Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Marietta Daily Journal

City settles suit over shuttered shop for $14K
by Lindsay Field
December 04, 2012 12:31 AM | 71 views | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend | print


KENNESAW  — The city of Kennesaw and Mack Dobbs Properties LLC have settled for $14,000 in the developer’s lawsuit over a now-closed pawnshop.

Celestino Venturi, who owns Mack Dobbs Point strip mall, filed a lawsuit in June against the city arguing that zoning stipulations enacted in 2004 that prohibit several types of businesses in the strip mall deny property owners like himself “an economically viable use” of the property.

Kennesaw city manager Steve Kennedy said that under the settlement made Nov. 13, the city will pay Mack Dobbs Properties $14,000 through its insurance provider, Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency, and give Cobb Superior Court Judge Grant Brantley $1,200 for mediating the case.

Mediation began Nov. 1.

“This should be it,” Kennedy said Monday. “They pretty much agreed to hold us harmless.”

However, Kennedy said the city has held themselves to some accountability in the past by admitting their error in granting Cruchelow Jewelry & Loan a business license in 2011 to open in the strip mall.

Kennedy also said he doesn’t anticipate insurance costs in the city going up because of the settlement and that there will be a prohibition against pawn shops at the location until the stipulations get changed, should that ever take place.

The Kennesaw City Council signed off on approval of the settlement before Nov. 13, but Kennedy could not recall the exact date.

Garvis Sams, who represented Mack Dobbs Properties, said, “My client is satisfied with the settlement and we thought the mediator did an excellent job bringing the two sides together.”

The business, which was located in the strip mall at North Cobb Parkway and Mack Dobbs Road in Kennesaw until it was vacated in June, has moved to the corner of Powder Springs Street and Bellemeade Drive in Marietta.

Neighbors in the subdivision behind the strip mall contacted the city around the first of the year to complain about the zoning violation.

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - City settles suit over shuttered shop for 14K

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From the Kennesaw Watch:

City to pay in Pawn Shop Settlement Agreement

Admin on December 1, 2012
To conclude the pawn shop zoning fiasco that plagued the city earlier this year, the city of Kennesaw has agreed to the following in a recent mediation with Venturi properties regarding Cruchelow Jewelry and Loan:
1) Mutual release of all further claims between parties,
2) City pays through its insurer $14,000,
3) City pays through its insurer all costs of mediation,
4) Mack Dobbs indemnifies City/Defendants from all claims which may be raised by Cruchelow Jewelry and Loan,
5) Settlement contingent upon Mayor and Council approval
The settlement includes paying out $14,000 as well as costs of mediation. While the city will not actually be paying this out of the their fund, this money will once again come from the insurer.

For more details, please visit Bill Harris’ site at: http://kennesawpawnproblems.blogspot.com

The Watch would like to thank Mr. Harris for his continued efforts to keep the taxpayers updated on the pawn shop zoning issues and its financial impact on the taxpayers and businesses.