Back in 2023, the Rockingham County commissioners approved the rezoning of a site to facilitate a potential casino project that may have added more than 1,000 jobs and lots of economic stimulus. The rezoning of the site, just 20 miles north of downtown Greensboro, was sought by an affiliate of Baltimore-based casino developer Cordish Companies.
Neighbors at the site didn’t want a casino, and they filed a lawsuit claiming the commissioners made various procedural mistakes as part of an illegal contract zoning. The case has been contested since then.
On Wednesday, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the neighbors have the right to have their lawsuit against the rezoning heard in court. That overturned a ruling by Special Superior Court Judge Clayton Somers, who said the owners of Camp Carefree and about a dozen other neighbors who sued over the commissioners’ rezoning decision lacked the standing to challenge it.
The opponents own property that’s “either abutting or in close proximity” to the site, and they’ve “clearly alleged” how the rezoning “would directly and negatively affect them,” Judge Allegra Collins said in the appellate court ruling.
They thus “have satisfied the requirements to bring a claim under” North Carolina’s Declaratory Judgments Act, Collins said. She is a Democrat, while Republican judges Donna Stroud and Valerie Zachary concurred.
Asked about the next step, a lawyer for the plaintiffs had no comment.
The Camp Carefree lawsuit is an outgrowth of the 2023 battle over the potential legalization of non-tribal casinos in North Carolina.
Senate leader Phil Berger Sr., R-Rockingham, spearheaded the legalization drive, and sought to have the implementing language written into the state’s budget for the 2023-25 biennium. The attempt foundered that summer in the House Republican caucus, where anti-casino forces held sway.
Berger, often called the state’s most influential politician, wanted North Carolina to act because of the Caesars Virginia casino under development in nearby Danville, Virginia, just across the state line. Much of that casino’s traffic comes from North Carolina. It now operates with more than 1,500 slot machines.
Berger’s son, Kevin, is a Rockingham County commissioner who said in 2023 that the N.C. casino would bring at least $500 million of investment and 1,750 jobs to the area, according to the lawsuit. Cordish Companies was working on other casino projects elsewhere in North Carolina.
The controversy has remained a hot topic ever since. Kevin Berger survived a primary challenge in 2024 by just three votes.
Berger Sr. faces a Republican primary in March against county Sheriff Sam Page, a casino opponent. It is expected to be among the state’s most expensive and hotly contested elections.
Somers took his seat on the bench at the start of 2024 after being appointed by legislators, rather than via election or gubernatorial appointment. He is a former chief of staff to former House Speaker Tim Moore, and later had senior posts in the UNC System. Moore is now a U.S. congressman.
