University Estates developers and Athens City Council released details of their settlement of a $1 million lawsuit against the city, the mayor and the code director yesterday.

The settlement was announced Mar. 28, but the ordinance permitting the settlement was proposed yesterday and must still be approved by council.

“I hope that the message this settlement sends to developers is that we can negotiate and solve problems,” said Councilwoman Debbie Phillips, D-4th Ward.

The agreement dismissed the lawsuit and addresses specific ways city officials will work with University Estates representatives to prevent future problems over city codes that apply to the plans and construction.

City code violations against the owner of University Estates, Richard Conard, also are mentioned in the agreement but already were dropped Jan. 5.

Both parties agreed upon different zoning requirements and how final plans will be approved.

Road bonds, or funds put aside by developers to pay for any early problems with the roads, were received to cover the road that connects the currently constructed condos.

“This is a full and complete settlement,” city Law Director Garry Hunter said. Hunter said he could not comment further on the settlement until a joint press release was issued.

Councilwoman Carol Patterson, D-at-large, said the settlement will solve past disagreements between the parties.

Those disagreements began in June 2006, after the 830-acre development was annexed into the city. The development off state Route 682 will include a variety of housing options, a health care center, an 18-hole golf course, a health care center and other amenities.

University Estates had all necessary approvals from the state government, according to court documents, but Mayor Ric Abel said in July — after construction had begun — that the development needed city approval.

Developers filed the lawsuit in November, demanding that the city drop code violation charges pending against Conard, not interfere with the construction of the company’s 25-building condominium neighborhood and award more than $1 million in compensatory damages. Another measure to prevent any halt in construction was filed in December.

Zoning designations and plans received preliminary approval during a Jan. 10 meeting of the Athens Planning Commission.