Sand firm tables permit bid, sets Maumelle forum

Planning board to review plat

A notification sign for an application that a riverfront property on Maumelle's eastern edge is being considered for a sand storage and sales business has generated 107 calls to city offices -- more calls than the last 10 such zoning notifications, Maumelle Planning Director Jim Narey said.

"One was neutral," Narey said. "Two spoke in favor, and the other 104 were against it."

Jeffrey Sand Co. of North Little Rock has since deferred its request for the conditional use permit to place a wholesale sales and storage business on 22 acres that the company owns along the Arkansas River. Instead, the company submitted a preliminary plat that the Maumelle Planning Commission will consider at its 6:30 p.m. meeting Thursday at Maumelle City Hall.

"The preliminary plat has nothing to do with the conditional use application," Narey said. "As it stands now, they would still need a conditional use until the final plat is filed."

Clay McGeorge, Jeffrey Sand's president, said Tuesday that the deferral is tied to a wetlands issue the company needs to deal with, and a study showing that the project will not affect river flood levels must be done for the Federal Emergency Management Agency before moving forward.

The delay will push back the conditional use application by a month, he estimated, about when the Planning Commission would next meet. The company also owns other land around the site in question.

"We have always planned on dividing that lot," McGeorge said. "That's why we're filing a preliminary plat. We're going through steps and following all of Maumelle's city ordinances. We're just trying to follow their ordinances, and we'll have to get approval from the Planning Commission, etcetera, etcetera."

The property is in a Commercial-3 zone but requires the conditional use permit because the property abuts a planned residential district. The Maumelle City Council will have final say on the permit application, once it receives a Planning Commission recommendation.

An organizer of a group opposing the sand storage business said Tuesday that they believe the company is stalling in an effort to avoid having a vote on the application.

"What they're trying to do is cut off a portion of their land and call it C-1 when it's been C-3 for 15 years," said Janet Watkins, who lives with her husband, Bill, about 300 yards from the site.

"They're trying to change the zoning themselves without it going to the commissioners. I just think they're trying to sneak something in."

The Maumelle City Council has twice fought Jeffrey Sand about locating a sand storage site on the same piece of property, which is on Maumelle's border with North Little Rock.

The council unanimously voted in 2007 against amending city zoning regulations that would have allowed the company to locate on the property. In 2003, the city won an appeal to the state Supreme Court, which ruled that the property couldn't be detached from Maumelle and then annexed into North Little Rock to obtain a favorable zoning.

The company sponsored an information forum earlier this month that drew about 50 people, many of whom voiced their opposition. Jeffrey Sand is having another forum at 6 p.m. tonight in conjunction with the Maumelle Chamber of Commerce at the Jess Odom Community Center in Maumelle.

"There have been some questions that have arisen," McGeorge said. "Basically it will be the same thing as before. We'll tell what we're going to do, what we want to do and address the concerns that citizens have. I don't know if it will do any good, but we'll try."

Metro on 07/22/2015

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