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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975-06-24 Minutes• Ot Y MINUTES OF A PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING A meeting of -the Fayetteville Planning Commission was held Tuesday, June 24, 1975, at 4:05 P. M. in the Board of Directors Roomy City -Administration Building, Fayetteville, Arkansas. MEMBERS PRESENT: John Maguire, John Power, Chairman Morton Gitelman, Jack Ray. MEMBERS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT: None. Donald Nickell, Helen Edmiston, Ernest Jacks, Bill Kisor, Rita Davis, Charles Oxford, Larry Wood, Alan Beauchamp, Jim Lindsey, Mildred Graue, Judith Robinson, Donnealia McNair, Director Russell Purdy, Mayor Orton, Bobbie Jones, Janet Bowen. Chairman Gitelman called the meeting to order. The minutes of the June 10, 1975 Planning Commission meeting were approved as distributed. Rita Davis arrived at 4:07 P.M. The second item on the agenda, which was a public hearing on the proposed amendment to Article 4, Article 6, and Article 7 of the Zoning Oridnance 1747 (Appendix A to the Fayetteville Code of Ordinances) to clarify the regulations of signs within the City, had to be Planning Commission Meeting of July Planning Administrator Bobbie Jones on the agenda. MINUTES PUBLIC HEARING Amendment to Zoning Ordinance Article '4,6,$ 7 applicable to the use tabled since it was advertised for the 8, 1975. explained that this had been erroneously placed PUBLIC HEARING Chairman Gitelman opened the public hearing on two alternate Amendments to amendments to Zoning Ordinance 1747 whereby "retail Zoning Ordinance 1747 liquor stores" would become a permitted use in the C-2, (Thoroughfare Commercial) and C-3 (Central Commercial)Zoning Districts. This was tabled from the June 10, 1975, Planning Commission Meeting because the Planning Commission felt they should wait until Chairman Gitelman was present to give a report from the committee that had met concerning this matter. Chairman Gitelman said it was the general concensus of the Board of Directors that the Zoning Ordinance should provide a place for retail liquor stores. He said most of the Board of Director members expressed there should be consideration on location of liquor stores (C-2 and'C-3 being the proper place) but also felt some restrictions should be placed on it such as . . . a separation between churches, schools, etc, and screening from any abutting residential areas. Mr. Gitelman said this was referred back to the Planning Commission for them to come up with a specific ordinance. Chairman Gitelman told the Commissioners that a lot of people showed up at the Board of Directors meeting expressing their concern so the conditional use approach to the subject was more or less out of the picture as it stood right now. Mr. Nickell asked Chairman Gitelman what the City Attorney said about people being able to say whether or not they wanted a retail liquor store.next door to their business. John Maguire asked about making it a conditional use and Chairman Gitelman explained that the City Attorney had indicated he did not think .that it would hold up in court and he felt this would be encroaching upon state statutes. Chairman Gitelman said the City Attorney's recommendation for Use Conditions would • • Planning Commission -2- June 24, 1975 be up for a public hearing on July 8, '1975. Charles Oxford from the University, who was present at the last Planning Commission meeting in opposition -to -the amendments,asked,about locations of commercial zoning along Highway 62; Planning Consultant Larry Wood pointed out these areas on the zoning map. Ernest Jacks said he had a strong feeling for Alternate #2 but felt that it should come under Use Unit 16 (Shopping Goods) rather than Use Unit 14. (Hotel., Motel, & Amusement Facilities). Helen Edmiston agreed with Mr. Jacks on this. Planning Administrator Bobbie Jones said she had talked with City Attorney Jim McCord on this and he had no objections to placing this in Use Unit 16; how- ever, he did urge the Planning Commission to take action to place it somewhere in the Zoning Ordinance at this meeting. Ernest Jacks moved to send the recommendation to the Board of Directors that "retail liquor stores" be approved as a use under Use Unit 16 which would make it a use "by right" in the C-2 and C-3 Zones only. Helen Edmiston seconded the motion. Maguire, Jacks, Gitelman, Edmiston, Kisor, Davis, and Ray voted "Aye"; Nickell and Power voted "Nay". The next item for consideration was the proposed amendment AMENDMENT TO to the General Land Use Plan of the City of Fayetteville Proposed Land Use Plan for an area in and around the State Highway 265 (Crossover Road) corridor, extending southward to the lands lying south of State Highway 16 East and extending northward to the northernmost Fayetteville City Limits Line; also included is an area bounded on the west by Highway 71 and extending south to include lands on both sides of Mud Creek. