Fliers target Russellville Wal-Mart

Some residents in the area of a proposed Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market in west Russellville have reported recently receiving a flier that they say contains misinformation about an Aug. 13 election concerning the store.

The forthcoming election challenges an earlier decision by the Russellville City Council to rezone 8.82 acres along West Main and South Vancouver streets, where the Wal-Mart is to be built.

On Monday, Russellville Mayor Bill Eaton, who lives roughly six blocks from the proposed site of the store, said a neighbor had brought him the flier over the weekend, saying it had been put in his mailbox. The handbill said the zoning question was to be decided Sept. 10 and a 1 percent sales tax election was set for Aug. 13, a reversal of the correct dates. A School Board election is also planned during the same period.

Eaton said he received a flier stuffed in his door Saturday with correct election information and the tag “paid for by your friends and neighbors.”

Early voting for the zoning question starts next Tuesday.

The Arkansas Ethics Commission reports two groups have registered campaigns on either side of the zoning issue: Skyline Joint Venture LLC, which is against the rezoning, and the Russellville Area Chamber of Commerce backed Committee for Community Progress, which is for it. At least one partner in Skyline, Russellville attorney Richard Peel, has an interest ina nearby shopping center anchored by a competing Cash Saver store. That development is at the foot of Skyline Drive in Russellville.

Peel - who is in business with his son, John - is a prominent lawyer, representing the Russellville School District. Peel did not return phone calls Monday.

“Those are the two who have been out front,” against the rezoning issue for Wal-Mart, the mayor said.

Eaton, who is in favor of upholding the rezoning for Wal-Mart, said he fears that residents who haven’t been paying attention to news on the issue could be influenced by the fliers.

“It could have an impact on those who are within the neighborhood,” he said.

The situation stemmed from an April vote by the City Council to rezone the property to a planned unit development. The backers of Skyline needed 780 signatures to bring the issue to a vote, based on the number of people who voted in the last general election. The group collected 800 valid signatures.

The mayor said a few other residents in the area of the proposed Wal-Mart have also been against the measure, as well as union representatives for Kroger, which has a store close by.

Business, Pages 21 on 07/30/2013

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