It's a good way of getting the protection removed...

They'd likely just rubber stamp an exemption and let them do what they want.

I think the way it works now is they take it to court and get the judge to allow them to continue building while the court case works its way through the system and in 6 years when they determine it's illegal the center has already been built for 5.

Yeah, the ship of legalism has long since sailed. It is sad to see how so many in the US has apparently not realised this yet. It is not about laws or the constitution or anything like that. They now strictly do shit because noone is stopping them, regardless of what it is.