Arkansas Code Title 14. Local Government § 14-301-403. Hearing the petition

On the day named in the notice provided for in § 14-301-402 of this subchapter, the city or town council shall hear the petition and the protests and objections of all persons, firms, or corporations desiring to object to or protest against the closing and vacating of the alley, and if a majority of the city or town council finds that the petition is signed by ten (10) or more owners of real property in the city or town, including a majority of the owners of real property abutting upon the alley, and that it is desirable or necessary to close the alley for any of the purposes mentioned in § 14-301-401, then the city or town council shall, by ordinance, vacate and close the alley or such part thereof as may be described in the petition. Thereafter, the right of the general public and of the owners of real property abutting upon the alley to use the lands embraced therein and described in the petition as an alley shall be forever cancelled and barred, and the title to the lands embraced in the alley shall be forever free of the right of all persons to use the lands as an alley. However, no protest or objection to the closing of the alley shall be considered by the council or by any court on appeal unless the protest or objection shall be in writing and shall be filed before or at the hearing provided for in this section.