Pulaski County Special School District buses will be able to make their morning and afternoon runs from property at 7508 MacArthur Drive in North Little Rock in an agreement reached Monday between the school district, the city and neighborhood representatives.
With the agreement on regulations in hand, the North Little Rock City Council approved a special-use permit by a vote of 6-0 to allow about 120 buses to park on the property and for the installation of an aboveground fuel tank. Aldermen Maurice Taylor and Charlie Hight were absent.
Ronnie and Christine Edmondson of Arkansas Silver Recovery Company Inc. applied for the special-use permit for the property after recently being informed that the city required that permit. The school district began occupying the property in November to make office building improvements.
The county school district will maintain an office staff and mechanics at the site, employing eight workers from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. weekdays. There will also be about 90 bus drivers and bus aides. The buses will run from 5:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. weekdays.
Mayor Joe Smith and Ward 3 Alderman Steve Baxter met Monday with school district personnel, Jim Dailey of the Flake and Kelley commercial real estate company that represents the school district, and Joe Reynolds of the Meadow Lake Property Owners Association. The meeting produced an amendment to legislation already on the council agenda to answer neighborhood concerns about the bus traffic, aesthetics of the property and water runoff from washing the buses.
The amendment, also approved 6-0, added three rules: The applicant must meet state Department of Environmental Quality requirements for managing stormwater runoff, and that includes the periodic washing of the buses; buses are to enter and exit only from the east side of the property; and the applicant will install and maintain opaque screening on the outside of the existing fence along West Meadow Lane, a distance of approximately 700 feet.
The measure granting the special use already contained provisions for meeting all regulations for the fuel-tank installation, obtaining a city building permit, and having the site plan and associated documents reviewed by both the North Little Rock and state fire marshals.
"We pretty well covered the concerns the neighborhood had about this," Reynolds told the City Council at its meeting Monday evening. "I think we've worked out all of the issues."
Baxter called the amendment "a couple of little adjustments."
Ray Alexander, a property owner on East Meadow Lane, also gave his approval during a public hearing on the issue.
"I have no objections whatsoever," he said.
The property is zoned for industrial use and was a trucking facility in the past, according to the applicants.
Metro on 05/10/2016