Walmart mock-up building gets planning OK

BENTONVILLE -- A permit for a Walmart mock-up structure was approved by the Planning Commission on Tuesday.

The property is south of East Central Avenue and north of the previously approved Walmart Layout Center, according to planning documents.

The permit will allow for the construction of a temporary building shell to display, construct and do testing resembling the permanent Walmart campus buildings. The three-story 60-foot-by-60-foot structure will be unoccupied and only will be used for practicing construction and engineering testing, according to planning documents.

The structure will be built on a parking lot. The applicant anticipates a maximum of 50 visits to the site a day. Architectural elevations depict brick, metal panel and glazing as the material on the structure, according to planning documents.

A permit and development approval would be needed if the applicant ever wished to occupy the building, according to planning documents.

Planners also approved another permit associated with the new home office project.

The request was for a temporary laydown area, maintenance yard and gravel parking for construction work. The proposed hours of operation are 24 hours a day, seven days a week while the campus is under construction. The site plan depicts 198 vehicle spaces and temporary fencing along East Central Avenue, according to planning documents.

A rezoning for the new Walmart home office campus was approved by the City Council last week. The property was rezoned planned unit development from heavy industrial, medium-density residential, residential office and general commercial, according to council documents. The rezoning had also passed through the Planning Commission at its last meeting.

The campus property is generally bounded by East Central Avenue to the north, Southeast Martin Luther King Junior Parkway and Southeast Moberly Lane to the east, Southeast 14th Street to the south and Southeast J Street to the west.

The campus will include 12 buildings, 10 parking decks and eight surface parking lots. The development is divided into five zones to be constructed in three phases. The development will have 11,255 parking spaces, according to planning documents.

The Planning Commission also approved a development for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The property is at 1101 McCollum Road and is about 18.5 acres, according to planning documents.

Large-scale plans show a new temple and parking. The temple is about 29,000 square feet, according to planning documents.

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Commission action

Bentonville’s Planning Commission also approved:

Rezoning land from single-family residential to medium-density residential at Northwest 15th Street and Bella Vista Road.

Rezoning land from agricultural to single-family residential at 2002 Timber Trail.

Rezoning land from agricultural to residential office and permit at 1117 S.E. 33rd St.

A permit at 1400 S.W. I St.

A permit at 805 S.E. C St.

Source: Bentonville Planning Commission

Mike Jones can be reached by email at [email protected].

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