Backers say mall will go up

Suit contesting alcohol sales vote in Barling at issue

— Backers of a planned 105-acre shopping mall in the growing Chaffee Crossing development in Barling say they’re not discouraged about a lawsuit contesting a Nov. 6 vote that approved alcohol sales for the town.

Popular restaurant chains and anchor stores had shown interest in locating in the mall only if alcohol sales were approved. But mall supporters and developers still hope to build the shopping center to house about 70 stores by 2015, said Darrell Allison of Diamondhead Realty in Hot Springs, a real estate agent working with investors and a Dallas developer.

“There’s no discouragement,” Allison said Monday.“We know these things happen. The mall is going to be built, the question is just how big it will be.”

Developers had said the shopping mall could be one of the largest in western Arkansas and employ as many as 700 if alcohol sales are allowed, or shrink to as small as 15 acres with fast-food restaurants and a few small stores if alcohol can’t be sold.

The Barling vote approving retail alcohol sales passed 1,082 to 544 on Nov. 6. Two weeks later, 21 residents filed a lawsuit arguing the vote violated state law.

Barling is part of a Sebastian County judicial district that acts as an independent county, according to the lawsuit. Voters in that district- the Greenwood district - decided in 1944 to go dry, according to the suit.

Bruce Farrar, a city director of the town of 4,649 residents who spearheaded a petition to put the liquor vote on the ballot, said Monday that he believes the lawsuit will resolve in favor of city voters’ decision.

“That shopping mall is going to be a great asset to Barling, with 70 stores, a motel, restaurant and 700 employees. It’s going to be a great asset to the whole state,” he said.

Booneville lawyer Erik Danielson, who filed the Nov. 20 court complaint, said Monday that he believes “the law is clear. A single municipality can’t undo a previous dry vote by an entire county, or in this case a district. That’s well-established Arkansas law.”

The residents who filed the suit, Danielson said, have a range of motivations including “moral objections, business interests at stake or ... concerns about how it [the vote] was handled.”

But Chaffee Crossing executive director Ivy Owen said he believes Barling residents’ wishes should carry the day.

“Hopefully the court will find this 1944 law unconstitutional,” Owen said Monday. “It allows several municipalities to determine the destiny of another municipality. It needs to be changed. ... It seems illogical.”

Owen oversees development at 7,000-acre Chaffee Crossing. Once a part of the now-closed Fort Chaffee army base, it’s become one of the fastest-growing spots in the state in recent years. The planned mall is located at the intersections of Arkansas 59, Arkansas 22 and planned Interstate 49 in Chaffee Crossing, which includes parts of Fort Smith, Barling and Crawford County. The shopping mall would be Chaffee Crossing’s largest commercial project so far.

Allison, the real estate agent, said mall developers will watch the outcome of the lawsuit, as well as the state’s progress in finishing a Chaffee Crossing section of I-49 between Arkansas 59 and U.S. 71. Completion is expected in 2014.

Traffic counts beside the mall site are also key, he said. Mall developers are hoping for 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles per day or more.

Business, Pages 21 on 11/27/2012

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