CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — On Tuesday, city leaders decided to move forward with using Type B funding in the infrastructure of a new Downtown hotel.
The developers of Homewood Suites by Hilton, located at the corner of N. Chapparral Street and Lomax Street, are already utilizing $1.4 million in TIRZ funding.
Emotions flared during the meeting as city leaders discussed how the new Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel will be funded.
Several council members, including Sylvia Campos, said they’re in favor of a new hotel, but didn’t agree with the lack of information provided by the city’s Regional Economic Development Corporation (REDC). She said the way the information was presented to the council put up some red flags for her.
The biggest concern is one from competing hotelier, Ajit David. He said the FEMA Floodplain document that was shown to the council on February 20 by the REDC Executive Officer was falsely edited.
“100% of that presentation was on the screen and contained a federal document that was altered to support the narrative," David said.
He told KRIS 6 News reporter, Alexis Scott, that the specific document was used to encourage that the hotel should receive $2 million to adhere to flood zone requirements. He immediately told city staff what he found and said the city manager was not comfortable moving forward in the discussion without a proper investigation.
“Even city staff knows that something was altered in the application process," David said. "But what was the need? What was the absolute need to tamper or edit a FEMA document and only take 3 pieces of information out that was relevant to the Feb. 20 City Council documents?"
David also alleged that after he raised concerns, the altered document was deleted from initial presentation, which still remains on the city’s website.
“Nobody will have access to that document because somebody intentionally went in there and deleted the entire presentation, entire document," David said.
He emphasized that he isn’t opposed to the development of a new hotel in the Downtown area, he just wants whoever edited the document to be held accountable.
David said he will continue to ask for answers regarding the edited document until he understands 'why' and 'how' it happened.
This is a developing story, check back with KRIS 6 News for more information.
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