BENTONVILLE -- More apartment options are coming to Bentonville as the Planning Commission approved a development for the southwest corner of the city.
The development is to be known as The Parc at Bentonville. It will cover nearly 80 acres on the west and north sides of Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard where it curves west at Southwest Windmill Road. It will be built in four phases, according to documents.
At A Glance
Commission Action
Bentonville’s Planning Commission met Tuesday and approved:
• A Lot split at 301 N.E. Second St.
• A Lot split at 612 N.W. Jefferson St.
• Rezoning along Northwest Autumn Avenue from agriculture to single family residential.
• A permit so the Boy Scouts can have a temporary shed at 201 N.W. Second St.
• Final plat of Amber Ridge on Northeast Marina Drive.
Source: Staff Report
The Parc will consist of commercial and multifamily residential developments. The residential density would be 20 units per acre.
Phase 1 will have 216 apartments in nine buildings. Easement also will be dedicated at the back of the commercial section, and utilities will be extended. Phase 2 includes construction of a public street behind the commercial lots. Phases 3 and 4 will include apartments and commercial developments.
All phases are to be completed five to seven years after the beginning construction.
The development also proposes a 4,900-square-foot leasing center at the entrance of The Parc. Amenities include four, six-car garages, a mail structure near the entrance and 44 carports throughout the development.
The commission approved the rezoning from agricultural to planned unit development 4-2 at its meeting Tuesday. Commissioners Debi Havner and Joe Haynie voted against it.
The approval came after a discussion about the street access to the commercial property. Commissioners debated whether its construction should be required in Phase 1.
Havner expressed concern the developer may change his mind after the first phase of apartments is built and fail to develop the commercial lots.
"They could back out, couldn't they?" she asked city staff.
The land would either have to be rezoned again or the development would have to be modified if the commercial developments didn't happen within the seven years, said Beau Thompson, planner.
"It seems like a lot of times though, we have these residential areas go in without commercial," Havner said. "(Residents) get used to not having commercial, and then they get upset when someone starts building commercial."
She said a road being constructed would show people there would be follow-through with the commercial development.
Phil Swope, representative for the applicant TCI Bentonville, said money is the issue. He explained the developer has satisfied all of the other city departments' concerns regarding water, sewer and fire department access.
There's a lot more off-site costs involved with this project than others, he said.
"We're at a tipping point of saying if there's more, it's just not going to happen," he said.
Swope assured commissioners a development plan wouldn't be allowed to be submitted before the road for the commercial lots was built.
Thomas explained the commercial aspect of the project was just as important as the residential. It provides jobs in the southwest corner of the city. It also provides options to services and stores. Without it, there would be traffic overload on Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard into the city, he said.
The residential is needed to support the commercial, and the commercial is needed to support the residential, Thompson said.
"You can't have one without the other, and you can't have them at the same time."
Thompson said he was confident the apartments wouldn't be expanded until the road was built for the commercial development.
NW News on 12/17/2014