Judge Thomas Power dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday filed against the city by developer Tom McIntyre over Proposal 3, saying McIntyre's proposed 100-foot building on State Street hadn't progressed far enough through the city's approval process for him to have standing to file the case.

Power ruled McIntyre needed to move further along in the permitting process before the developer could argue he was suffering real and not hypothetical harm under Proposal 3, the city charter amendment requiring a public vote on buildings over 60 feet tall. McIntyre's attorney, Thomas Grier of Running, Wise & Ford, previously argued his client’s case was "clearly ripe," or at the point the courts could review it. Grier pointed to an “itemized list of costs exceeding $100,000” McIntyre and his partners have already invested into the proposed Peninsula Place building, as well as a special land use permit (SLUP) application on file with the city. Both indicated there is a real project on the line that will be adversely affected by Proposal 3, Grier argued.

Though Power ultimately disagreed, dismissing the case, he left the door open to future challenges to Proposal 3 by McIntyre and/or other developers. Grier asked Power whether McIntyre would need to proceed all the way through a public election before he would have standing to sue the city. Power demurred, saying it was possible standing could come before the election point. He didn't specify exactly at what point in the process he believed McIntyre would have ripeness, however.

"He just said that under the facts as they exist right now, it's not yet ripe," Grier tells The Ticker. "That was his ruling. But he left open the question of when it could be ripe."

Grier says he isn't yet sure whether McIntyre will appeal the ruling or proceed with going through the city's approval process for Peninsula Place. "We're going to confer about that," he says.