Board upholds order to vacate issued to Dino's Food Mart in west Louisville; owners planning appeal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A 24-hour gas station and convenience store in west Louisville has been ordered to close after being the subject of numerous public nuisance complaints from residents.

An attorney for the business, however, told WDRB News it will stay open as its owners appeal the decision.

The Louisville Metro Code Enforcement Board on Friday upheld an order to vacate issued to Dino's Food Mart in August. But the property owners "have not exhausted their rights to appeal," according to Josh Abner with the Jefferson County Attorney's office.

"Our client Louisville Metro is considering its options against Dino’s following the Code Enforcement Board's action," Abner said in a statement.

Attorney Nader George Shunnarah, who represents Dino's owner and real estate owner, told WDRB News on Saturday they plan to file an appeal Monday and will see that the case goes to federal court. Dino's could remain open for "at least another year and a half, if not longer" as the appeals process plays out, Shunnarah said.

Located at 26th Street and West Broadway in Louisville's Russell neighborhood, Dino's was deemed a public nuisance in April due to multiple citations for criminal activity occurring on the property. Its owners had an appeal denied in July and were told the city would issue an order to vacate if the business received another public nuisance notice.

After the unsuccessful appeal, three public nuisance "qualifying events" occurred — two cases of fourth-degree assault, one on July 25 and the other on Aug. 8, and one case of possession of synthetic drugs on Aug. 8, according to the order.

"The owners were told to clean up the activity and were repeatedly cited but ultimately Code Enforcement Officers issued the order to vacate," said Metro Council President David James and Councilwoman Donna Purvis in a joint news release.

Purvis, D-5, and other members of the Russell neighborhood have pushed for Dino's top be shut down due to concerns about violent crime. During the public nuisance appeal hearing in July, MetroSafe said police had responded to Dino's approximately 500 times in the previous 12 months.

"You're talking about over a thousand runs in less than two years, year and a half, from fire, police and EMS," Purvis told WDRB News in August. "That's a lot of wasted resources that can be utilized somewhere else, and that is in my opinion abuse of taxpayers dollars."

Challenging the order to vacate, Shunnarah listed in their appeal 15 reasons why the city can’t shut the store down, including "lack of due process" to bias and prejudice.

"You cannot claim that a third party that engages in a crime on your property — they come onto your grocery store and they commit a crime — you can't hold that against the grocery store owner, who actually calls the police and asks for their help," Shunnarah told WDRB News in October. "They have never been charged with any criminal violations — the civil violation they're accused of is a nuisance."

In their joint statement Friday, Purvis and James applauded the code enforcement board's decision.

"I am pleased that we have won this first round in this battle and look forward to this location transforming into a business that will have a positive effect on our community," Purvis said in the news release.

"West Louisville deserves clean and safe locations to purchase groceries," James added.

Dino's is also near the site of the fatal shooting of David McAtee by members of the Kentucky National Guard.

McAtee, who owned Yaya's Barbecue across 26th Street from Dino's, was shot and killed when Guardsmen and Louisville Metro Police responded to a crowd gathered in the gas station/convenience store's parking lot just after midnight June 1.

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