The Water Tower Place Shopping Center owners are threatening to file a second lawsuit against the city of Arnold.
In a written statement released today, Sept. 12, the shopping center owners claim the city has not properly responded to a request for records they made under the Missouri Sunshine Law.
On Aug. 13, according to today’s statement, the owners requested copies of the meeting minutes and resolutions from the Arnold Retail Corridor Transportation Development District and the Arnold Triangle Transportation Development District from January 2023 through the present; the city’s development project documents, including correspondence with the developer for a reported project to be built within the TDD area; and the bond-offering documents related to the now suspended Outer Road Project (Arnold Parkway), among other items.
The owners said the only response they got from the city was an Aug. 14 email acknowledging it had received the owner’s request.
The statement said the Water Tower owners will file a lawsuit claiming Arnold is violating the Sunshine Law, if the city does not produce the requested records by 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16.
“Unfortunately, we at Water Tower Place are not shocked by this unlawful behavior – but we are disappointed,” the owners said in the statement. “Throughout this year, our interaction with City staff has been marked by an unbelievable level of condescending disdain for our rights as property owners. Recent letters received from the law firm representing the City and the transportation development districts, and quoted statements made by City staff in local media – combined with the lack of response to our Sunshine requests – show that the City’s leadership philosophy is based on a mixture of autocratic hubris and gaslighting. We will not subject ourselves to such behavior any longer.”
On Aug. 8 in the Arnold-Imperial Leader, city officials made public their plans to build a 2-mile, two-lane road, to be called Arnold Parkway, which would connect Hwy. 141 and Richardson Road. The plan included acquiring 38 homes, multiple businesses and a portion of the Water Tower Place Shopping Center.
The shopping plaza owners on Aug. 12 filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court to stop Arnold from building the road. On Aug. 23, an attorney representing the Arnold Retail Corridor Transportation Development District sent a letter demanding the Aug. 12 lawsuit be dropped.
Arnold officials announced on Aug. 26 that they had dropped the road project.
As of today, however, the Water Place owners have not dropped their initial lawsuit, court records show.
In the statement the owners released today, they said, “We know there is still a project lurking in the background. And we also know there are other means by which the City can forcefully devalue and take ours and the property of others. We are not walking away from an investment we made in the City of Arnold over 30 years ago that has served its citizens well. Water Tower Place has paid millions of dollars in taxes, created thousands of jobs and served countless Arnold families – and we are going to continue to defend our Water Tower family from the City and the TDDs.
“Stop the secrecy; stop the gaslighting; stop the arrogance – comply with the law and fulfill our Sunshine requests.”
A phone call seeking comment from Arnold City Administrator Bryan Richison was not immediately returned today.