“We are filing an appeal against a case with glaring anomalies, incompetence, or incompetence plus something else.” These were the words used by Patrick Mottard, leader of Nice Plurielle, to justify the legal action taken on Monday morning at the administrative court. It was thought that the saga surrounding the Sulzer Parking had ended with the city council’s vote on December 20 to approve the operation and construction of a parking garage and hotel on this ideally located site between the Chรขteau hill and the Albert Ier Gardens. Opponents of the municipal majority had two months to file an appeal. February 19, 2007, was the deadline. Why the wait? Nice Plurielle took advantage of this period to bolster their case.
The file is lengthy. The court will decide. It has several irregular elements to judge, submitted by Jean-Franรงois Knecht and Nice Plurielle. Patrick Mottard highlights two “most pedagogically explainable” mistakes. The first is the acceptance of financially too low offers. The Consultation Regulation stipulates that the minimum rent of the lease should have been 8 million euros excluding taxes. The four selected offers should have been considered inadmissible since the rents vary between 6,120,000 and 7,000,000 euros. The second “pedagogically explainable” mistake, according to the leader of Nice Plurielle, is the non-compliance with the POS (Land Use Plan). A note made by the director of the Building Permits Service dated August 17 indicates that the four projects do not conform to the project height and surface area limits (at most 10,000mยฒ and they vary between 11,400 and 15,800mยฒ).
Jean-Franรงois Knecht points out other irregularities in the procedure such as the inadmissibility of the Minutes of the Commission of November 6, which the city council deliberation was based on. A letter from the Director General of Services of the city of Nice specifies that “The commission was held for its part concerning the ranking of candidates outside the presence of the administration and thus no minutes were recorded.”
He reports the disappearance of some documents from the file during a burglary that occurred a few months ago in the municipal offices. By filing this appeal at the Administrative Tribunal, Nice Plurielle has added a new chapter to the so-called “Sulzer affairs”. So, it remains to be seen if there is a new case; the court will decide.
