Ballpark Foes Agree to Drop Appeal

SAN DIEGO-The Coalition Advocating Redevelopment Excellence–made up of ballparkfoes from several Downtown-area neighborhoods—has agreed to drop its legalchallenge of the mammoth redevelopment project, according to San DiegoPadres team executives.

In exchange, the city and the Padres agreed to a host of measures aimedat easing traffic, parking and public-safety concerns. Among othercompromises, the Padres agreed to launch a public information campaign tohelp motorists find alternative routes in the area and the city agreed tohire a traffic engineer to develop new routes that motorists can take.

The new stadium is the cornerstone of San Diego’s latest Downtown redevelopment efforts. The coalition agreed to drop its appeal of San Diego Superior Court JudgeJudith McConnell’s March dismissal of a lawsuit against the project that was filed last November.

Padres President and CEO Larry Lucchino calls the agreement “anothersignificant step forward in our efforts to deal in an orderly fashionwith all the legal issues and neighborhood concerns regarding theballpark and redevelopment project.”

“We are on track and on schedule for completing construction in 2002,”Lucchino adds.

Still, a spate of other legal challenges to the project remain, most ofthem on appeal. Several have been filed by former city councilman andballpark opponent Bruce Henderson, who has charged the city and teamownership with a variety of improper acts, including gifts to cityofficials by the team.

In addition to the ballpark, the project would include offices, hotels,apartment, condos and retail development in a 26-block area east of theGaslamp Quarter.