PORT NECHES — With a majority of new members in place and the resignation of its legal counsel, Port Neches Zoning Board of Adjustment is set to let the court decide the fate of a proposed set of apartments.

Jane Leger of Dugas Leger Law Firm submitted a motion to withdraw as counsel for the ZBA on Feb. 9, saying the new chairman of the ZBA had failed to return phone calls. On Monday the ZBA officially terminated legal services with Leger.

Board members also decided to allow the court to decide the fate of a writ of certiorari filed by the city regarding the previous board’s decision to grant three variances for construction of a set of luxury apartments.

“Is this (writ of certiorari) the only way by law city council can respond and appeal the decision of the board?” member Steve Visser asked.

The answer, yes.

Visser said he was under the impression there was an adversarial relationship between city council and the ZBA “but this is not what I detect. City council had one option to appeal the variances.”

Port Neches City Manager Andrè Wimer explained the property owner, Jeff Ahktar of Amron Housing Group, first came to the city seeking variances to the depth, height and number of dwellings under one roof last year but two hours before the meeting submitted a different configuration. A notice of said meeting was published with the previous information. Later, the issue of fire protection and code requirements was placed before city officials, who gave the project the green light.

Ahktar proposed constructing apartments that are a mix of two- and three-story buildings with 140 units with an investment of $8 million on property located at 3031 Eighth St.

A third party petition of intervention was filed by Carl Parker on behalf of Ahktar on Feb. 9, according to information from the city.

In the petition, Parker states the request for 140-unit apartment complex consisting of three stories was critical to the property — “lack of density in a two-story structure would in all likelihood make the project unfeasible as to cash flow to service the investment made in the vacant property.”

The petition further states on Nov. 9, 2015, members of city council contacted members of the previous zoning board in an effort to persuade them to rescind the variances. During a council meeting, numerous protestors gathered, some of whom reportedly told Ahktar they would “talk to the mayor and see that no person of Muslim faith would own apartment property in the city of Port Neches.”

According to Texas local government code, a board of adjustment may authorize in specific cases a variance from the terms of a zoning ordinance if the variance is not contrary to the public interest.

The writ of certiorari was filed in Jefferson County Court at Law No. 1. A trial date has not been set.

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