Suit claims Suwanee mayor blocked land sale to Notre Dame Academy

By Joel Anderson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The owners of a 36.5-acre piece of property in Suwanee have filed a lawsuit against the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and one of its top officials, accusing them of undermining an agreement to sell property to a private Catholic school.

The suit says Nick Masino, mayor of Suwanee from 1999 to 2007, advised city officials in February 2008 to block the relocation of Notre Dame Academy in Duluth to the property in the Moore Road area of Suwanee. Then serving as vice president of the Economic Development and Partnership Gwinnett, Masino allegedly told Suwanee officials that residents "would probably go nuts over" a school being located on the property.

Notre Dame Academy eventually backed out of the contract with Settles Bridge Farm, LLC, after the city ordered a moratorium of building permits in February.

Attorneys for Settles Bridge estimate that the collapse of the deal cost their client as much as $4 million.

"We're in one of the toughest real estate markets in history," said Simon Bloom, attorney for Settles Bridge. "And here we have a guy who wanted to exercise his power and influence to intentionally and maliciously block the project. There's no other way to decipher what happened."

Masino declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed June 6 in Gwinnett County Superior Court.

Suwanee officials are not named as defendants in the lawsuit. But Settles Bridge has previously filed a suit concerning the same issue against the city that is set for trial on June 27.

The city settled a lawsuit with Notre Dame Academy in August, including a $257,000 reimbursement for all out-of-pocket expenses. Neither city authorities nor school officials were immediately available for comment on the lawsuit or the settlement.

Settles Bridge Farm reached an agreement with Notre Dame Academy in February 2008 to sell about 36.5 acres of property near the intersection of Moore Road and Settles Bridge Road in a residential area of Suwanee. At the time, the city's zoning classification permitted the property to be developed as a school without need for approval by the mayor or city council.

But about two weeks later, the council called an emergency meeting and adopted a moratorium on building or development permits for "large projects located within residential districts," according to the lawsuit. Then in May 2008, the council approved a special-use permit amendment to the city's zoning ordinance. That would have required the school to seek a permit to develop the property.

The school ultimately canceled the contract last August.

Attorneys for Settles Bridge pins the blame on Masino, saying he "contacted, induced, coerced, pressured and/or conspired" with the city to block the school's relocation. The lawsuit also said Masino, as an official with the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, acted improperly by passing along proprietary information.

"If you can't have confidence in the confidentiality of Chamber [as a business], then where can you have it?" Simon said.