This case concerns the Superior Court of Fulton County’s validation of roughly $200 million in municipal bonds the “2014 NSP Bonds” to be issued by the Atlanta Development Authority d/b/a Invest Atlanta “Invest Atlanta”. Invest Atlanta and the Geo. L. Smith II Georgia World Congress Center Authority “Congress Center Authority” collectively, the “New Stadium Entities” propose to have the 2014 NSP Bonds issued for the purpose of funding a portion of the cost of developing, constructing, and operating a new stadium facility in downtown Atlanta the “New Stadium Project” or “NSP” for the Atlanta Falcons professional football team. Additional funding for the NSP will be provided by the Atlanta Falcons Stadium Company, LLC “StadCo”, a Georgia limited liability company associated with the Atlanta Falcons Football Club, LLC the “Club”, as well as through the sale of personal seat licenses. The NSP is a successor facility to the over twenty-year-old Georgia Dome, and it will be owned by the Congress Center Authority, which also owns the Georgia Dome.
Procedurally, on February 4, 2014, the State of Georgia filed a Petition for Bond Validation in the superior court to authorize the issuance of the 2014 NSP Bonds. A notice to the public was filed on that same day, as well as a Rule Nisi Order setting the bond validation hearing for February 17, 2014. Notice of the proceeding was published in the Fulton County Daily Report on February 7, 2014 and February 14, 2014 as required by OCGA § 36 82 76. Rev. William L. Cottrell, Sr., Mamie Lee Moore, Tracy Y. Bates, John H. Lewis, III, and Joe Henry Beasley hereinafter collectively “Cottrell” moved to intervene in the proceedings to file objections to the bond validation, and the trial court allowed them to do so. Among other things, Cottrell contended that OCGA § 48-13-51 a 5 B, which allows for an extended time period in which a county or municipality may levy a Hotel/Motel tax for purposes of funding a “successor facility” to an existing “multipurpose domed stadium facility,” was an unconstitutional special law. See Georgia Constitution of 1983, Art. III, Sec. VI, Par. IV a. The bond hearing was continued until April 10, 2014, and the trial court entered a Consolidated Pre-Trial Order on April 8, 2014. Following the April 10, 2014 hearing, the trial court entered a May 8, 2014 Validation Order and Final Judgment validating the 2014 NSP Bonds and overruling all objections. Cottrell appeals from this ruling, and, for the reasons that follow, we affirm.
