River Gorge Drive becomes a dirt road leading up a hill near newly constructed homes in Black Creek Mountain subdivision in Chattanooga.A Chattanooga judge cut off $9 million in taxpayer support for the Black Creek Mountain golf course community, ruling against a powerful group of developers and government officials in a closely-watched case.
Chancellor Frank Brown ruled that the Industrial Development Board violated Tennessee’s Open Meetings Act when it secretly allowed funding to go forward for a disputed road up Aetna Mountain, which would have been funded using tax increment financing.
The squabble, which drew in attorneys for the city and county, as well as former Mayor Ron Littlefield and County Commissioner Larry Henry, centered around a letter written by Nashville attorney George Masterson to the joint city-county board.
The letter, which assured the board that taxpayer funding for the Black Creek Mountain development was legal, posed a conflict of interest since Masterson was being paid $50,000 by developers at the time, putting him on both sides of the transaction, Brown said.
“The opinion letter was not delivered to board members in a public meeting nor did IDB vote to accept Mr. Masterson’s letter as an ‘unqualified’ opinion letter,” Brown wrote in his order. “Either Mr. Masterson had, at a minimum a conflict of interest, or the IDB should have used independent counsel or the attorney general for its decision and not Mr. Masterson’s opinion, which was the product of some qualms and rewriting.”