Fayetteville's Development Blues

I'm afraid that the Renaissance Tower and the SouthPass developments have pretty much killed any future public/private deals. The Fayetteville City Council has demonstrated that they aren't up to making any real estate deals. Somehow the concepts that large developments cost a whole lot of money and the good times sometimes end just did not cross their minds.
I was thinking the same thing as Doug Thompson

My check into the SouthPass issue reached an early conclusion that nothing else shook: The City Council's resolution to let the mayor make this deal was vague enough to authorize just about anything.
I'm no lawyer, but I have hindsight and no scruples about second-guessing. Some phrase in that resolution that any deal was "subject to further council approval" would have been nice.

How did they ever let anything like this pass without getting an idea of how much it would cost and would it be possible for the city to afford it? The City Council is complaining that it might cost over $26 million dollars but they've had nearly 4 years to get some estimates and start to plan for it. Fayetteville Parks and Recreation have made plans such that they already have the money for the first phase of the park and have ideas on how to raise money for the rest of the park.
Sigh, why is it when it comes to big projects the City of Fayetteville somehow manages to screw it up?