By Terry Witt- Spotlight Senior Reporter
A lawsuit filed by the Levy County Historical Society in early June has temporarily thrown a wrench into plans by Family Dollar Tree to build a convenience store directly in front of the Levy County Courthouse.
Historical Society attorney William R. Leonard has petitioned the court to void the town’s zoning and parking variance approval, alleging among other things that public hearing requirements weren’t followed and the town’s decisions amounted to spot zoning.
If the historical society lawsuit is successful, a judge could void the town’s rezoning of the property and return the zoning to residential status, stopping the store project entirely.
Levy County Road Department Administrative Field Manager Casey Duquette said the county needs to know if the property in question is zoned commercial or residential before it reviews a proposed driveway on Picnic Street.
The Bronson Town Council voted in May to rezone the former Buren Brice property commercial and grant a variance reducing the number of required parking places for the proposed store.
In a June 21 letter to Family Dollar Tree, Duquette said the county’s driveway regulations are different for residential and commercial zoning and the county must wait for the outcome of the historical society lawsuit before reviewing the company’s plans. Family Dollar Tree has yet to submit a request for a driveway permit. It must first complete a traffic study showing how much car and truck traffic, and delivery truck traffic, would enter and exit the store parking lot from Picnic Street.
“The County needs to know whether that petition stays the rezoning and variance decisions by the Town before it can commit to any comments based on a review of the sketch you submitted because the County needs to know whether any review is for commercial or residential property. Driveway permit standards differ for commercial and residential,” Duquette said in his letter to Family Dollar Tree engineer Chris Berry, company real estate representative Jamey Flegal, and County Coordinator Wilbur Dean. He added later, “Ultimately, the answer to the question of whether the town’s actions were stayed will need to be answered.”
Legal questions surrounding the town’s actions are by no means settled. Town Attorney Steven Warm has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying litigation wasn’t filed within 30 days of the town’s decisions in violation of established court rules and should be dismissed.
Family Dollar Tree received town approval when its site plans showed driveway entrances and exits off Court Street and Picnic Street, but the company found out later that both streets are county roads and approval of driveway permits would rest with the county road department, not the town. The county has ruled out placing a driveway on Court Street. The county said the Court Street driveway would violate its rules.
The company switched gears and sent Duquette a new site plan showing the driveway entrance and exit for the store emptying onto Picnic Street only, but in the meantime, the historical society filed its lawsuit challenging the town’s actions and calling for the court to void the decisions.
Family Dollar Tree then sent the county a sketch of the store site showing a driveway and exit on Picnic Street. Duquette replied in his June 21 letter that the historical society litigation must be settled to determine whether residential or commercial regulations can be used.
Historical Society attorney William Leonard said in the lawsuit that the town’s decisions should be voided in part to avoid violating and destroying the integrity and essential character of the courthouse district through spot zoning. The town council wants to replace the 110-year-old old Buren Brice home with a Family Dollar Tree store, a business that would in the historical society’s view, violate the character of the existing neighborhood.
“It is clear from the adjacent uses and zoning, the rezoning of a residential parcel, adjacent to a residential parcel (the Libby Barr home), across the street from the Courthouse, within a few hundred feet of a church (First Baptist Church) and across the street from the Levy County Historical Society Museum is ‘spot zoning’ contrary to assertions made in the (town’s) staff report,” the lawsuit says.
“To add insult, the retail store is only providing 75 percent of the required parking thereby increasing the negative impact upon its adjacent neighbors,” the suit said.
The lawsuit also alleges the historical society is unable to review the town’s Code of Ordinances, including the zoning code, because the town isn’t making the documents available for review and doesn’t post them on its website due to restrictions related to the Americans with Disability Act compliance. Records requests must be made of the town to access agenda packages and meeting audios.
The lawsuit added that the public wasn’t adequately notified of two public hearings in April and May in violation of state law.
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Enterprise reporting by Terry Witt July 29, 2021; Posted July 29, 2021
