Housing Plan Target of New Lawsuit

The Dos Vientos housing development is the subject of yet another lawsuit--this one filed by a builder over 16 homes eliminated from the project by the City Council.

Miller Brothers Investments, now in litigation with the city over the controversial Borchard Road extension, alleges in a new lawsuit that the city illegally dropped the homes from a section of the development that had been approved by the Planning Commission.

But city officials said the council eliminated the homes when it agreed to a request by the developer to transform the duplexes into detached condominiums.

A few months later, however, Miller Brothers revised its plans for a different subdivision of the project, adding 16 condos to the plan--the same number it was to have sacrificed to get the council’s agreement.

Arlen Miller of Miller Brothers said the specific plan approved by the council allows the developer to transfer units, and that his company’s development agreement with the city guarantees the number the developer may build.

City officials, however, said the lawsuit lacks merit, and that in any event a transfer such as the one proposed by Miller is subject to the council’s discretion.