A bullet manufacturer won narrow approval Tuesday from the North Little Rock Planning Commission for a special-use permit to locate near single-family houses in the Argenta neighborhood.

The 5-4 recommendation for Precision Brass and Bullet to produce bullet projectiles and test-fire bullets in a former warehouse, 501 W. Eighth St., will be forwarded to the North Little Rock City Council for a final decision on the special-use permit. The site is about four blocks west of Main Street downtown.

Commissioners Ron Harris, Charley Foster, Steve White, Junior Phillips and Vandy Belasco voted for approval. Don Chambers, Jackie Alexander, James Dietz and Chairman Norman Clifton voted against the permit.

Although the location has single-family homes on Melrose Circle to one side and a low-density residential zone on another, the property is zoned C-4, or "fairly heavy commercial use," said city Planning Director Robert Voyles. Examples of businesses in that zoning classification would be automobile repair, a muffler shop or an automobile lot, he said. A railroad yard, zoned for heavy industrial use, is to the building's west.

Patrick Franklin, the applicant, told the commission that the start-up company would "manufacture strictly the bullet itself" without any explosive. The product would then be shipped to other companies to finish.

"There are four parts of a bullet: The core, primer, powder and projectile," he said. "We manufacture the projectile itself."

Franklin added that the company would store 3 to 5 pounds of gunpowder and would test fire a sample size of five to 10 rounds every two hours. An indoor range for testing would be included in the warehouse, and an extra 6-inch concrete wall and other noise abatement measures would be added to the building.

Chambers, a commission member who lives in Argenta, said the noise-abatement efforts wouldn't be good enough for residents whose houses are within 60 feet of the building and who fear a decrease in their property values from being so close to an ammunition plant.

"Everyone is quite opposed to an ammunition plant coming in," Chambers said. "This is a special use to allow something that is particularly onerous."

When asked for a show of opposition, 10 people in the audience stood -- four of whom said they live on Melrose Circle. Three of the 10 spoke against the proposal.

Both Foster and White questioned the level of opposition in the neighborhood, asking why a petition opposing the plant wasn't submitted and why more people weren't present at the 4:45 p.m. meeting to speak against the business and permit request.

"My concern is this is an active neighborhood," Foster said. "I'm really disappointed that there are not more [people] here. Why was there not a petition circulated?"

White said indoor shooting venues don't produce noise outside their buildings.

"I think this [site] is appropriate for this business," he said.

Resident Patrick Stair told commissioners, "This is absolutely the wrong thing to put in this neighborhood. This is an industrial process to be put in a residential area. How can that possibly be appropriate?"

Sarah Brown, a Melrose Circle resident, said her neighbors "are all opposed to it."

"I can't believe I'm going to hear gunfire from 50 feet away from my house," she said.

Resident Thomas Crnko, as well as Chambers, said that the neighborhood has already been harmed by the noise and creosote odor from Nevada Railroad Materials in the adjacent Union Pacific Railroad yard. Creosote is a wood preservative used in production of railroad ties.

"This is not going to do anything but bring more grief into the neighborhood," Crnko said.

Chambers said Nevada Rail "reduced the quality of life with the creosote stench" and that residents "feel put upon to know why this neighborhood and why this building." He added that the bullet manufacturer was facing "bad timing" because of the other issues.

"I'm not absolutely sure my neighborhood would accept a greeting card factory coming into the neighborhood," Chambers said. "I can't tell you how incensed they are."

Metro on 06/11/2014