A Gwinnett Superior Court judge has ordered the city of Suwanee to pay a group of landowners $1.8 million because of its interference in an $8 million land deal with a private Catholic school.
Judge Warren Davis' ruling last week adopted a jury's recommendation from August, when the panel found Suwanee officials had undermined Settles Bridge Farm's agreement in 2008 to sell the 36.5-acre property to Notre Dame Academy.
The school had been seeking to move from its location in Duluth to the property near the intersection of Moore Road and Settles Bridge Road in a residential area of Suwanee.
"While hopeful for a different outcome, the city was not surprised by the judge's ruling," Suwanee attorney Gregory Jay said Thursday. "Suwanee believes that it has several strong grounds for appeal and plans on appealing the trial court's ruling."
The $1.8 million award represents how much jurors determined the property's value diminished after the city interfered with the deal.
"Certainly it doesn't compensate our clients for what happened but goes a long way toward giving them a chance," said Lee Tucker, one of the attorneys for Settles Bridge Farm.
Last month, Gwinnett Superior Court Judge Dawson Jackson dismissed Settles Bridge Farm's lawsuit against the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and Vice President Nick Masino that accused them of thwarting the same deal.
The city also settled a lawsuit with Notre Dame Academy in August 2010, including a $257,000 reimbursement for all out-of-pocket expenses.
Officials with Settles Bridge Farm initially had planned to develop a 41-lot subdivision on the property when Notre Dame Academy approached them in February 2008. At the time, the city's zoning classification permitted the property to be developed as a school without the need for approval by the mayor or city council.
But about two weeks later, the council held 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.
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