{"id":400143,"date":"2026-09-15T04:44:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T04:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/400143\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T04:44:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T04:44:23","slug":"we-dont-want-it-here-jacksonville-residents-push-back-on-plans-for-davids-burgers-meat-processing-plant-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/400143\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We don’t want it here:’ Jacksonville residents push back on plans for David’s Burgers meat processing plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following pushback from the public last year, David’s Burgers<\/a> is once again looking to build a meat processing plant in Pulaski County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The owner said it helps deliver the freshest meat to its 10 restaurants across the region, but it met stiff resistance last year when it tried to build one in a North Little Rock industrial park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, this go-around, David’s Burgers is eyeing just outside of Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

“We do not want it here, period,” resident Virginia Cox said.<\/p>\n

Echoing those words was resident Barbara Swift, who has also been making those feelings heard.<\/p>\n

“We do not want this meat packing plant in our community,” Swift added.<\/p>\n

Swift’s home sits across from the proposed David’s Burgers meat processing and food plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The smell and the bacteria and all that will be coming from there,” Swift said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cox lives up the road and has called the area home for more than 70 years.<\/p>\n

“We’re familiar with all the germs a meat processing plant carries. We have children being raised here, and schools are close by. We have no plans approving a meat processing plant in this area,” Cox said.<\/p>\n

Reginald Ford with the NAACP Jacksonville Chapter said the community found out about this project over the weekend.<\/p>\n

“There’s no regard for the community,” he said.<\/p>\n

Ford also added that the city mentioned a plan to develop the land back in May but never heard anything else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There was nothing said that this was going to possibly be a processing plant in a residential neighborhood,” he said.<\/p>\n

If this sounds familiar, it’s because it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, David’s Burgers tried opening a facility in North Little Rock until the community pushed back and the company stopped development.<\/p>\n

However, now, there’s one major difference. The plot of land is in an unincorporated part of the county that touches city limits.<\/p>\n

“Someone can put whatever they want, wherever they want to. Even if it’s across these homes,” said Tab Townsell, who is the director of Pulaski County Public Works.<\/p>\n

Townsell adds that there are no zoning ordinances in the area, adding that county officials’ hands are tied if the project meets the criteria.<\/p>\n

“We have to approve their site plan, or we can be sued,” Townsell said.<\/p>\n

The owners of the 80-acre site are listed as Jack and Michelle Anderson, and they have a listed LLC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there will be a site plan review on September 22nd before the County Planning Board in Little Rock. People who live nearby will have a chance to speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following pushback from the public last year, David’s Burgers is once again looking to build a meat processing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[159233,159236,116,118,117,159238,159231,159234,159235,159237,159232],"class_list":["post-400143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-barbara-swift","tag-david39s-burgers","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-little-rock-industrial-park","tag-meat-processing","tag-processing-plant","tag-reginald-ford","tag-tab-townsell","tag-virginia-cox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}