A court hearing began Thursday morning in the dispute over a proposed Wal-Mart store at Sixth and Wakarusa in northwest Lawrence.

6Wak Land Investments LLC is suing the city of Lawrence to issue a building permit for a restaurant that would be built on the same site.

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The city has refused, saying it is part of the Wal-Mart project — and that Wal-Mart is a “department store” that is prohibited from the site by zoning rules.

Randal Larkin, an attorney for the city, said in court during the hearing, that 6Wak’s case should be dismissed because the company had not exhausted all of its administrative remedies.

6Wak should have gone to the Board of Zoning Appeals prior to filing suit, Larkin said.

Mary Jo Shaney, an attorney for 6Wak, countered that the city failed to follow its own procedures in refusing to issue the permits and that an appeal to the BZA would have been futile.

The hearing was expected to continue throughout the morning in Douglas County District Court.

For more on this story, see the 6News report at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and pick up a copy of Friday’s Journal-World.