2008.10.27
Blacksburg files Supreme Court brief in big-box case
Blacksburg has filed a brief to the Virginia Supreme Court in its pending case against Fairmount Properties of Ohio and partners.
The town is appealing a ruling of the Montgomery County Circuit Court that granted Fairmount the right to build a 186,000-square-foot big-box retail store (widely thought to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter) on four acres just off South Main Street without town council approval. The council wants to apply Ordinance 1450 to the project. The ordinance requires special council approval of buildings larger than 80,000 square feet.
The ordinance was passed after the four acres was rezoned for commercial use in 2006. The developer has argued -- successfully so far -- that state law bars the council from retroactively applying the ordinance to the project.
The Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, the Virginia Association of Counties and the Virginia Municipal League have filed a joint brief in support of the council's right to regulate the big-box.
Fairmount and partners have less than a month to file their legal response to the court, Town Attorney Larry Spencer wrote in an e-mail.
-- Tonia Moxley
