LR city attorney writes opinion addressing VA center

LITTLE ROCK, AR.-- Little Rock city attorney Thomas Carpenter writes an opinion addressing the controversy surrounding a veterans treatment center. The document is in response to a proposed ordinance affecting the center's relocation to Main Street in Downtown Little Rock.

Retroactively, the ordinance would require the VA to go before the planning commission, where the center could be rejected. But carpenter said today in a letter to the mayor, the city typically does not make new zoning ordinance provisions.

He goes on to write the center can locate at the site if all legal requirements are met.

City Director Ken Richardson says the board must still address the ordinance despite Carpenter's opinion.

"The reason why the VA's decision to move here won't be affected because it is already zoned for those type of uses. So (the ordinance) won't have an impact on them whatsoever," said Richardson.

Right now, the department is operating at the intersection of Ringo and Second Streets. But workers have outgrown the space, so they need to move.