Opponents of the proposed Dollar General store ten miles south of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia have taken their case to the West Virginia Supreme Court.
The opponents are appealing an October 2015 decision by Morgan County Circuit Court Judge Christopher Wilkes finding that the Morgan County Planning Commission did not violate local residents’ due process rights in approving plans to move forward with the proposed store.
In papers filed today before the Supreme Court, local residents who oppose the Dollar General in their rural residential neighborhood, argue that the Morgan County Planning Commission violated their due process rights when the planning commission approved the Dollar General development “before the required documents were filed in violation of its own subdivision ordinance.”
The residents “right to a meaningful hearing was foreclosed before the documents were ever filed,” they argued.
They argue that the purpose of the Morgan County Planning ordinance is to protect “the public health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Morgan County.”
The residents say that the required documentation — including transmittal letter, permits and other documents which should have been in the file for the consideration of the public “were not there when the decision to approve the development was made.”