FAYETTEVILLE — A developer is trying to give one of Fayetteville’s bald spots a combover.
Bart Bauer of Springdale has plans to put some type of apartments on land behind the Evelyn Hills Shopping Center. The land has lain bare for years.
Timeline
Abshier Heights
-April 4, 2006: The City Council approves the Abshier Heights planned zoning district on 4.1 acres east of the Evelyn Hills Shopping Center and west of Hillcrest Avenue.
-Nov. 11, 2010: The Bank of Fayetteville obtains ownership of a portion of the land.
-April 4, 2012: The City Council rezones 2.2 acres of the 4.1-acre property to residential multi-family (eight units per acre).
-Jan. 14, 2013: Fayetteville Planning commissioners indefinitely table a request from Bart Bauer to rezone the 2.2-acre property to residential multi-family (12 units per acre).
Source: City of Fayetteville and Washington County Assessor’s Office
City Council members approved Abshier Heights, a six-building condominium project on the wooded hillside in 2006. Developer David Chance paid to run a private street through the area. Some of the trees that served as a buffer between homes on Hillcrest Avenue and the shopping center were removed. The land was graded. Utilities were extended. But only one of the condominium buildings — off Abshier Drive — was built.
“We were left with an open view of the back of Evelyn Hills Shopping Center (and) naked pads of dirt,” Hillcrest Avenue resident Bonnie Turner said in a Jan. 5 letter to city planning staff.
Turner and other neighbors have said they’re worried about what might come next on the property.
The Bank of Fayetteville obtained ownership of the land in late 2010, according to Washington County property records. Bauer acquired the land from the bank.
City Council members agreed in April to rezone 2.2 acres of the original 4.1-acre property to a zoning designation Bauer said would allow him to build several owner-occupied, single-family homes.
Bauer told planning commissioners earlier this month he’s been unable to get financing for that type of project because of the narrow property and its proximity to Evelyn Hills.
Bauer said Friday he now wants to build four, four-unit apartment buildings just east of the shopping center. He added, after getting push back from neighbors, he might start with a five-unit building next to the condominiums before developing further north along Desoto Place, a private street.
“We may not do anything for months and months,” Bauer said about the four-plexes.
He said whatever is built, he wants to preserve remaining trees along Hillcrest Avenue. And, he said, he wants to limit all access and parking to the private drive.
Those assurances may not be enough to appease surrounding homeowners.
Rob Wicks, who lives on Hillcrest, said he would prefer to see owner-occupied, single-family homes rather than rental apartments.
“This wasn’t what we signed on for in the beginning,” Wicks said.
Planning commissioners unanimously voted Jan. 14 to table a rezoning request from Bauer. That gives the developer time to either propose a new zoning designation or submit written guarantees limiting building height, prevent parking on Hillcrest or allow the buildings to be set back farther than usual from the public street.
No date has been set for planning commissioners to reconsider Bauer’s request.