FAYETTEVILLE -- The City Council took final action Tuesday on two rezonings that have been debated for months.
Aldermen unanimously denied the first request, for 4 acres north of Cleveland Street, across from several University of Arkansas dorms.
Council Action
Fayetteville’s City Council met Tuesday and approved:
• A $7.3 million contract with Sweetser Construction for Rupple Road work between Persimmon Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
• Dive information technology contracts totaling about $4 million.
• Allowing up to four unrelated people to live together in each side of duplexes part of the Rupple Row development, west of the Boys & Girls Club.
Source: Staff Report
Council members also voted, 5-1, in favor of new zoning for 16 acres at 4065 E. Huntsville Road, near Stonebridge Meadows Golf Club, where a commercial center, offices and up to 57 houses are planned.
Ward 1 Alderwoman Adella Gray was the only council member to vote against the Huntsville Road rezoning. Aldermen Mark Kinion and Sarah Marsh weren't present.
Former resident Paul Jeske, whose family has owned the Cleveland Street property for decades, has said new zoning is needed to accommodate plans for 54 housing units in a cluster of single-family, two-family and three-family dwellings.
Conceptual designs for the project show cottage-style structures with front porches and rear-access garages. Cars would access the site from a single point off of Cleveland Street.
Planning staff and commissioners and some surrounding homeowners have said they're not necessarily opposed to the proposal but are adamantly against the downtown general zoning district the Jeskes were seeking.
Downtown general zoning allows for a variety of residential and commercial uses and is typically confined to downtown, although several recent row house-style developments have sprung up in downtown general districts in south Fayetteville in recent years.
Despite written assurances only residential structures would be built and building height would be limited to 30 feet, neighbors said they were still concerned about what could be built if the Jeskes' plans fell through and about setting a zoning precedent that could spread to surrounding properties.
Brian Teague, an engineer on the project with Community by Design, said downtown general zoning, because of its low lot size and street frontage requirements, is the best fit for what the Jeskes want to build.
Teague has resisted suggestions for a planned zoning district, saying that option would require a large upfront investment to create detailed designs with no guarantee variances -- from heightened tree preservation requirements, for instance -- would be approved.
Ward 4 Alderman Alan Long said Tuesday he's grown weary of repeated back-and-forth with the developers on the rezoning request, which the Planning Commission denied, 9-0, on June 22.
"We've had many, many meetings on this topic," Long said. "It has been exhausting to say the least. I've fielded hundreds of calls and emails about this."
"This is an appeal of a Planning Commission decision, and I just don't feel like the City Council is the right forum for working out the zoning, especially over this long of a period," he added. "I think that the zoning should be re-evaluated through a 100 percent new process."
The Huntsville Road rezoning, on land southeast of the state highway and River Meadows Drive, also faced neighborhood opposition Tuesday, but it was approved.
The land, owned by Clint McDonald, is the same site where a similar zoning district was approved in 2008 but was never built.
For weeks, neighbors have voiced concern over the increased traffic development would bring. They say a retail center and 57 new houses will make it even more difficult to turn left onto Huntsville Road, which, according to 2013 Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department counts, sees between 12,000 and 13,000 vehicle trips daily.
McDonald, through a signed bill of assurance, said he's willing to help pay for a traffic signal and turning lane on Huntsville Road to mitigate traffic concerns.
Jeremy Pate, the city's Development Services director, noted Tuesday those improvements would have to be evaluated during a later stage of the development-review process and would be subject to approval by the Highway Department.
NW News on 08/19/2015