I’m embarrassed by the Town Council for the way they have treated Bart Shea.”

Town of Fountain Hills Development Services Director John Wesley said Shea could proceed with development of the property without a development agreement. It would require adherence to existing zoning regulations.

The property is within the Town Center Commercial District for zoning. This district allows for residential only construction, providing structures maintain a 50-foot setback from the adjacent Town right-of-way easement.

The zoning regulations would also include building height and landscape regulation.

Shea has not been clear on whether he and his partners plan to proceed with a development plan.