Commission Approves Deck Plans

FAYETTEVILLE — Planning commissioners got their first, and last, look at designs for a downtown parking deck on Monday.

Fayetteville Planning Commission

Also on Monday, the Planning Commission:

-Recommended rezoning a portion of the former Tyson Mexican Original property at Huntsville and Happy Hollow roads where a Kum & Go convenience store is planned

-Approved a one-year mobile vendors permit for Now & Then Boutique, a retail vintage clothing store operating out of an Airstream trailer off North College Avenue

-Tabled consideration of a variance to the city’s streamside protection ordinance for developers of a 68-unit condominium project at 15th Street and Razorback Road

Source: Staff Report

The commission unanimously approved large-scale development plans for a 246-space, three-tier deck, paving the way for construction later this year on the south end of the Walton Arts Center property. Garver LLC engineers and AFHJ Architects presented the parking deck plans Monday.

“I think this is a very nice design,” Commissioner William Chesser said. “I like the way they handled the screening of the parking deck itself. I think it’s aesthetically pleasing, and I think that it’s going to be a nice addition to the city of Fayetteville.”

Designs include two 3,100-square-foot liner buildings on the ground floor of the parking deck, along Spring Street and School Avenue. David Jurgens, Fayetteville utilities director, said the city’s Parking Services Division will be housed in the liner buildings with some space possibly available for the Fayetteville Police Department.

Jurgens has said commercial storefronts cannot be built using tax-exempt bonds. The City Council in November 2011 authorized Mayor Lioneld Jordan to issue up to $6.5 million in bonds to pay for the parking deck. Debt will be repaid using fees and fines associated with Fayetteville’s paid parking program.

Plans show a shared wall between the north end of the parking deck and new 16,000-square-foot administrative offices for the Walton Arts Center. The basement level of the three-level building will be used for additional backstage space and will connect to the arts center’s loading dock.

Jurgens said solar panels could eventually be added to the deck and several parking spaces could be used as electric car charging stations.

Construction is expected to begin this fall and take 12 to 18 months to complete. The City Council awarded a construction management contract last week to Rogers-based Baldwin & Shell Construction Co.

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