Ken Wall, convicted of bribing former mayor, says map error led to overpaymentSaturday, September 29, 2007
By RYAN DEZEMBER, Mobile Press-Register Staff Reporter
ORANGE BEACH -- Ken Wall, a developer serving a yearlong federal jail sentence for bribing former Mayor Steve Russo, has sued the city and its chief planner, claiming he overpaid for a sliver of land at Boggy Point because of an error on the municipal zoning map.
In turn Wachovia Bank, which lent Wall nearly $1.1 million in July 2005 to help him buy the parcel, has foreclosed on the property, bought it in an auction for $880,000 and is suing the developer for the remainder of the loan, or about $244,000.
According to the suit Wall filed in Baldwin County Circuit Court this summer, the 56-year-old said he paid $2 million for slightly less than an acre of wetland-surrounded land, believing, after a visit to City Hall, that it was unzoned property under the jurisdiction of Baldwin County, and not the city.
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