Several Fayetteville Developments On Tap

Commission Also Set To Review Urban Agriculture Proposal, Apartment Complex Extension

FAYETTEVILLE — Planning commissioners on Monday could approve plans for several large-scale developments, including Walton Arts Center expansion, an addition to the Boys & Girls Club of Fayetteville, a new Kum & Go convenience store along Mount Comfort Road and a 400-bedroom apartment complex at Center Street and Hill Avenue.

The commission is again scheduled to review ordinance changes aimed at promoting urban agriculture.

Meeting Information

Fayetteville Planning Commission

When: 5:30 p.m. Monday

Where: Room 219, City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain St.

And commissioners could extend development approval for another year for a 591-bedroom apartment complex south of Lafayette Street where the University Baptist Church activity center is located.

“We have a very big agenda,” Andrew Garner, planning director, told commissioners during a meeting Thursday.

Plans for the roughly 16,000-square-foot expansion of the Walton Arts Center include a larger lobby, expanded Starr Theater, more backstage space and new administrative offices.

The center’s most recent timeline anticipated construction beginning this summer.

The estimated $23 million project will be paid for using $6.9 million in hotel, motel and restaurant tax-backed bonds voters approved Nov. 12 and $600,000 from Advertising and Promotion Commission reserve. Administrators have said they expect the remaining $15.5 million to come from individual and corporate giving and foundation support.

A 19,000-square-foot addition to the Boys & Girls Club, at 560 N. Rupple Road, includes space for a gymnasium and classrooms.

The project is being paid for with a $100,000 gift from the Ronnie Brewer Foundation and money from New Heights Church, which has held services at the Boys & Girls Club for 10 years.

Eric Schuldt, club executive director, said he hopes to break ground on the project in April or May.

Planning staff on Thursday recommended denying plans for a Kum & Go station at the northwest corner of Mount Comfort Road and Shiloh Drive.

Plans submitted by CEI Engineering Associates of Bentonville show a curb cut on Mount Comfort Road and two curb cuts on Shiloh Drive on the east side of the development.

The city’s access management ordinance only allows curb cuts on the less trafficked of two streets when a lot has double street frontage. City policies also require curb cuts to be at least 250 feet away from the nearest intersection. The Kum & Go plans violate both provisions.

Planning commissioners could approve exceptions to city code, but planning and engineering staff haven’t recommended in favor of them.

A curb cut allowing left turns into the gas station from eastbound Mount Comfort Road has potential to stall traffic in the turn lane onto northbound Interstate 540.

“We’re at a point where we have to recommend denial, because of the concerns we have with safety,” said Jesse Fulcher, senior planner.

Developers with Specialized Real Estate Group had to revise plans for the 400-bedroom apartment complex along Center Street — called Harvey’s Hill — following City Council approval Dec. 3 of new building height limits and setback requirements in two downtown zoning districts.

Previous designs showed plans for 432 bedrooms. Harvey’s Hill, if approved, would be built across Duncan Avenue from a 471-bedroom complex called The Cardinal at West Center that’s under construction.

Specialized Real Estate Group is also a company behind plans for the 591-bedroom complex along Lafayette Street. Commissioners approved the development in January 2012. Developers had one year to obtain building permits before approval expired. City staff granted a one-year extension in January 2013. A third extension must be approved by the Planning Commission.

Plans for the project also had to be modified because of new height and setback requirements since the complex would be built next to a single-family home.

Monday will be the Planning Commission’s second look at the urban agriculture proposal, which would allow more chickens as well as goats and bees in non-agricultural zones.

Peter Nierengarten, sustainability and strategic planning director, reviewed several changes to the proposal Thursday that were drafted in response to commissioners’ concerns Dec. 9.

The proposal now requires proper manure disposal. Signs warning neighbors of beehives next door would be mandated. And goats would be restricted to fenced-in areas in homeowners’ side and backyards.

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