The owners of Dublin Village Center have sued Dublin over the city’s refusal to approve redevelopment plans for the shopping complex.
The dispute raises doubts about the future of the 36-year-old center’s long-planned makeover. It also raises questions about how much latitude municipalities have in controlling details of developments.
The center’s owners, Stavroff Land & Development, announced plans two years ago to redevelop the 57-acre complex, on the west side of Sawmill Road north of West Dublin-Granville Road. Plans called for adding two apartments buildings on the northern end of the center containing 284 apartments.
Stavroff submitted plans for the apartments three times to the city, tweaking them each time but each time meeting rejection by the city, according to the suit, which seeks compensation and the ability to develop the property.
At the heart of the suit are zoning regulations. Stavroff argues that the zoning requirements in place when it purchased Dublin Village in 2009 were brushed aside in 2012, when the city adopted the Bridge Street District that included the property, in essence changing the rules in the middle of the game.