GASTONIA, NC (WBTV) - The North Carolina Department of Transportation has put plans to build the Garden Parkway on hold in anticipation of a possible lawsuit.
If there's one topic that will get Mark Painter talking, it's the Garden Parkway.
The long-time Belmont resident has been fighting the proposed plans for years.
He says the 22-mile long bypass would cut right through his property.
"Yes, we need another way of crossing the Catawba down here, yes, it is a long way up 74 from here, but we don't need a toll road," said Painter.
The Parkway would begin at I-85 in Bessemer city, winding south around Crowder's Mountain, turning east towards Charlotte and ending at the airport. The price tag is set at $1 billion dollars, which some say just doesn't seem worth it.
"It's a lot of money to spend on basically what they call it, a toll road to nowhere," said on neighbor.
Some state and county leaders are all for it and say the road will ease traffic.
But some groups worry the construction would have significant environmental impacts.
They've threatened legal action.
Now the State Department of Transportation is bracing itself for a lawsuit by temporarily withdrawing its applications for federal and state water - quality permits.
"If we have not received the lawsuit by September 10th, then we will on September 11th file those two permits again and get them in the process," said Greer Beaty, Communication's Director for NCDOT.
Once the permits are approved, the project can move forward with construction in 2013.
But in the meantime, some neighbors say they're left in limbo.
"We're in limbo and we'll be that way until they actually come out and say we're not going to do this," said Painter.
NCDOT officials say if a lawsuit is filed, then the state will reevaluate its plans for the parkway and conduct more community meetings.
