BENTONVILLE -- A judge has halted a special election in Lowell set for April 9 to decide whether to reverse a rezoning request approved by the city council.
Benton County Circuit Judge Doug Schrantz granted a temporary order Wednesday concerning a referendum on the ballot concerning the council's Nov. 13 approval of the rezoning.
George Spence, the attorney for Benton County, said the formal order has not yet been entered, but the judge has granted a restraining order stopping the election.
Spence said the ballots won't be printed.
"We will not do anything toward an election until the judge lifts his order," he said.
Lowell Mayor Chris Moore declined to comment on the case. The council voted Jan. 15 to refer the issue to voters in a special election.
The referendum concerns the rezoning of land on Old Wire Road east of McClure Road. The land was rezoned from residential to medium-density residential, which allows multifamily housing.
The council's vote on Nov. 13 was split 4-4. Eldon Long, who was mayor at the time, broke the tie in favor of the rezoning.
Rogers attorney Jennifer Gray filed the lawsuit last week on behalf of Tuscany Vines, the owner of the land that is the subject of the referendum.
The lawsuit names the city of Lowell, Mayor Chris Moore, City Clerk Elizabeth Estes, and Lowell City Council members, Todd Fenix, Eric Stein, Lisa Degifford, Linda Vannoy, David Adams, Dean Bitner, Thomas Evers and Chasity Taylor. Russell Anzalone, Robbyn Tumey and Harlan Stee, who comprise the Benton County Election Commission, were also named as defendants.
The lawsuit wants the court to cancel the election.
It argues that Lowell requires all referendum petitions to be filed with the city clerk-treasurer within 40 days after the passage of such ordinances. The ordinance was passed on Nov. 13 and the deadline for filing the referendum petition would have been Dec. 23 except the date was a Sunday and the following Monday and Tuesday were observed as holidays which extended the deadline to Dec. 26.
The lawsuit claims the referendum petition was dated Dec. 28, which is two days after the deadline.
Schrantz has not scheduled any further hearings in the case.
NW News on 02/22/2019