The group, which includes city councilors Felix Arroyo, Maura Hennigan and Chuck Turner, contends that the commission's decision this past December to approve a Planned Development Area plan for the project, called Residences at Kensington Place, was faulty because the project does not include the required one acre of land in its development.

"We are not looking to stop the development of the parcel," Hennigan tells GlobeSt.com. "The PDA exempts any development from existing zoning [regulations] and that should only go to those projects which meet the criteria." To achieve a PDA of at least one acre in size--as required by the zoning code--the group alleges that Kensington Investment Co. is using property which isn't slated for development, including sidewalks, the street and the nearby YMCA. "Without the inclusion of such property, the area of the proposed PDA would fall far short of the one-acre minimum required under the zoning code. The Kensington Investment Co. currently owns or legally controls less than 21,000 sf," reads the group's fact sheet. The PDA designation enabled the project to exceed the 155 feet maximum allowable height under the current zoning.

While Hennigan acknowledges that she has "issues" with this development she insists that those issues are not what this suit is about. "This is important for precedent setting," she says. "Today it is Kensington, tomorrow it can be somewhere else. The process should be based on the criteria that the development has."