Russellville City Council passes ordinance for casino zoning

Tuesday 24th December 2019

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark.- The day before Christmas eve, Russellville City Council members met to put some final touches on an ordinance surrounding the casino.

The meeting was called by a number of council members, including, Mark Tripp, Shawn Harris, Justin Keller, Larry Brown, Eric Westcott and Phyllis Carruth.

In the meeting, the council members voted to amend the zoning code for the city of Russellville, adopted by ordinance number 1966 and for other purposes. This was the third and final reading.

The members voted to add C-5 zoning which would allow a casino to be built.

"Right now we do not have a zoning classification for a casino for obvious reasons so we are creating that classification so that when we do zone the property we can zone it C-5 which would allow a casino," said Richard Harris, Mayor of Russellville.

Council voted to add the ordinance immediately, in preparation for the racing commission meeting which is happening on January 6th.

"Just in case of the possibility that a license could be grated at the January 6th meeting-we have no way of knowing yes or no, maybe. This just positions us to where that's already taken care of," said Mark Tripp, Ward 2.