Appeals court upholds downtown's Tulsa Stadium Improvement District
BY KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Friday, January 18, 2013
1/18/13 at 7:42 PM
The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals has affirmed a lower court ruling upholding the creation of the Tulsa Stadium Improvement District.
“We are gratified both that the court of appeals affirmed the decision and, as we argued from the beginning, that the district itself would be a great boon to downtown -- and it has really proven to be that,” said Gerald Bender, Litigation Division manager for the city of Tulsa.
In 2011, Tulsa County Associate Judge Dana Kuehn issued summary judgment in favor of the city and the Stadium Trust.
The judgment covered three separate lawsuits filed against the city and the Stadium Trust.
The plaintiffs were downtown property owners who claimed that the city had not followed the proper procedures in creating the district.
The Tulsa Stadium Improvement District was established to help fund the construction of ONEOK Field, the home of the city’s Double-A baseball team, the Tulsa Drillers.
Property owners within the district, which includes all properties within the Inner Dispersal Loop, pay an annual assessment that also covers upkeep and maintenance of the district.
The plaintiffs argued that their businesses did not benefit from the new ballpark.
Associated Images:
Tulsa's ONEOK Field was built and is maintained with money from extra taxes paid by property owners within the Inner Dispersal Loop. Tulsa World file
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