Four Smith Mountain Lake area residents filed a lawsuit against Franklin County and its board of supervisors Thursday alleging the board acted "in an arbitrary and capricious manner" when its members approved the controversial LakeWatch Spa and Resort development.

Steven Cuppy, Charles Hiltz, Karen Hiltz and Lorraine Redding, all neighbors of the development, want the court to void the rezoning request and associated special-use permits approved last month by the county's board of supervisors.

The plaintiffs claim the development will have an "adverse impact" on the value of their real estate, according to the lawsuit filed by lawyer Monica Monday.

The board of supervisors narrowly approved plans for the mixed-use development in December after nearly six months of debate among the board, discord in the community and several revisions of plans by the developer, Trey Park.

The zoning changed from agricultural to planned residential development.

Park is developing nearly 500 acres of residential and commercial space east of Westlake, across Virginia 122 from the resort site.

Park introduced the initial proposal for the resort, which included a golf course, wakeboarding park, a six-story hotel and residential lots, to the county's planning commission in July.

The commission voted 4-3 against recommending the rezoning for the development.

Park amended the plan twice -- most notably scaling the hotel down to four stories, setting it farther from the lake's shore and changing its classification to condominiums.

The planning commission was set to hear the revised proposal in September, but county planning staff postponed the hearing for a month to study the plans. The commission reached a tie vote in October with one member absent.

The next month, the board of supervisors voted to table the decision until December, noting discrepancies between the developer's proposal and the architectural plans.

On Dec. 27, the board approved Park's proposal by a vote of 4-3.

Supervisors Wayne Angell, Leland Mitchell, Hubert Quinn and Charles Wagner voted to allow the development.

Supervisors David Hurt, Russell Johnson and Charles Poindexter voted against it.

The lawsuit does not name Poindexter or Quinn; Poindexter was elected in November to serve in Virginia's House of Delegates and Quinn did not run for re-election to the board.

Both supervisors' successors, David Cundiff and Bobby Thompson, respectively, are named in the lawsuit.