by Jerry Feitelberg

SACRAMENTO–The opposition keeps trying and trying but they keep getting blocked in Sacramento Superior Court in their attempts to try and stop construction on the Sacramento Kings new arena. Opponents have tried everything to stop the $477 million project by using the California Environmental Quality Act or CEQA stating that there are issues of noise, pollution, traffic, riots after games, and unruly drunk fans to name a few issues raised.

A dozen Sacramento residents tried to seek an injunction that would halt further construction of the arena which is now underway at the eastern end of the Downtown Plaza. Adrianna Saltonstall who is a retired Caltrans director and her group are saying that their argument has teeth saying the SB 743 which is a one year old law that can establish roadblocks and stop the arena opponents based on the group’s environmental arguments.

The group would like those roadblocks to be removed but the court is favoring the continuation of the project because there has not really been a strong argument that shows the court that an environmental issue has been established to stop construction. The SB 743 law makes it extremely difficult for opponents like Saltonstall to get a court injunction to stop construction of the arena.

SB 743 also states that any opposition to the arena through the CQEA must be completed in 270 days but the court has not enforced a set date on the 270 days for Saltonstall’s group to complete the litigation for an arena injunction. The Sacramento Court of Appeals said that the California Legislature was perfectly legitimate in saying the law was constitutional to the opponents objections.

SB 743 was written by former Pro Tem Senate President Tom Derrell Steinberg and this legislation further was co-authored by Associate Justice Andrea Hoch and California justices George Nicholson and Louis Mauro. Steinberg and the justices had in mind that time is of the essence and they had to get this piece of legislation in motion as the NBA has made it clear to the city and to the Kings that if the arena is not ready by October 2017 when the NBA preseason opens then the NBA has the right to sell and move the team.

The latter is something the Kings and the City won’t have to worry about as long as the Superior Court continues to stop the opposition with the SB 743 law. It was with that in mind that brought SB 743 into law. The Kings are expected to have the arena ready by October 2016 one year earlier than the 2017 NBA set deadline. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive said that he fully expects the arena to be on schedule and that the contractors have already knocked out all the retail space and have the hole in the ground ready to start building the arena at Downtown Plaza.

With that in mind however the opponents are not giving up, Saltonstall is arguing for more expounding on the CEQA laws that would stop the construction siting issues with pollution, traffic, intoxicated fans, and rioting. Another group is setting up to fight the arena stating that the $255 million share from the city that was borrowed from the general fund which the city is banking on paying back the fund from parking revenues and sales tax on each ticket sold at the new arena was an illegal subsidy. Opponents argue that the venture should have never been used from public tax payer funds.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors new arena developments for http://www.sportsradioservice.com