Smyrna Property Owners Sue City Council

The owners of a 5-plus acre parcel of land in Smyrna that was at the center of a bitter development debate have sued the city council in Cobb Superior Court for allegedly violating their constitutional rights by not allowing them to make the best use of their property.

Sean and Sara Tintle say in their lawsuit that the Smyrna City Council’s Sept. 8 denial of their request to rezone their property from R-20 to RAD-Conditional was done against the judgment of city staff and the Planning and Zoning Board. Furthermore, the Smyrna City Council did not accept the conditions for approval the Tintles had agreed to abide by.

Councilmembers Ron Fennel, Teri Anulewicz, and Melleny Pritchett voted in favor of the development, while councilmembers Charles “Corky” Welch, Andrea Blustein, Wade Lnenicka, and Susan Wilkinson voted against the proposal.

The suit goes on to claim that the city’s ordinance restricting the property’s zoning is ”unreasonable, and it substantially devalues the Subject Property by restricting its uses,” adding that the current zoning restrictions make the property impossible to develop and profit off of. The ordinance is an unconstitutional taking of the Tintles’ property rights without “just and adequate compensation,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit asks the court to overturn Smyrna’s zoning ordinance and seeks court costs and attorney’s fees.

Read the lawsuit in full below:

Tintle vs the City of Smyrna