Tulane files lawsuit to preserve stadium rights

Mary Mouton newwave@tulane.edu
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Tulane University took legal action yesterday (May 16) against the proposed Interim Zoning District (IZD) passed by the New Orleans City Council earlier this month. The university is pursuing both a declaratory judgment that the proposed IZD motion is illegal and invalid, and a permanent injunction against its enforcement.

Football Stadium

Tulane University will hold a series of three community forums to describe plans for its new on-campus stadium and incorporate community feedback. (Illustration from Gould Evans Architects)


Tulane filed suit to preserve its rights and the rights of other affected universities to challenge the IZD, which could subject the stadium and other large-scale projects to extensive public hearings even though current zoning laws do not require this additional process.

“Our plans for the stadium comply with all applicable zoning laws. The imposition of what we believe is an inappropriate motion would do nothing but delay a $60 million project and establish an undesirable precedent, to the detriment of Tulane University, our city's economy and the community,” said Tulane President Scott S. Cowen.

“The May 3 motion could be treated as a final decision under the city's Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, triggering the 15-day appeal period provided by the CZO. Tulane wanted to take no chances that it would be prevented from appealing the City Council's motion to establish an IZD,” said John Landis, of Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, the law firm representing Tulane.

Cowen underscored the precautionary nature of the filing and insists that stadium discussions will continue. “We will continue our ongoing neighborhood discussions, and we intend to share our stadium plans with all concerned — neighbors, the mayor and other appropriate city officials — with the intention of finding common ground on issues of disagreement,” he said.

According to the university's timeline, plans for traffic and parking management, schematic design, stadium usage and game day operations are nearing completion and will be presented at a series of community forums, the first of which is scheduled for 6 p.m., Wednesday, June 6, at the Dixon Annex on the Tulane uptown campus.