NEW BERLIN – The citizens group Neighbors First New Berlin has filed a lawsuit in Waukesha County Circuit Court alleging the city of New Berlin violated the law when it amended the city’s comprehensive plan and changed the zoning for land where Walmart wants to build a supercenter.

The New Berlin Common Council voted 4 to 2 on May 14 to approve three agenda items regarding rezoning, amending the comprehensive plan and approving a certified survey map for land near the intersection of Moorland Road and Greenfield Avenue. One aldermanic seat was vacant at the time of the vote.

In a news release Sunday, Neighbors First’s attorney, Dennis M. Grzezinski said, “The lawsuit alleges two reasons for finding the Common Council’s actions unlawful. First is the city’s failure to follow state law that requires a legal notice of proposed changes to a city comprehensive plan to be published at least 30 days before the public hearing on the proposal, which renders the Common Council’s changes to the plan unlawful and ineffective. Second, state law requires that amendments to zoning laws must be consistent with a city’s comprehensive plan, and the changes made to the zoning of these properties are contrary to the city’s plan, which was not altered by the unlawful attempt to change the plan.”

Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust was also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.

New Berlin Mayor Dave Ament declined to comment Monday afternoon, saying he hadn’t seen the lawsuit as of 3:30 p.m. and was not aware of the specifics of the lawsuit. He also said he cannot speak on pending litigation.

Lisa Nelson, senior manager of public affairs and government relations for Walmart, did not return a call for comment as of 4 p.m. Monday.

For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Freeman.