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Federal judge says race may have killed low-income housing in Warner Robins

The judge says the sequence of events suggests the city caved to pressure motivated by racial discrimination

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Editor's Note: The video in this story is from an April 2020 report on the lawsuit.

A federal judge writes that the city of Warner Robins may have killed a downtown low-income housing project based on race.

13WMAZ has been covering this case since last April, when the Woda Cooper development firm sued the city.

They claim that city leaders, including Mayor Randy Toms, invited them to build housing downtown, steered them to Perkins Field, and supported the plan for more than a year. That changed two years ago after public meetings on the project.

Woda Cooper say Toms and other city officials stalled on granting final permits for the plan. They argue that some people in Warner Robins opposed low-income housing downtown, and that opposition was based on race.

In a decision last week, Judge Marc Treadwell wrote that the developers may be right.

"The sequence of events leading to that about-face strongly suggests that the city succumbed to political pressure arising from racial animus," he said.

Treadwell last week threw out most of the Woda Cooper lawsuit, but kept one count alive. That's the one that argues Toms and other city officials violated state and federal housing laws by rejecting the Perkins Field project based on race.

No trial has been set on the lawsuit. Toms declined comment Monday.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE

'It's a shame': Affordable housing developers sue Warner Robins over Perkins Field project

Warner Robins' Perkins Field on track to become affordable housing

Supporters, detractors both vocal at Warner Robins Perkins Field affordable housing project hearing

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