ROGERS -- The Planning Commission approved the first step Tuesday for a neighborhood project south of West Laurel Avenue and Dixieland Road.
The 40-home project has been revised several times in recent months after developers received two denials from the commission.
"We are humbly honored to work on a residential development with the city of Rogers," Garrison Roddey, developer for Lin Roddey Homes, said Tuesday. "It took us a few times to find a workable solution. Some say all good things comes in threes."
The company's first request to build seven homes per acre was denied by the commission in August. A second request to build five homes per acre with 5-foot setbacks also was denied in September.
Mark Myers, planning commissioner, previously expressed criticism of each request. He said seven homes per acres was too dense for the region. He later had concerns with the setbacks in the second proposal.
Larger setbacks are needed for fire concerns, Myers said. Fires can spread easier between buildings too close together, he said.
Roddey said the third request approved Tuesday also asked for five homes per acre. He said the setbacks were increased to 7 1/2 feet this time.
Myers, along with the commission, voted in favor of the third proposal.
"This whole process has been a good example of how developers can be persistent and work with the city to provide value," Roddey said.
Plans for the homes include a property owners association, Roddey said. He said the homes also will be all brick and will have iron doors.
Multiple nearby landowners have spoken during public meetings against the neighborhood. No one spoke out against it Tuesday night.
Bobby Duke lives near where the homes are proposed. He said he had concerns about the project but now he supports it.
"It is better to see these houses instead of warehouses," Duke said.
Duke's wife, Paula, said she supported the project as long as it's built to the standards Roddey has agreed to.
Derrel Smith, city planner, said residential lots around the proposed development have three or less homes per acre on them. The property also sits across Dixieland Road from an area zoned commercial.
The land the neighborhood sits on is a planned unit development.
The Planning Commission approved for the development to be changed during its meeting Tuesday. The developers will still need approval from the commission to rezone the property from residential office to residential-five. It will then need large scale development approval from the commission before it can start building.
NW News on 10/07/2015