Panel defeats Capitol-zoning appeal proposal

Senator’s measure would let Heritage Department decide

The Legislature's Joint Budget Committee on Thursday balked at Sen. Jeremy Hutchison's proposal to allow people to appeal any rule, regulation, decision or order of the Capitol Zoning District Commission to the director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

The committee's 13-9 vote on Hutchison's proposal fell 16 votes short of the 29 votes required for approval on the 56-member committee.

After the committee's meeting, Hutchinson, a Little Rock Republican, said he would again ask the committee to approve the amendment when it resumes meeting Tuesday, when he expects more members to be on hand.

The Capitol Zoning District was created in 1975 by the Legislature to oversee the look of buildings in the neighborhoods around the Capitol and the Governor's Mansion. A nine-member commission reviews building exterior changes and land use, according to the commission.

The commission is budgeted $236,878 in the current fiscal year, and its proposed funding for fiscal 2017 is $237,002, according to a spokesman for the Department of Finance and Administration. The commission has three employees.

Hutchinson's proposal would require the Heritage Department director to overturn a commission decision "upon a finding that the commission's decision is clearly erroneous." His proposal also would allow the director's decision to be appealed to Pulaski County Circuit Court.

Former Little Rock City Director Stacy Hurst is the department's director.

Hutchinson made the proposal in an amendment to Senate Bill 46 -- an appropriation bill for the Capitol Zoning District Commission.

"I think we got a bill that is at least acceptable to everybody," Hutchinson told lawmakers.

He said he initially planned to merge the Capitol Zoning District Commission into the Heritage Department, which he said "I think still has a merit and we may want to discuss in 2017."

"But I think it does make sense to extend that discussion a little longer and include more people in that process" during the 2017 regular session, Hutchinson said a day after he told lawmakers that placing the commission's responsibilities under the Heritage Department would save an estimated $100,000 in the fiscal year starting July 1.

Hutchinson said he proposed changes because he's been inundated with complaints about the commission.

"I don't know the history of each of those cases and I won't pass judgment on whether or not the zoning commission was correct or incorrect," Hutchinson said.

After the meeting, Hutchinson declined to say who has complained to him other than attorney Patrick Cowan, who Hutchinson said contacted him after the senator delayed action on the commission's proposed budget for fiscal 2017. Cowan sued the commission over a decision on the height of a fence.

Hutchinson told lawmakers that under existing law, the only recourse people upset with the commission's decisions have is to file a lawsuit, and that requires spending thousands of dollars to hire an attorney and waiting at least a year to get a ruling.

But Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, told Hutchinson there is no reason to approve Hutchinson's amendment "to try to favor a handful of people who have your ear."

"My office is in that zone and my experiences have been totally different. I have not had my phone being worn out," said Walker, who voted against Hutchinson's amendment.

Hutchinson said he has heard more than handful of complaints from people who live in the district.

"I may not be as close in proximity to the district as you are," he told Walker. "But I live in Little Rock and we all have a right to protect Arkansas taxpayer dollars and make sure that a state agency is treating people fairly and there is due process."

Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, who also voted against the amendment, said the area surrounding the Capitol and Governor's Mansion "was in disrepair" before the creation of the Capitol Zoning District Commission.

"That was embarrassing. It was sometimes [too] dangerous to even be in the area, and that's why Capitol Zoning stepped in," she said.

"We have now got beautiful housing surrounding the Governor's Mansion. People are comfortable walking in that area. They are now comfortable walking this area around the Capitol, which was not the most comfortable walking space that we had.

"But I do want folks to understand that the preservation of this area is not just in Little Rock's interest, but it is in the interest of state," Chesterfield said.

Rep. Douglas House, R-North Little Rock, said the commission is the latest state agency that is becoming dysfunctional based on the number of calls and emails that he has received seeking help.

The commission's executive director, Boyd Maher, said, "None of these critics have approached us with a cogent proposal how to do things better."

But House said, "Some of the complaints are [that] you do not listen."

Maher replied, "That wounds me."

A Section on 04/29/2016

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