The Eastport Landing project team released the following statement through one of its partners, Alex Kopicki, in response to Alderman Ross Arnett’s email records confirming agreements to subvert the planning process:
“We agree with Alderman Arnett that the City should keep its word, specifically with regard to the guidance provided to us in 2014 on the Eastport Landing project. We relied in good faith on the guidance provided by City’s Director of Planning & Zoning as we moved forward with design and planning of the Eastport Landing project. Alderman Arnett’s emails this week are an honest admission that local elected officials and city staff are engaged in backroom dealing that falls outside of the official zoning process. It is exactly this kind of backroom dealing that undermines the City as a good a place to do business.”
On Wednesday, the Capital Gazette reported on Alderman Ross Arnett’s email records and involvement in the City’s decision to cancel a public work session for citizens to discuss the Eastport Landing project with the Annapolis Planning Commission.
