Longmont-Dillard’s battle delays plan for mall

An eminent-domain lawsuit by the city of Longmont against the Dillard’s department store at Twin Peaks Mall started in May and continued through the end of the year.

The Dillard’s store stands in the way of a planned $80 million development of the Village at the Peaks shopping center at the Twin Peaks Mall site on Hover Street north of the Diagonal Highway. Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) owns the store it occupies and has veto power over any mall redevelopment.

Eminent domain is the legal right of a public entity to take property from a private landowner after appropriate compensation. The eminent-domain…