GRAMBLING La.
A district court judge denied a move by the town of Grambling to stop housing construction at Grambling State University. But, according to the attorney representing GSU’s third-party financier, construction on the project already has been completed.
The city claims the university should have paid almost $400,000 in permit fees among them plumbing, electrical and inspection fees as construction began on Tiger Village, which represents phase one of GSU’s student housing redevelopment plan.
The city’s original petition calls for a restraining order that would keep the university from placing students in the new Tiger Village campus apartments and halt “any further construction.”
But 5th District Court Judge Cynthia Woodard denied on Sept. 11 a temporary restraining order filed on the city’s behalf to keep the university from placing students in Tiger Village, or as they’re referred to in the petition filed Sept. 10, “unfinished and incomplete dormitories.”
“But before it was filed, the state Fire Marshal had already issued the certificates of occupancy,” said state Rep. Rick Gallot, who is representing the nonprofit third party financier, Black and Gold Facilities Inc. “So the request for injunction was moot from the beginning. They would have had to stop construction that was already complete.”
Woodard dismissed the injunction request on Friday because the town had no legal right to bring suit on behalf of Grambling students over the age of 18, Gallot said.
