Kempner: Cobb practicing pretzel logic on Braves parking

Sometimes the law doesn’t actually mean what it says. Or so Cobb officials would have us believe.

So we shouldn’t worry about how Cobb commissioners created an ordinance that gives the Atlanta-ish Braves a monopoly on charging for game-day parking within a half mile of SunTrust Park.

Special event parking licenses "will not be issued" to other property owners in that mile-wide circle, according to a county ordinance quietly enacted in February and recently uncovered by the AJC's Dan Klepal.

But that's not really what it means, county commission chairman Tim Lee explained to me. "It should make all the sense in the world to you."

So it just sounds like commissioners were shutting down the free market and turning it into a Braves hot-dog-and-parking stand.

Some folks in the community got in a bit of a stir after learning about the law. Now, the county commission has asked staff to suggest changes "to ensure that the language reflects the original intent of public safety and does not produce unintended consequences for private property owners and citizens."

Does it seem like county leaders stepped in a mess and now are trying to wipe it off their shoe?

There already was anxiety about the potential for a parking and traffic mess when fans descend on the team’s new suburban digs next year.

Barring other property owners from selling game-day spaces would further constrain the supply of parking, restrict competition and probably drive up prices for fans. That’s just economics.

Too cozy for comfort

Cobb’s relationship with the Braves already is uncomfortably cozy. Taxpayers are paying nearly $400 million toward the stadium, with the idea that it’s OK for the government to pick winners and losers in business if it will spur economic growth.

Cobb officials have a duty to push the Braves to provide enough parking for the ballpark. And it’s smart to encourage coordination with other private lots and to require minimum standards for parking providers.

Instead, county commissioners barred issuing third-party licenses for event parking nearby and made violations a misdemeanor (punishable by up to $1,000 and 60 days in jail for the first offense, with each parked vehicle counting as an additional violation).

Operators with lots farther out can get special event parking license if they meet requirements such as providing parking plans. They also would be required to have lots staffed while in use and clearly post prices and contact information.)

Lee suggests that the close-in operators could apply for a permit, get denied, appeal the decision to the county and then – though this isn’t detailed in the law — “if they comply with the minimum requirements then they are going to get a permit.”

Lee said the idea is that closer-in parking operators would get a more “robust” review, but he also said the hurdles for them would be no higher than for property owners farther out and that they will “easily” get approved.

Huh? So the half-mile demarcation line was included in the law for essentially no reason?

“I have an obligation for public safety,” Lee told me. “I have an obligation to do my best to protect public and private property rights. My intent is to balance those as best I possibly can.”

Both Lee and Braves executive Mike Plant tell me they have no interest in restricting the free market or curbing competition.

Safe and secure

Braves executives only sought a Cobb parking ordinance because they wanted to make sure any competitors provide safe and secure facilities for fans, Plant said.

Of course, the team could have solved that issue by choosing a stadium site with sufficient on-site parking to handle all its fans who drive.

Even at Turner Field, fans who don’t use public transit often pull into private lots not controlled by the Braves. (Cobb officials point out that Atlanta bans temporary lots near Turner Field. Others are grandfathered in, though. And more residential neighborhoods sit near Turner Field than SunTrust Park, which creates more pressure to limit the asphalt beside homes.)

The Braves’ parking plan for Cobb hasn’t been made public. But the team already has deals to control or own more parking around its new stadium than it currently has at the old one, Plant told me.

He also said he’s open to shifts that clarify the true intent of the Cobb parking ordinance.

“There is a little bit of living and learning here,” he said.