A group of Blytheville residents recently filed a lawsuit against the city to stop a Dollar General Store from coming to their neighborhood.
The nine residents said in the lawsuit filed in Mississippi County Circuit Court that the Blytheville Planning Commission didn’t follow zoning regulations when it quickly approved the site development plans for the discount retailer on March 23.
"It’s strictly a residential neighborhood," attorney Daniel Richey of Blytheville told Arkansas Business. "We’re not bashing Dollar General. We just feel that that type of business is not compatible with that neighborhood."
He said the residents feared their property values would drop and traffic at the proposed location of Highland and Sixth streets would rise as a result of the store. The sale price of homes in the area starts at about $60,000, he said.
The residents also weren’t happy that the commission pushed through the building permit for the store.
After the city issued the building permit on March 27, Blytheville Mayor James Sanders suspended the building permit on March 28 because of the objections to the project.
But at a special meeting of the Blytheville City Council on April 4, a motion passed to lift the suspension and reinstate the permit.
The residents said in the lawsuit that the council failed to follow its own zoning regulations. The residents said their due process rights were violated, and the city’s actions were "arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law."
They are seeking a court order to stop the project. A court date for the hearing hasn’t been set.
Sanders didn’t immediately return a call for comment.