Conflict of Interest Charge Raised in Braves Stadium Vote

An executive in a metro development company who also serves on the board of a Cumberland business district rejects claims he had a conflict of interest in plans for the new Atlanta Braves stadium.

The Braves in November announced their plans to move to from Turner Field to a $672 million stadium in Cobb in 2017. Mason Zimmerman was among the Cumberland Community Improvement District board members who voted Nov. 19 to commit $10 million to transportation upgrades, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in its subscriber edition.

The district’s board also made a non-binding vote to support the creation of a special taxing district, later approved by county commissioners, which will generate $5.1 million annually to help pay county bonds for the ballpark.

Three months after the Cumberland CID board’s vote, the development company where Mason Zimmerman works is a finalist to build the $400 million entertainment district the Braves plan to develop around the ballpark, the newspaper reports.

Critics say Zimmerman’s dual roles were a conflict of interest, and he should have recused himself.

Zimmerman strongly disagrees, telling the newspaper the vote came well before his company, Pope & Land Enterprises, knew enough about the project to consider bidding for the lead developer role.

“The vote was about the prospect of the Braves (moving) and how can we facilitate it,” Zimmerman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His vote, he said, had “no connection whatsoever to what might happen in the future.”

Zimmerman is a senior vice president in the firm that could make millions of dollars if picked by the Braves to handle the project, the newspaper reported last week.