Gas station unneeded, unwanted on corner
I want to encourage every Fayettevillian to oppose installation of a Roadrunner gas station at the corner of North and Garland Avenue, for so many reasons:
1. That whole intersection is already dangerous. It’s one of the three most dangerous in the downtown area, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists. A car-oriented business like a gas station would only make that worse.
2. Gas stations are toxic polluters of the air, water and soil, from spills, toxic vapors and leaks from underground gas tanks. These pollutants include lead, benzene, and methyl tertiary-butyl ether, a likely carcinogen. Clean-up for just one gas station can cost up to $1 million, meaning once a site builds a gas station, nothing else can be built there, thanks to the excessive costs of environmental remediation.
3. We desperately need more housing. Housing costs for this area have skyrocketed. According to a report sponsored by the Walton Family Foundation, between 25% and 35% of Northwest Arkansas households are housing cost-burdened (meaning they pay more than 30% of their income on housing costs), and nearly 80% of low-income households are housing cost-burdened; about half of them, severely cost-burdened.
This, along with other factors, has contributed to the problem of more and more people experiencing homelessness. One of the best solutions to this problem is to build more low-income and affordable housing, not gas stations.
4. The fact is, that lot should be zoned for mixed use, per our city plan, but the zoning hasn’t been updated to reflect that.
In 2020, the City Council approved Resolution 35-20, i.e., City Plan 2040. This is the comprehensive land-use plan for the entire city of Fayetteville, encouraging development that prioritizes the creation of affordable housing in walkable neighborhoods.
City Plan 2040 later added a “growth concept map” intended to form the basis for strategic planning policies across the city. The growth concept map identified over three dozen growth centers intended to be mixed-use (residential/ commercial) nodes that are pedestrian-friendly areas. That area around North and Garland was designated as a Tier 2 area for that mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly development.
Unfortunately, our city zoning codes were never changed to align with that city plan or growth concept map, so development has continued in the same, unsustainable way. This gas station is just the latest example of this.
5. And finally, it is not even needed! There are currently two other gas stations within a block of that site.
In closing, it is not too late to fight against this. Though the developer has already gotten through the permit process, we can appeal this. If you care about any of these issues — the environment, housing, safety, and/or sustainable development — I urge you to write to your City Council members and ask them to support appealing the variances that were granted to this project.
DELANI R. BARTLETTE
Fayetteville
Promote curiosity;
don’t deny learning
When I was in the fourth grade (and reading above grade level), I watched a movie on TV, “Jane Eyre.” I was entranced, and eagerly went to the library to check out the book. The librarian refused to let me have it. She had decided I was not old enough to read “Jane Eyre.”
My mother immediately went to talk with her. Mom believed my passion for reading and great stories must be encouraged, not denied.
As an educator for 30 years, and now a grandma, fanning the flame of children’s curiosity and intellect is the greatest joy I’ve had. As caretakers for the next generation, our responsibility is to guide, but never to deny, learning.
CECE BOX
Springdale