Per the article reporting on Fayetteville Planning Commission actions on Sept. 9, I encourage all Mount Comfort neighbors (Ward 4) to call City Council members and ask them to vote no on Kum & Go’s requested to rezone 1.7 acres at the corner of Mount Comfort and Shiloh Drive. According to the newspaper, city planning staff recommended denial of the request, saying the proposal wouldn’t mesh with surrounding land uses and wouldn’t serve as an adequate buff er between Interstate 540 and residential areas on either side of Mount Comfort Road. Since my neighborhood is about 1 mile from this site, I couldn’t agree more withstaff. However, against staff recommendations, the Planning Commission supported Kum & Go’s request. Now it’s up to City Council to decide.
I am against further encroachment of commercial development along the Mount Comfort corridor. As a resident of the area, I respectfully disagree with Commissioner Tracy Hoskins when I say I feel adequately served by services off ered along Wedington Drive, particularly the four gas stations at Wedington and I-540, not to mention the one at Sam’s Club to the north. Commissioner Ron Autry pointed out the gas station would eliminate the “unsightly salvage yard,” but the salvage yard creates absolutely no traftc or noise and isvery well hidden behind a carefully maintained privacy fence and landscaping.
Commissioner Sarah Bunch commented that with recently completed walking trails, we have “nothing to walk to now” and allowing a Kum & Go would solve that. Really? I walk those trails almost every day with absolutely no destination in mind whatsoever. So far I’ve not been bothered by it. Frankly, I appreciate that there’s nothing to disturb my walks and am sure other walkers, as well as cyclists, would feel the same.
What bothers me more is the additional number of vehicles that would be clogging the Mount Comfort and I-540 intersection every morning and afternoon as I try to enter and exit I-540. Since school started, morning traft c headed eastis backed up on Mount Comfort well beyond the Maple Valley neighborhood entrance. Of further bother is that city planning staff did their due diligence and made a recommendation that the Planning Commission completely ignored based on what they thought was best for residents of the area. How many residents did any of the commission members consult?
I am against this rezoning request. The ultimate decision now rests with the City Council. If you agree, please call the City Council and ask them to vote no.
Further, call our ward representatives Rhonda Adams (479) 444-0518 and Alan Long (479) 304-0585 and ask them to vote no. As our representatives they can lobby on our behalf with other council members todecline the request.
KIM PETERS
Fayetteville BRING COLORS
BACK TO SQUARE Mayor McCaslin, please bring color back to our Bentonville square at Christmas. Whoever fi gured “all white is elegant” needs to buck up and admit “all white is boring!”
We get it on the buildings, but come on, all the trees?
LED comes in red, blue and yellow, too. I proposed to my wife, on bent knee, under an array of diff erent colors, many Decembers ago on our Bentonville square. It was beautiful. The square “popped.” Now it “poops.”
MIKE DZWONKIEWICZ
Bentonville
ENFORCEMENT NEEDED As a follow-up to James Hunt’s “Interstate 540 Practices ‘Immoral’” in the Public Viewpoint of the Sept. 9 issue, I have the following comments: The mayhem on Interstate 540 will continue as long as there is no strong enforcement of the laws against speeding and tailgating.
The best way to enforce both would be with aerial surveillance, especially for tailgating. Once these “immoral” drivers learn the state of Arkansas will not tolerate their indiscretions, things can only get better.
And a life or two may be saved.
ED ENNIS
Bella Vista
Opinion, Pages 12 on 09/22/2013