One Amarillo resident is taking the City of Amarillo and the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation to court to seek an injunction on the downtown ballpark project.
Claudette R. Smith filed to seek an injunction on Tuesday to temporarily stop construction on the ballpark. Smith's petition alleges that the City of Amarillo and the AEDC failed to hold a required election to approve the land swap through which the City acquired land for the project. The City acquired the property through a land swap between the AEDC and a Coca-Cola subsidiary.
As we have previously reported, some in the community have alleged that an election was required for the AEDC to have the ability to acquire the land through the swap. State law requires an election on some uses of EDC funds, however, supporters of the project have argued that the election was not required.
Voters approved a non-binding issue for the construction of a $32 million ballpark in 2015. Some have said that this election would have sufficed the land swap requirement, however, the election did not cover the final cost of the stadium or the land swap itself.
The downtown ballpark project was originally planned to be part of a multi-phase downtown redevelopment project. Also included in the first phase of the plan was a downtown parking garage and a convention center hotel.
Smith is currently the co-plaintiff in a lawsuit against Mayor Ginger Nelson and members of the City Council. That lawsuit, which made state headlines, alleges violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act by the Council.
As of Tuesday evening, the petition for the injunction was not listed in the Potter County online court database.
