College Avenue Access Approved For Possible Whole Foods Site

Action Resolves One Issue For Possible Whole Foods Store

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

— Developers of a supermarket-anchored shopping center at 3535 N. College Ave. got the green light Monday for two driveways and a new traffic signal where a Whole Foods Market could go.

The city's Planning Commission won't consider actual development plans for the property until at least May 12.

At a Glance

Planning Commission

Also on Monday, the Fayetteville Planning Commission:

• Approved plans for a 64,000-square-foot memory care center on 16.6 acres north of the Culpepper Place nursing home;

• Permitted a new farm-to-table restaurant called the Farmer’s Table Cafe at 1079 S. School Ave.; and

• Elected Tracy Hoskins as commission chairman and Ron Autry as commission vice chairman for the rest of 2014.

Source: Staff Report

Commissioners on Monday also permitted expansion of Bio-Tech Pharmacal, a company that manufactures vitamins, at 3493 N. Highway 112.

And they recommended City Council members approve zoning and development plans for a North Street microbrewery and new zoning near Beechwood Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard where the second phase of a planned student housing complex could be built. The council will consider those two issues May 6.

Commissioners unanimously voted to allow the driveways on College Avenue, where various car dealerships have operated for about 10 years. Georgia-based S.J. Collins Enterprises, a company that has built Whole Foods stores across the United States, submitted plans for the property earlier this month. Preliminary drawings show a 35,500-square-foot Whole Foods Market.

One driveway, just south of the Wayne Young Law Firm, will be restricted to right turns only. The other driveway, just north of Lewis Ford, is where the traffic signal will likely be built -- about 550 feet away from another stoplight at Millsap Road.

The signalized intersection will serve as the main entrance to the shopping center. It will be aligned with Masonic Drive, which serves the Summerhill subdivision on the east side of College.

"With the traffic signal lined up with Masonic, we feel like it will offer safe, full access in and out," Andrew Garner, senior planner, said Monday.

Officials with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department also have said a stoplight is warranted. Their conclusion is based on a traffic study estimating about 1,500 vehicle trips in and out of the shopping center on an average weekday.

S.J. Collins Enterprises will be required to include access easements on the south and southwest ends of the 6.6-acre property where connections to adjacent properties could be made.

That way, customers could eventually access the shopping center from Plainview Avenue or Longview Street, on the back end of the property, as other development occurs.

NW News on 04/15/2014