FAYETTEVILLE — Planning commissioners on Monday unanimously denied a private landowner’s request to build a parking lot across from Fayetteville High School.
John Davidson of Fayetteville submitted plans for a 136-space parking lot in a vacant field south of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad tracks and Stadium Drive.
Davidson told commissioners the lot would be fenced in, lit and parents would have to sign a waiver letting their children park there. He envisioned students crossing King Boulevard using a traffic signal and crosswalk at Stadium Drive on the west end of the 4.7-acre property.
“This whole project was born out of safety for parents who have no safe alternative for their kids,” Davidson said following Monday’s meeting.
Commissioner Ron Autry said he wasn’t sure how safe the parking lot would be. He said he didn’t like the idea of hundreds of high school students crossing a busy five-lane highway to get to school each morning. Autry and other commissioners also said a 136-space parking lot would do little to solve broader parking problems at Fayetteville High School.
No high school staff or Fayetteville School District representatives spoke at Monday’s meeting. Alan Wilbourn, district spokesman, said prior to the meeting district administrators wouldn’t support a lot south of King Boulevard without a pedestrian bridge and a traffic signal at Buchanan Avenue, on the east end of Davidson’s property.
“We’ve always needed more parking at FHS for 50 years,” Wilbourn said. “It’s a situation where student safety trumps that.”
According to Wilbourn, there are 582 parking spaces at the high school. He said between 360 and 370 of those spaces are reserved for a student population of about 1,900. The rest of the spots are used by high school faculty and staff. Sophomores are not allowed to park on campus.
At A Glance
Fayetteville Planning Commission
Also on Monday, the Fayetteville Planning Commission:
• Recommended in favor of an administrative item that would allow a Slim Chickens drive-thru restaurant to be built at Wedington Drive and Golf Club Drive.
• Approved a conditional-use permit for additional parking lot and vehicle display space at Adventure Subaru on Henbest Road.
Source: Staff Report
Scotty Bolding, the parent of an FHS junior, called the parking situation a major issue, especially during sporting events when people park in the grass or in ditches around the high school.
The problems could get even worse when an estimated 700 freshmen start attending classes at Fayetteville High School in 2015, pushing enrollment to more than 2,600.
Some parking will be added. According to construction documents submitted to the city in 2010, expansion and renovation of the high school will bring total parking to 837 spaces.
Rich Kley, the parent of an FHS senior, junior, an eighth-grader in the Fayetteville School District and a 5-year-old, said he still didn’t think that would be enough parking. Kley said Davidson’s proposal wasn’t perfect, but, he added, “I can’t see any other solution at this time.”
“We’ve created a world-class high school, and I believe that we really need to have sufficient parking that’s commensurate with the school that we have,” said Kley, who has had to shell out more than $1,000 for private parking in neighborhoods around the high school for his children.
Kley said if he trusts his kids enough to let them drive to school, he trusts them enough to walk to the stoplight at Stadium Drive to cross over to the high school.
The stoplight did not prevent a 16-year-old Ramay Junior High School student from being struck by a van in March 2012. According to police reports at the time, the student illegally crossed King Boulevard when east and westbound drivers had a green light. She was treated at Washington Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
It’s not clear how much a traffic signal or pedestrian bridge would cost, even if it were allowed by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. According to 2012 traffic counts, 29,000 cars pass Stadium Drive on King Boulevard on an average day. Stoplights are already located within 1,000 feet of Buchanan Avenue in either direction.
City officials, when weighing their options for a trail crossing further east on King Boulevard, estimated a pedestrian bridge would have cost more than $1.6 million.
Commissioner Tracy Hoskins said Monday he was amazed school district officials didn’t come up with a better solution for parking when they decided to renovate and expand the high school at its current location. He told Davidson he hoped future plans for his property that better accounted for pedestrian safety.
Davidson, whom Washington County property records show acquired the property from Graham Streett in May, said following Monday’s meeting he wasn’t sure how he’d proceed.
“I would welcome the opportunity to work with anyone that has a good idea,” Davidson said.