When it comes to frustration, Rock Chalk Park is the project that just keeps on giving.

Once again, developer Thomas Fritzel has gotten ahead of the city’s planning process and moved forward on a project before gaining proper approval. In this case, the developer installed 100-foot tall light poles at Rock Chalk Park before gaining approval for a lighting plan for the project.

Even worse, when commissioners approved the project earlier this year, they specifically said that a lighting plan would have to be approved before any building permits were issued for the project. Obviously that didn’t happen.

So when a nearby resident came to last Tuesday’s commission meeting to raise concerns about the lighting, city officials had to admit they hadn’t followed their own procedure. The planning director confirmed that building permits had been issued before a lighting plan was approved. In what could be viewed as typical for this developer, the planning director said a lighting plan was submitted to the city shortly AFTER the lights were installed.

Planners say the lighting plan appears to fall within the city’s code for protecting adjacent property owners, and, in some situations, there might be a tendency for observers to simply view the situation as water under the bridge, no harm done. However, given the history of this project, the city’s failure to enforce its own mandate raises troubling questions about what other oversights will come to light before and after this project is completed — and how much it will cost city taxpayers to remedy those situations. The city already is considering hiring an independent lighting consultant to review the current situation and provide an assessment.

At Tuesday’s meeting, attorney Rick Hird, who represents the park’s neighbor made what many local residents may consider a painfully accurate observation: “Given the history, I hope you can understand why there is an absolute mistrust in the developer and, really, at this point, the city’s desire to do this project right.”

City commissioners made the lighting plan a condition for receiving a building permit. Fritzel certainly was aware of that condition and, as an act of good faith, could have made sure that condition was met. However, it was the responsibility of the city planners to make sure that order was carried out. They had been instructed not to issue a building permit until the lighting plan was approved, but they failed to use that leverage to make sure the condition was met.

Now the city is looking at hiring an independent consultant to restore the faith of neighboring residents — and perhaps the public at large — that this project is being properly handled.

It is everyone’s hope that, when it is finished, Rock Chalk Park will be a wonderful addition to the city and will benefit the local economy in many ways. Even if that’s the case, however, sour memories of how this project has been mishandled will be hard to erase.