Special meeting called by Hoover council president canceled after no quorum

The Hoover City Council was not able to hold a special meeting called by the council president Friday afternoon to discuss a tax incentive deal for the second phase of Stadium Trace Village because not enough council members were present to have an official meeting.

Of the seven council members, only Council President John Lyda, Councilman Casey Middlebrooks and Councilwoman Khristi Driver were present. Councilmen Steve McClinton, Derrick Murphy, Curt Posey and Sam Swiney did not show up.

McClinton said by telephone there wasn’t a need for a special meeting because the council took a vote at its meeting this past Monday to continue the matter until its next regular meeting on April 15.

Lyda on Thursday called the special meeting for 1:30 p.m. Friday and put a resolution on the table authorizing the city to continue negotiations with the Stadium Trace Village developer, with Mayor Frank Brocato and the city’s economic development manager, Greg Knighton, taking the lead in negotiations for the city.

McClinton claims the intent behind that resolution is to kill the tax incentive deal because both the mayor and Lyda have said they don’t want to do business with William Kadish, the CEO of the Broad Metro development company.

McClinton said it’s inappropriate to have the mayor lead negotiations for the city because both the mayor and Lyda have let their personal feelings about Kadish cloud their judgment about a proposed tax incentive agreement with Broad Metro. “They can’t see straight,” McClinton said.

Also, the mayor has had 14 months to negotiate a deal with Broad Metro and couldn’t get it done, McClinton said.

The mayor on March 18 presented a proposed incentive package with up to $22 million in tax breaks, but the developer was not happy with that proposal, saying the mayor had offered up to $33 million in previous iterations of proposals. Also, the mayor removed a proposal to put a performing arts center in the second phase of Stadium Trace Village from the proposed deal he sent to the City Council.

The developer and some council members said it was wrong for the mayor to pull the performing arts center out of the deal and lower the incentive amount after the developer already had spent 14 months and more than $1 million on the second phase of the development. Also, it was the mayor who asked the developer to put the performing arts center into the development in the first place.

Posey said Kadish sent a revised offer with up to $30 million in tax breaks to the full council for its review, and he and McClinton believed that offer was a good compromise, so they asked for it to be put on the agenda for the April 1 meeting. Posey said one offer the city attorney sent to Kadish was as high as $56 million, while the mayor's final offer submitted to the council for review was down to $22 million. The $30 million was a good compromise, he said.

In a packed three-hour meeting Monday night, there was much discussion for and against the amended agreement, and the council ultimately voted to table the matter until the April 15 meeting.

In that meeting, Lyda called out Kadish for having a felony conviction more than 20 years ago and said he didn’t want to do business with a convicted felon.

Kadish in 2002 was convicted of grand larceny, a second-degree felony, in New York and was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $655,035, according to Florida Supreme Court records.

He was disbarred from practice as an attorney in New York in 2002 and in Florida in 2007, with a Florida court record citing a dishonest or selfish motive, a pattern of misconduct and multiple offenses.

Brocato and several city staff members who reviewed the council’s amended tax incentive agreement said it gave away too much money to the developer.

Lyda, who said Monday he would not waiver in his belief the city should not do business with a convicted felon, today said the resolution put on the table today to turn negotiations over to the mayor and Knighton was his way of trying to help the council make a decision about how to move forward.

“We can’t do that without elected officials who are willing to show up and do their job,” Lyda said.

Posey said he and Murphy both told Lyda long ago that it is hard for them to make special meetings before 3 or 4 p.m. due to their work obligations, and he knew they would not be able to make Friday's meeting. Lyda said he had enough commitments of people to reach a quorum, so he went ahead and called the meeting.

McClinton said he expects the council to take up the amended tax incentive agreement that was on the table this past Monday when the council meets again on April 15.

Middlebrooks and Driver today declined to comment about the matter. “I would rather make my comments with my votes,” Driver said. “The only comment I would make is that it’s embarrassing to hold a public meeting and not have enough people show up. I hate that we wasted people’s time.”

More than 50 people showed up for the special-called meeting Friday.

Meanwhile, Kadish issued a statement that he is inviting residents of the Trace Crossings community to a meeting at Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux at 6 p.m. Monday to discuss any concerns they have about the second phase of Stadium Trace Village.

“We’ve been meticulous in our planning to ensure that our development enhances rather than harms the community,” Kadish said. “I'm genuinely looking forward to these discussions and the opportunity to collaborate for the betterment of our community. Additionally, I'd like to express my gratitude to the council for their dedication to doing what is right.”

In a separate post in a Hoover Facebook group, Kadish said this process may take some more time, but his company is actively working toward answering all residents’ concerns and receiving further feedback from city leaders and city staff, including the mayor’s staff.

He particularly wanted to point out that the Golf Suites tiered-bay golf entertainment center proposed for phase two would be next to Walk-On’s with no visibility from Scout Creek or other portions of the Trace Crossings residential community.

Also, the proposed extension of Peridot Place into the second phase would only proceed all the way to Brock’s Gap Parkway if residents of Trace Crossings agree, Kadish wrote.

“That can be decided in several years,” he said. “We will proceed to make that an option for the residents. This decision requires mutual consent between the developer and the city in order to occur, and we are exploring other options, including Magnolia Drive off Stadium Trace Parkway.”

Kadish also said there would be no blasting near any of the residential areas, but he did not specify how far away any blasting might be.

Kadish said the land between the Scout Creek and North Ridge sectors of Trace Crossings would not be utilized for commercial or residential purposes. The proposal does include the extension of Peridot Place through that property.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 3:24 p.m. with comments from Councilman Curt Posey and an additional comment from Council President John Lyda and at 5:27 p.m. with comments from developer William Kadish.