Section 10-9-14.1. Bylaws, resolutions, regulations, or ordinances governing use of facilities; exclusion of persons; grants for particular uses

   (a) Notwithstanding any designation or name of a facility of the authority, the facilities of the authority owned by it or under its control and management, including without limitation facilities named as or used for plazas, parks, pavilions, and vehicular and pedestrian ways, shall not be open or accessible to the public or be generally available for public or other use except (1) as may be determined or designated by the authority by bylaw, resolution, regulation, or ordinance as may be adopted by and amended from time to time by the authority either governing all facilities of the authority or governing a specific facility and then only for the purposes, at the times, and in the manner provided in such bylaw, resolution, regulation, or ordinance governing such facilities or facility and (2) as may be permitted by the authority to lessees, sublessees, licensees, sublicensees, exhibitors, concessionaires, franchisees, or vendors operating under a grant from the authority authorized by or entered into in accordance with bylaw, resolution, regulation, or ordinance of the authority and then only in accordance with the terms of that grant.

(b) The authority may exclude from the facilities of the authority any person whose access to or use of the facility is not authorized or permitted in accordance with such grant, bylaw, resolution, regulation, or ordinance and remove any person present on such facilities whose presence or activities during such presence are not in accordance with such grant, bylaw, resolution, regulation, or ordinance. In addition, the authority may exclude or remove any person from a facility of the authority or conditionally limit access of a person to a facility of the authority where the authority in good faith determines that the person's activities pose an actual or imminent threat of harm, that the person's activities do or are intended to disrupt or interfere with the activities or functions authorized or permitted within such facility, that the person's activities do or are likely to violate the security of persons authorized or permitted to use the facility, or that the person's activities constitute a hazard to the safe or orderly operation of the facilities of the authority or to the safety of the authority's facilities or the occupants thereof.

(c) Any bylaw, resolution, regulation, or ordinance adopted by the authority authorizing or permitting public or other use and access to any facility by the public or by persons other than the authority shall permit the authority from time to time directly to conduct activities within such facility or for other purposes which may be exclusive of access to and use of the facility by the public or by others otherwise authorized or permitted. Any bylaw, resolution, regulation, or ordinance adopted by the authority authorizing or permitting public or other use and access to any facility by persons other than the authority shall also permit the authority by lease, license, concession, franchise, or vending rights agreement, as the authority determines appropriate, to grant to others the right to use designated facilities of the authority to conduct activities thereon or for other purposes which shall be exclusive of the rights of others, including the public, to the extent set forth in the grant. During the period of such direct use or of the term of such grant and at such times preceding or following such period as the authority determines appropriate, notwithstanding any bylaw, resolution, regulation, or ordinance permitting public or other use and access to a facility, the authority may close the facility for which direct use or grant is made to access by the public or others and exclude and remove from the facility of the authority for which such direct use or grant is made any person not authorized by the authority or by the authority's grantee to obtain access thereto. To the extent necessary to effectuate the purposes of such direct use or grant, the authority may temporarily close to vehicular and pedestrian access public streets and sidewalks within such facilities or limit vehicular and pedestrian traffic thereon and, after agreement with municipalities having jurisdiction, temporarily close to vehicular and pedestrian traffic public streets and sidewalks adjacent to such facilities or limit vehicular and pedestrian traffic thereon.

(d) The provisions of this Code section are in addition to and not in derogation of the other provisions of this chapter, including Code Section 10-9-14.

Code 1981, § 10-9-14.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 916, § 2.