A potential food court in the Foothills has neighbors upset

The Yuma County Board of Supervisors approved a change of land use for a new food court in the foothills, but some locals are against it.

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - In a 3-2 decision, the Board of Supervisors approved for a now empty lot to be turned into a food court. However, nearby neighbors are afraid of what this could bring to the area.

The food court woud be located between 43rd and 42nd Street.

The plan is to also include parking within the lot, however locals say the new addition would only cause more traffic.

"I am against the business that they want to put on it because of the traffic situation. There's going to be a lot of typical accidents here 'cause I've seen a lot of close calls already," said Foothills neighbor David Wilbur.

They are also concerned because they say similar businesses down the street can get noisy. 

However, Yuma County supervisor Tony Reyes feels this could be good for the Foothills, if they apply the proper regulations.

"There's a need for those kind of services. It's just that the other one was not a good example of what their service could be, and we felt, 'Okay, we're going to give this guy a chance to do it well and to do the way it should be done,'" said Reyes.

Darren Simmons is the County Supervisor for the area. While he voted against the change of land use due to similar concerns of the neighbors, he says if anyone has problems, call the sheriff's office or planning and zoning.

However, he is frustrated with the current process of dealing with permit violations.

"The county, right now, has no way to enforce a special use permit violation, or whatever, other than getting cited into a hearing officer, and you're talking sometimes you know months," said Simmons.

The owner of the land will have to apply for a special use permit and then it will go back to the board for approval.