BENTONVILLE -- Visitors will have another option for where to stay as an Avid Hotel is planned near Interstate 49.
The Planning Commission unanimously approved plans for the four-story, 87-room hotel at its meeting Tuesday.
Commission Action
Bentonville’s Planning Commission met Tuesday and approved:
• Lot split at 127 S.W. C St.
• Sidewalk waiver at 703 S.W. O St.
• Right-of-way waiver for Cocoon Yoga Lab at 115 N.W. Second St.
Source: Staff Report
The hotel will be built at 3402 Medlin Lane, off of Southeast Walton Boulevard in between Medical Center Parkway and Interstate 49.
Avid Hotel will sit across Medlin Lane from Element by Westin, which is scheduled to open in January, according to its website.
The hotel will include 85 parking spaces and a sidewalk along Medlin Lane, according to the planner's staff report.
Continental Capital in Broken Arrow, Okla., is the development's applicant.
Commissioners approved two waivers for the development. The first was the number of trees throughout the property in lieu of providing perimeter landscaping along the eastern property line.
The second is to dedicate a drainage easement and allow stormwater to flow to the vacant lot to the north.
"If any development occurs to the north, the water will be drained to the existing floodway at that time," according to the staff report.
NWA Real Estate Investments, with an address in Little Rock, owns the property to the north, according to property records.
Commissioners approved the plans with little discussion as the landscaping and drainage waivers were worked out at a technical review meeting Sept. 25.
Commissioners also approved plans for the Benton County courts facility at 201 N.E. Second St. of the downtown square as well as a new coroner building at 1300 S.W. 14th St. near Melissa Drive.
The courts building will be four stories and include a basement, according to plans.
Voters will decided during a March 12 election on a 1/8 percent sales tax increase to pay for a new $30 million courts building.
A one-eighth percent sales tax would raise about $24.5 million over four years and three months, officials said in May. The remaining costs would be covered by reserve and other revenue sources.
The new facility would have space for eight courtrooms, jury deliberation rooms and judges' chambers. It would include space for the circuit clerk, county clerk and other related offices.
The fourth floor of the new building, with room for two of the eight courtrooms, would be left as a shell and finished when needed. The cost of finishing the fourth floor isn't included in the $30 million cost.
Commissioners also decided to table the Bentonville Community Plan, a plan to guide growth for the next 15 to 20 years.
The final version should be completed this week and posted on the city's website, said Shelli Kerr, interim planning director.
Tabling until the Oct. 16 meeting will allow the public to review the final version before the commission votes on it, she said.
NW News on 10/03/2018