An attorney for a Eureka Springs business owner who is suing the city after it denied him a Conditional Use Permit to operate a gun and pawn shop inside the city limits has offered to settle the suit if the city will pay more than $16,000 in attorney’s fees and grant him the CUP for 20 years.
Attorney Whitfield Hyman of Fort Smith, who represents Eureka Gun LLC and owner Keeling Grubb, emailed defense attorney Sara Monoghan of the Arkansas Municipal League on Monday, Jan. 29, offering to settle the case if the city paid $15,499 in attorney’s fees and court costs and grant Grubb the Conditional Use Permit.
On Sunday, Feb. 4, Hyman emailed Monaghan an update offer, asking for $16,499 “due to work on interrogatories and other preparations.”
A trial date had been scheduled for Feb. 16, but Carroll County Circuit Judge Scott Jackson granted a motion filed by Monoghan asking him to postpone the trial. Instead, Monoghan asked that a Zoom meeting be held on that date on her Nov. 29 motion to dismiss the complaint, a request that Jackson also granted in his Jan. 19 order.
On Jan. 29, Hyman filed a motion seeking partial summary judgment in the case. In that motion, Hyman asked Jackson to rule that it was illegal for the city to issue Grubb a business license and then restrain him from buying, selling or pawning firearms.
Hyman filed the suit on July 11, 2023, after the Eureka Springs City Council voted June 12 to deny Grubb’s application for a Conditional Use Permit to operate a gun and pawn shop inside the city limits.
Grubb had appealed to the city council after a vote by the Eureka Springs Planning Commission on his application resulted in a 3-3 stalemate.
The council’s June 12 vote followed nearly an hour of public comments regarding Grubb’s application — mostly in opposition to a gun and pawn shop.
Council member Harry Meyer, who voted against Grubb’s application, objected to the fact that a sign in front of the business already said “gun and pawn.”
“I just hate to allow a CUP when somebody has already put the signs up without the permits to do so,” Meyer said. “It’s just an insult.”
Also voting against Grubb’s application were council members David Avanzino, Melissa Greene and Steve Holifield. Council members Terry Mc-Clung and Autumn Slane voted in favor of approving the CUP application.
