No public input: Gwinnett to pay $19M more for stadium

The decision Tuesday to spend another $19 million of Gwinnett County’s savings to pay for a 50 percent cost increase in the county’s new stadium was so straightforward, it didn’t require any public discussion or debate, county commissioners said.

The commission voted to spend the money as part of its consent agenda, a package of typically non-controversial items that on Tuesday included filling a vacancy on a golf commission, accepting the donation of dog food for the county animal shelter and spending $16.7 million to replace county transit buses.

Commissioners said the decision didn’t require public debate because there was little choice but to approve the money, without which project officials said they could not build the stadium currently coming out of the ground on Buford Drive near I-85 in Lawrenceville. The stadium will cost $59 million, up from an initial estimate of $40 million.

“But I’m not pleased about it, obviously, at all,” said Commissioner Mike Beaudreau. “I’m very frustrated. But at this point, I looked at every other recourse possible, including plowing it under, and it would all end up being more expensive.”

While there was little support for the increased spending in online forums dedicated to discussion of Gwinnett issues, no organized opposition to the stadium has emerged and no one stepped up to speak about the spending at the end of Tuesday’s meeting.

Two critics of the plan, Don Shaw and Lee Baker, did attend but did not speak.

“I’m still trying to figure out how this is going to pay for itself,” Shaw said, echoing an oft-quoted line from County Administrator Jock Connell in January, on the day county officials announced they’d reached a deal to build the stadium and relocate the top minor-league affiliate of the Atlanta Braves to Gwinnett.

Connell said he anticipated the stadium “paying for itself from day one.”

Since then, the county has enacted a car rental tax to help pay off debt from stadium construction, seen the cost of that borrowing increase as interest rates rose and now the county’s cash contribution rise from the initial pledge of $12 million to a total of $31 million.

Charles Northrop of Snellville stood outside the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center before the meeting holding hand-written signs reading “Baseball Boondoggle” and “Vote No! Today and Nov. 4th.”

“It just aggravates me. Particularly since I’m sending them my money this month,” he said of the commission’s decision approving the spending in the same month county residents have to send in their property tax payments.

The Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is building the stadium on behalf of the county, revealed Friday that the stadium’s cost had escalated dramatically because of design decisions made since work at the site began.

Because the county is under a tight deadline to finish the project in time for the April 2009 opening of the team that will be called the Gwinnett Braves, designers were drawing specs for parts of the stadium even as other work was ongoing.

Among other things, the increased price tag includes a concourse that circles the stadium — the original design excluded the outfield — as well as a canopy over part of the stadium, underground storm water retention and upgraded finishes.

“I don’t want just to go to a high school field,” said Commissioner Kevin Kenerly. “I want a first-class facility there.”

The decision comes at a time when the county is struggling with millions of dollars in increased costs and revenue issues including the loss, temporarily at least, of $14.2 million in funds due the county under a state homeowner’s tax relief grant program.

Connell said spending the $19 million does limit the county’s financial options, but that it was the only practical solution.

But he and members of the commission said they would be unlikely to support any more significant increases in the project’s budget.

“I think that would be a tough nut to crack,” Connell said.

Staff writer Pat Fox contributed to this report.