BENTONVILLE — Planning commissioners approved Tuesday amendments made to the city's land use map to reflect the North Walton Boulevard Corridor Enhancement Plan and the Southeast Downtown Area Plan.
The City Council adopted the plans in February 2013 and February 2014, respectively.
At A Glance
Commission Action
Bentonville’s Planning Commission met Tuesday and approved:
• A Lot split for Jayhawk Industrial Park at 2600 and 2608 Southeast J Street.
• Plans for a warehouse at 2600 and 2608 Southeast J Street.
• A permit for Bentonville Public Schools to add six outdoor classrooms.
Source: Staff Report
"What we want is to make our future land use map consistent with those plans we adopted," said Shelli Kerr, planning services manager.
The land use map was adopted in 2007. It shows the desired location for each land use. The general plan describes the uses shown on the map and makes zoning recommendations.
Map amendments have been approved on a site-by-site basis from property owners requesting changes. This is the first amendment city staff requested, according to the Planning Commissioner report.
Since 2007, the C-4 zoning district has been dropped and downtown edge and downtown core designations have been added. Those need to be included as appropriate land uses, Kerr told commissioners.
The second change was to change 602 N. Walton Blvd. from commercial to mixed use to provide an opportunity to add high-density residential development and commercial development, according to meeting documents.
The land is part of the North Walton plan.
The third change involved a couple areas in the downtown plan. The first was to change the area around Sixth Street, which will connect the market and arts districts, from single-family residential to downtown mixed use residential.
It was also recommended the area around the former Tyson and Kraft plants and the vacant Ice House be changed from industrial/public to mixed use as the properties aren't being used in an industrial way anymore. The plan recommends the area consist of a mixture of commercial and high-density residential uses.
The last change involved changing the area around Southeast Eighth Street and north of it between Southeast A and Southeast E streets from residential uses to mixed use. Widening Southeast Eighth Street to five lanes will give the area more potential for commercial and high-density residential use, according to the staff report.
Commissioners approved the three amendments 6-0. Lisa Bohn was absent.
Commissioners also approved 6-0 an amendment to the sidewalk regulations.
The former ordinance lacked clarity about how and when regulations were required concerning residential additions and new construction downtown, Kerr said.
"What we wanted to do with this ordinance is basically clear that up so that when those developments come through we know exactly when and how those are to be required," she said.
Under the new ordinance sidewalks will be required to be built for:
• Any new construction, whether residential, commercial or industrial.
• Any additions to the building or site totalling 50 percent or more of the gross square footage of all the buildings on site.
• Any development requiring large-scale development approval.
• New parking lots or parking lot expansions at least 25 percent of the square footage.
• Any interior alterations adding dwelling units.
"The only exemption is interior alterations that are not increasing the number of dwelling units," Kerr said.
The updated ordinance also clarifies the appeal process if an applicant doesn't agree with the regulation, added Troy Galloway, director of community and economic development.
"This takes that extra step of defining what that process is," he said.
NW News on 04/16/2014