FAYETTEVILLE — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the city’s authority to regulate rock quarries outside of the city just a week after the city backed off its long-held position.
The Rogers Group, which owns the quarry just west of the city on Hamestring Road, filed the lawsuit against Fayetteville in November 2009, one month after the city enacted the ordinance based on noise complaints from neighbors.
The ordinance limited blasting at the quarry to two days each month, required dust control measures and regulated the operation of trucks entering and leaving the quarry.
The Rogers Group argued the ordinance put the Tennessee-based company at a competitive disadvantage.
U.S. District Judge Jimm Hendren issued a preliminary injunction blocking the ordinance, a decision upheld by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Hendren also denied the city’s request to let the Arkansas Supreme Court hear the case.
After City Attorney Kit Williams warned the City Council keeping the ordinance on the books could lead to a lengthy and costly legal battle, the council members voted March 22 to amend the ordinance to only apply to quarries within the city, though there are no quarries in Fayetteville.
In a seven-page decision filed Thursday, Hendren wrote changing the ordinance made the issues brought up in the lawsuit moot.