Shawn N. Gallagher Assists the Sports & Exhibition Authority in Striking Conditions to Zoning Approvals; Ruling Reported in Pittsburgh Legal Journal

Shawn N. Gallagher successfully represented the Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh (SEA) in a recent court appeal against the City of Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) and City of Pittsburgh.

The SEA sought special exception and variance approvals from the ZBA for a two-phase project involving the use of the footprint of the former Civic Arena structure and surrounding area for interim surface parking and the infrastructure necessary to support the redevelopment of the Lower Hill District. The ZBA approved the SEA’s applications subject to a number of onerous conditions that threatened the future development of the Civic Arena site.

The SEA appealed the imposition of the conditions that could have severely crippled the efforts to reconnect the Hill District and Uptown neighborhoods to Downtown. The Court found that the subject conditions were arbitrary and capricious and struck them from the SEA’s zoning approvals. 

Read the full summary of the case: "Opinions: Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas" (Pittsburgh Legal Journal, May 17, 2013)