Those decisions, said the developer, ought to carry a lot of weight in this court. No, said the judges, we're going to defer to the City Council. Then the developer argued about his newly-discovered evidence. The appellate judges wouldn't touch it. If you didn't put the evidence in at the outset, when you went before the ZEO, the judges said, you can't put it in now.
Evidence is zoning and other administrative proceedings which can be tricky.
Hearings before ZEOs and other administrative officers tend to be informal. They don't happen in impressive courtrooms. People sometimes forget that, impressive or not, that hearing is the one where you present your facts. If you don't get facts in then, you may never do so. At any rate, the second time around, the Court of Appeals upheld the district judge.