Sacramento developer sues city — again — in push to build Curtis Park gas station
After seven years, a costly legal battle over a Sacramento gas station rages on.
Developer Paul Petrovich filed a new lawsuit against the city last week claiming the council wrongfully denied a special permit for a gas station next to the Safeway in his Crocker Village retail and housing development in Curtis Park.
He alleges in a lawsuit filed Friday in Sacramento Superior Court that the council’s February rejection of the gas station was “in willful disregard of the facts, the law, the comprehensive analyses by the city’s own staff and technical experts.”
City spokesman Tim Swanson said: “The City of Sacramento has received the writ filed by the Petrovich Development Company and is in the process of evaluating it and determining the appropriate next steps.”
Petrovich has been suing the city over the project since the council first rejected the gas station in 2015. The city has spent more than $2.3 million in legal fees defending itself against the the lawsuits.
Petrovich’s proposal has been controversial in the neighborhood around Crocker Village. The Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association has opposed it consistently, arguing in part that multiple other gas stations are within close driving distance of Crocker Village.
In the original lawsuit, Petrovich claimed a councilman was biased against him, and a judge ordered the city to hold a new public hearing. The city appealed that judgment, and lost in 2020. That prompted the council in February to redo the public hearing, where it again rejected the permit.
City staff recommended the council approve the gas station in February, the lawsuit pointed out. Several council members said they were against it because it encourages people to drive cars, which cause pollution, instead of taking public transit at the nearby light rail station.
The council also rejected a gas station in Natomas in December 2020 for similar reasons.
But some of that criteria are not factors the council members were legally allowed to consider in their decisions on conditional use permits, the lawsuit alleged.
“City Council abused its discretion and exceeded its jurisdiction by refusing to approve the conditional use permit under any conditions whatsoever,” the lawsuit read.
The lawsuit claims the wrongful denial of a conditional use permit, and denial of rights to due process and equal protection. It seeks for the council to reconsider and approve the application.
In addition, Petrovich has an active lawsuit against the city seeking more than $100 million in damages — money he claims he would have made if the gas station were open, and also for construction costs for the rest of the development that he says would have been lower if the gas station was included.
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 5:25 AM.
