New lawsuit says Seattle NBA arena violates initiative

City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development

Another lawsuit has been filed against the sports arena planned for in Seattle?s Sodo neighborhood, saying that the arena plan violates Initiative 91, which requires the city to make a profit on any investment in a sports facility.

Staff Puget Sound Business Journal

Another lawsuit has been filed against the planned professional basketball and hockey arena in Seattle?s Sodo neighborhood.

The latest suit states that the arena plan violates Initiative 91, according to The Seattle Times. The initiative, which Seattle voters approved in 2006, said the city must make a profit on any investment in a sports facility.

Seattle attorney Cleveland Stockmeyer filed the suit last week on behalf of Mark Baerwaldt, who drafted I-91.

It?s the second suit against the $490 million arena that San Francisco hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen and others are proposing. Hansen and his group hope to bring the NBA back to Seattle.

Last fall, a local group of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union filed a suit against the city of Seattle, King County and Hansen?s WSA Properties III Limited Liability Co., arguing that the plaintiffs signed an arena deal before conducting any review as required by the state Environmental Policy Act.

According to the lawsuit, the agreement ?formalistically purports? to require a future review that would include a study of where to build the arena, yet ?98 percent? of the agreement addresses only the Sodo site, making the environmental review ?a sham.?

ILWU members, who work at businesses around the Sodo arena site, say they will be affected by additional vehicle traffic caused by people traveling to and from the arena.

Arguments in the ILWU case are to be heard Feb. 22 in King County Superior Court.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_53/~3/d_454bdq5vM/new-lawsuit-against-nba-arena-cites.html

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