SPRINGDALE -- The Planning Commission on Tuesday turned down two rezoning requests, 5-2., for new subdivisions in the quickly developing northwest part of the city.
Ramsey Place subdivision, planned for the northwest corner of Ball Road and West County Line Road, and the Oasis subdivision on the west side of 56th Street, south of County Line Road, both would have featured 60 lots on 20 acres for single-family housing, according to Jason Appel of Engineering Services, who represented the developers.
Commission action
Springdale’s Planning Commission also approved plans for several projects:
• 7 Brew Coffee at 2940 W. Sunset Ave.
• A new welding technology building at Northwest Techincal Institute.
• The Don Tyson School of Innovation Phase 2 along Hylton Road at East Robinson Avenue.
• Springdale Fire Station No. 7 on Har-Ber Avenue near the Tuscany subidivision.
Source: Staff report
Twelve Elm Springs residents -- including their mayor, Harold Douthit -- lined up to speak against the Ramsey Place development. Most live in the Camelot subdivision adjacent to the contested property and cited lack of road infrastructure and increased incidence of flooding from runoff, to a subdivision already beleaguered by flooding, they said.
But they also noted their homes sit on 1-acre lots, and they wanted similar construction for new neighbors. They said they feared their property value would diminish.
Brian Moore of ESI pointed out the lots planned for the Ramsey Place subdivision were roughly the same size as in Har-Ber Meadows, 70 to 80 feet. "It's not the size of the lot that makes the difference, it's what you put on it," he said. "Not everybody in Springdale can afford a 5,000-square-foot house."
Brian Powell, a member of the Planning Commission, voiced his objection to the neighborhoods, opinions formed in part by his participation in the recent City Futures conference sponsored by the Springdale Chamber of Commerce.
"How do we want to see that northwest area of the city develop and grow?" he asked. "We want to expand Springdale and bring in different types of development, but in the right way."
Pam Fisher of Camelot agreed. "I'm not opposed to the area being developed," she said. "But in the realm of what is around it, which is agricultural, 1-acre lots. I'm fine with development, but if they do it in the right way."
She said she could live with nice townhomes near her neighborhood, "as long as they have good planning, good zoning and ordinance protection that would keep them from being trashy and causing us break-ins."
Three residents spoke against similar rezoning for the Oasis subdivision with similar concerns.
The Planning Commission did, however, approve rezoning and a development plan for a multi-family housing development on the west side of North Thompson Street, north of Randall Wobbe Lane. The Nordale Terraces will be town houses with one-car garages, explained Gary Stith, who is developing the complex. Each of the 75 rental units set on seven acres will encompass about 1,400 square feet and feature two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Residents living to the west of the development spoke out against the multi-family development, also worrying about safety and declining property value.
"We have a lack of high-end housing in Springdale," Powell said after the meeting. "We have CEOs of these companies coming in, and we want to attract them to Springdale, but we don't have the housing to attract them. We need to preserve the integrity of these larger lots."
Housing available in Springdale is about 97 percent full, Powell said. "We need more housing," he said, including medium-density residential housing in the northwest quadrant of the city. "But what we want to do is get it strategically placed."
NW News on 05/02/2018