A lawsuit that could have derailed development at a new Atlanta Braves ballpark site has been settled, with the team proceeding with its plans for the area.
The Braves and Cobb County are working on construction of a new ballpark, set to open in 2017. The plan calls for the ballpark as well as a mixed-use development in the area. But those plans were threatened by a lawsuit from an adjoining property owner that argued the rezoning for the project violated the state constitution — and if the courts agreed with that interpretation, it could have stalled the associated development.
But the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, the Braves and Fairly Breezy LLC, owners of the adjoining building, settled their differences, removing the legal threat to the project. From the Marietta Daily Journal:
The suit, filed in Cobb Superior Court, alleged the Board of Commissioners abused its powers when it approved rezoning the Braves’ property because the application was not complete and not as specific as required by the county’s zoning ordinance. As a result, the suit claimed, the general public was denied its due process rights.
The Fairly Breezy property contains a multi-story, 25,000 square foot office building, and the Braves were in talks to purchase the property at some point.
The suit alleged the Braves offered a “sub-market offer” on the property and threatened to wall off the property if the offer was turned down.
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