Court Holds Up D.C. Bid for Private Land

In response, Williams administration officials have sought to assure MLB that there are several sources of revenue that could cover the overruns and that the team owner would not be asked to pay.

"They should not be concerned in any way that they'll be on the hook for this," Vince Morris, a spokesman for Williams, said yesterday.

The talks have centered on money that would be paid by developers, city officials said, even though the council's spending cap legislation forbids revenue earned by the city from development rights to be used for stadium construction.

Meanwhile, city and MLB officials are growing increasingly concerned about the ability of construction companies to finish the stadium in time for opening day of the 2008 season. Some city officials have said privately that the stadium may not open until the All-Star Game weekend in July 2008.

Major construction work cannot begin until the city takes possession of the land and D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi issues construction bonds on Wall Street. Gandhi, who also is waiting for MLB to endorse the spending cap, has said that it could take six weeks to complete the bonds sale.

Yesterday's hearing was full of so many lawyers representing different interests -- the landowners, the city, the sports commission -- that Zeldon had trouble keeping everyone straight.

"This will be a far more challenging road than even I imagined," Zeldon said at one point.

Lawyers from the D.C. Office of the Attorney General argued that the city needs the land as soon as possible to begin clearing the site and preparing for construction of the ballpark.

The city has offered a total of $98 million for all of the properties, including about $84 million for the ones being seized through eminent domain. Most of the property owners are fighting for more money, and those cases will continue even after the city takes possession of the properties and begins construction.

Zeldon ordered lawyers representing the trash transfer station and the adult-oriented businesses, along with city lawyers, to meet over the next two weeks with a court mediator. Those businesses have argued that they should not be expected to move because the city has not helped them relocate in the District, which is difficult because of zoning requirements.

M. Roy Goldberg, a lawyer who represents the trash transfer station, said, "That's another issue that could hold everything up."