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on June 19,1975, but a motion to recommend approval failed to pass with a vote of 4-2. State Statutes require 5 affirmative votes. The Board of Directors referred the amendment back to the Planning Commission for a recommendation on June 17, 1975. Ernest Jacks pointed out that the main question was concerning the alternate plan as proposed by Jim Lindsey in which he requested commercial be shown at the inter- section of Zion and Crossover Road and agreed to straighten out Zion Road at the intersection. Mr. Lindsey is trusted for a group of people who would be willing to dedicate the street right-of-way to take the two 90 degree.turns out of Zion. Road In answer to Mr. Jacks' question, Planning Consultant Larry Wood said he still preferred to keep that intersection as it was for two basic reasons: 1. The spacing involved if it were commercial at the intersection of Zion Road (only .8 of a mile from intersection of Stearns) 2. He felt this might establish a precedent in this plan and the plan adoption (although there is already a precedent set in the City) by recommending Commercial at major and collector street intersections. He said he believed that the adopted land use plan stated "commercial would be considered at major and major, and major and collector!' However, he was reluctant to recommend to the Planning Commission that they adopt a plan or plan amendment that begins with that kind of recommendation because there were a lot of major -collector intersections that are planned and/or existing that would not meet the spacing requirements. He said it was just a preference on his part from a planning standpoint of staying with major -major intersections for large commercial facilities. He said, however, that if it were decided to put commercial at Zion Road, he saw no reason why they could not plan around a location at that point. He felt that something had to be done to the existing Zion Road intersection because it was a bad one. Jim Lindsey was present and said this was a major -major intersection that was being discussed. However, he pointed out that Joyce Street was presently a li Planning Commission June 24, 1975• gravel street that dead ends and would depend on Arkansas Western Gas tying into it. • He felt that the City did not have funds right now. (even with. Community Development programs) to construct Stearns Street within the next 10 years, Jim Lindsey said within the last week. Zion Road had been resurfaced, and pointed out a place where trucks had broken down the road and it had to be widened. He felt that the fact that there was .8 of a mile spacing, and there was a mountain in between, that there was more justification than in most zonings that had been permitted. He said since the City Council had approved a rezoning at Jerry Street and Highway 16 which is a minor arterial intersecting a major. In all fairness to the people he worked for and with at that intersection, it was beyond his compre- hension how it could be zoned otherwise. (Mr. Lindsey and the people he represents are wanting to straighten Zion Road out and will dedicate the right-of-way for it. ) John Maguire felt Jim Lindsey had a valid request. Chairman Gitelman said what concerned him was whether or not Stearns Road would really come into existence. He said Zion Road would carry all the burden of the traffic if it did not go through. Paul Lewis asked about the total acreage of Commercial along Highway 265 and if there was a possibility of it developing like College Avenue did. PlanningConsultant Larry Wood replied that there were about 60 acres of commer- cially predicted areas in all. Helen Edmiston said they were trying to group the intersections to keep this from developing like College Avenue did. Mrs. Edmiston felt that this intersection at Zion Road would carry enough traffic that it would not be desirable for anything but commercial. After further discussion Bill Kisor moved to accept the alternate plan showing commercial at the intersection of Zion Road and Highway 265. • Jack Ray seconded the motion. Mayor Orton asked if the amount of commercial at Stearns should be cut down' if the intersection of Zion Road were commercial, and Chairman Gitelman said he did not feel that the plan should predict the amount of commercial. Mr. Alan Beauchamp was present and asked the Planning Commission why commercial was not recommended east of this area (the intersection of Crossover Road and Old Wire Road. John Maguire said most of that area was residential. Chairman Gitelman told Mr. Beauchamp that the Land Use Plan did not necessarily follow property lines and was more or less a guideline which they hoped developers would follow in future planning. There was no further discussion The motion that was on the floor was approved by a vote of 8 "Ayes" with Donald Nickell abstaining. • DISCUSSION ON ZONING SETBACKS The next item was a request from Commission member Helen Edmiston for a discussion on zoning setbacks. (This item was tabled from the April 22, May 13, May 27, and June 10, 1975 Planning Commission meetings because of the lengthy agendas.). John Maguire moved to take Item 5 on this agenda (discussion of zoning setbacks)off the table. The motion was approved unanimously. Helen Edmiston said she could not understand why it was necessary to have a 50 foot separation between warehouses in an I-1 Zone. She felt that this was a tremendous waste of property. Chairman Gitelman said he understood the Board of Adjustment was having some problems withsetbacks in the Central Commercial Zone (C-3) with the new Urban Renewal program He said they had a request before them at their last meeting and felt they would be having other requests in the future with. the area around the square Planning Consultant Larry Wood felt like what had probably happened was that I-1 • • Planning Commission June 24, 1975 -4- tracts used to be platted out like the residential is now. Theywere platted out in 25. foot lots and it depended on the type of industry how many lots were sold. He said it was actually a lot situationwhere there was need for this much of a setback between the lot lines between two industries. He felt