CLEVELAND, Tenn. – A Bradley County judge on Wednesday heard more than three hours of arguments by attorneys in a lawsuit seeking to strike down a grocery store project in Walden.
Circuit Court Judge J. Michael Sharp also gave the lawyers until April 12 to file written comments in the suit that revolves around a plan to put a 44,000-square-foot grocery store and small shops at Taft Highway and Timesville Road in Walden.
Chattanooga attorney Donald Aho, representing several Walden residents who filed suit, disputed that the project is a village center as defined by the town.
“This is an issue that goes through the entire proceeding – whether this is a village center or zoned as a village center,” he said. The attorney termed the project simply a large grocery store and two out-parcel buildings with a 200-space parking lot.
Aho listed a variety of reasons why an ordinance earlier approving the project by the Walden Board of Aldermen should be invalidated.