New Variance Notifications Required

— Property owners in the city making changes to their property will have to notify their neighbors in more instances.

People who request a variance in regulations, ranging from aviation to zoning, have to notify adjacent property owners of their intentions. The City Council approved adding the notifications in November.

Notifications were already required for rezoning of property, said Jeff Harper, city attorney.

“Some variances could affect adjacent property owners as much as rezoning,” Harper said. “I think this is a good thing.”

The idea for the change came after Love’s Travel Center requested a variance for an oversized sign on the west side of the planned Don Tyson Parkway interchange on Interstate 540. Adjacent property owners received notice of the rezoning but not the sign variance request.

No one attended the Planning Commission meeting to oppose the rezoning or the variance. The commission approved both.

Opposition surfaced the next day when city phones started ringing, Harper said.

“Nobody knew about the sign variance until they read about it in the newspaper the next day,” Harper said. “There were a lot of calls.”

The rezoning was also approved by the council, but an appeal of the sign variance by nearby property owners was tabled . Eventually, the variance was overturned by council.

Council members suggested adding notifications for variances as a means to expand awareness of prospective changes in property. Kent Bird Detmer, a Springdale resident, said he supported the change.

“People can be hoodwinked when they don’t know what is proposed by their neighbors,” Detmer said. “It could affect their property’s tax value and selling value.”

Joel Kelsey, commission chairman, said he has seen potentially controversial items in front of the commission that had no opposition.

“People don’t know what is going on next door sometimes,” Kelsey said. “I’ve seen things come up that I wouldn’t want next door to my house. I’ve opposed them because I think the neighbors would if they knew about them.”

A variance request did require publishing a legal notice in the newspaper, but those notices aren’t well read, Kelsey said.

The new regulations require adjacent property owners be notified by certified mail with a return receipt requested. That’s the same process required of other property changes, such as subdivisions and conditional uses.

Alderman Jim Reed said he’s not opposed to notifying property owners, but he does object to the additional cost involved. Reed voted for the change.

The property owner usually has to hire a company to compile a list of adjacent property owners, then pay the postage for the notifications, he said.

“It’s an added expense the government is putting on people,” Reed said.

Detmer disagreed.

“I wouldn’t mind if it cost me more money for a project,” Detmer said. “It would help people stay informed.”

At A Glance

Springdale Planning Commission

“The planning commission is authorized . . . to secure the benefits to the public of a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the city, to promote the health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare of the citizens thereof and shall make recommendations on planning issues and report to the mayor and city council concerning the operation of the commission and the status of planning within its jurisdiction.”

Source: Springdale City Code, Chapter 130, Article 2 Section 2

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