A Wake County Superior Court Judge declined Tuesday to temporarily block N.C. State University’s sale of the massive Hofmann Forest in the southeastern part of the state near Jacksonville. The decision is a setback to opponents of the $150 million deal, who fear that the prospective buyer of the 79,000-acre tract will develop it.
Special Superior Court Judge Shannon R. Joseph said she would decide later on a motion to dismiss the case. That motion, which came from attorneys for NCSU’s endowment board and the private N.C. State Natural Resources Foundation, which gifted the forest to the university in 1977, also was heard Tuesday.
They argued that the plaintiffs had no standing to sue and that state environmental regulations weren’t triggered by a simple sale of the property.
In denying the temporary injunction to block the sale, Joseph said she didn’t believe that the plaintiffs – who include foresters, professors, conservationists and an owner of land close to the forest – had shown they would suffer irrevocable damage if the sale occurred.
The deal must be closed in less than six months, but it could be completed any time before that if various conditions are met.
From The News & Observer: https://www.newsobserver.com/2013/11/12/3365342/judge-declines-to-block-sale-of.html