The owner of Dublin Village Center is taking the city of Dublin to court, arguing the city wrongly denied multiple applications to redevelop the shopping center into new retail space and apartments and violated the company's private property rights.
Dublin's Bridge Street District code is at the center of why Stavroff Land and Development is suing the city in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Ohio. The owner of the Dublin Village Center shopping plaza has submitted three different plans since 2013 to the city with small changes and each plan was rejected.
The lawsuit states the city of Dublin changed the rules in 2012 when officials passed the Bridge Park Code and negatively impacted the plaza owner's plans to redevelop the space.
The thrice-rejected plan would redevelop the 57-acre property into multiple apartment buildings with hundreds of units.
The lawsuit is seeking compensatory damages from the city and also demands the court declare the Bridge Street Code unconstitutional and that the development proposal be approved. The lawsuit also wants the court to grant an injunction preventing the city from denying the site's plan.
The lawsuit argues provisions like a requirement for developments to be "distinctly Dublin" are vague and gives the city "standardless and unlawful discretion in zoning matters."
A spokeswoman for the city said Dublin officials stand by current zoning processes and standards. The city said its development approval process in the Bridge Street Code provides a fair and collaborative method that benefits the community.
"In the decade since the 1,100-acre Bridge Street District was created, dozens of projects have been approved and built. The city’s development approval process in the Bridge Street Code provides a fair and collaborative method to achieve high-quality development for the benefit of property owners and the community," the statement said.
Dublin officials have not yet filed a legal response to the lawsuit in court.