these setbacks were the result of the ways in which industries had developed in the 1950's without regard to the general welfare of the Cities around them sometimes with open drop forging and open deep -pit welding. Mr. Wood felt there was need for this much setback where it was next to a residential area. Helen Edmiston agreed with this but could not understand why there had to be that much of a setback between two warehouses when they were both in the I-1 zone. John Maguire said there might be cases where this much of a setback was required because one industry might jeopardize fire ratings for another industry. He said there was a building code requirement on this. Planning Administrator Bobbie Jones said this was a part of the building code and she was not familiar with it but that she did know that setbacks depended on the type of construction and use and size of the building. Donald Nickell said he could see the relief needed in the I-1 Zones but could not see getting any closer to the residential districts. Chairman Gitelman felt the Planning Commission should get Mr. Lieberenz's (Inspection Superintendent) comments about lesser setbacks in the I -Zones and setbacks required by building codes. Planning Administrator Bobbie Jones commented that the Board of Adjustment would like to have some guidelines about the setbacks in the Central Commercial District and asked what the Commission wished to do on this. Chairman Gitelman stated he felt the Commission was not prepared at this time to do this. He said he would contact Chairman Yates of the Board of Adjustment about a joint meeting with the Planning Commission to discuss this problem Paul Lewis said that downtown Fayetteville would like to be represented when they:had thejoint meeting. A Conditional Use Request submitted by Stagecoach Real Estate on behalf of Judith Robinson for a Pre -School to be located at 11 Trenton, was the next item for the Commission's consideration. The property is zoned R-2, Medium Density Residential. CONDITIONAL. USE REQUEST Stagecoach Real Estate 2:.Of Behalf: Of Judith Robinson Mrs. Mildred Graue and Mrs. Robinson were present to represent. In answer to one of the Commissioner's questions, Planning Administrator Bobbie Jones said this would have to meet the requirements of the Fire Chief, State Board of Health, Inspection Department, and the zoning requirements. She said these requirements had to be met before a Certificate of Occupancy could be issued and that she would haveto obtain a Certificate of Occupancy before she could get her State license. Donald Nickell asked if there was proper parking for parents picking up and leaving their children, and Mrs. Graue replied there was. Ernest Jacks asked whether or not the neighbors were aware of the Conditional Use request. Mrs. Graue said she had not been aware that this information was needed for the request. She said she had not been told to get this information. Chairman Gitelman felt the adjacent property owners should be notified of the request before the Commission took any action on it. Ernest Jacks and John Maguire also felt that they should be notified. In answer to Bill Kisor's question, Mrs, Graue said there would not be any more than 15 children at one session. John Power felt that if the neighbors had not objected to the construction of the doctors' offices (Lushbaugh), then surely they would have no objections to this request. He felt these people should not be held up just .because of this. Jack Ray agreed with Mr. Power. • • Planning Commission June 24, 1975 -5- John Power moved to grant the Conditional Use Request as requested on this agenda. Jack. Ray seconded the motion, Mayor Orton asked about the usual procedure on obtaining the consent of the adjacent property owners. Mrs. Jones said she always asked the applicant to go around and obtain the names and addresses of these people and she mailed the necessary information to them. She felt certain that she explained this to either Mr. or Mrs. Graue. John Power said that on this basis he would like to withdraw his motion with the approval of Mr. Ray. - Jack Ray also withdrew his second. Mr. Power then moved to table this Conditional Use Request until the July 8, 1975, Planning Commission meeting to enable the adjoining property owners to be notified. Ernest Jacks seconded the motion which was approved unanimously. CONDITIONAL USE REQUEST Next was the Conditional Use Request submitted by Donnealia McNair Donnealia McNair for a Pre -School in her home at 1966 Brent Lane. 1966 Brent Lane Mrs. McNair was present to represent the request. She said in view of the fact that Fayetteville needed this type of program she would like to be granted permission for a pre-school program in her home at 1966 Brent Lane. She said the classes would be held for 2 hours a day, 2 or 3 days a week and the program would call for inside activities; however, she said she had a fenced back yard if this would have any bearing on being granted the request. She said she had a circle drive that would be convenient for parents picking up and dropping off their children and also pointed out that this was a dead-end street. She said this would not be a place for mothers to leave children while they worked and that she would work up eventually -to around 15 children but would never have any more than that in the class. She said there would be no public advertising. She said her mother had this type of program in a lovely residential area for around 20 years and had no objections whatsoever from her neighbors. She said she had experience in helping her mother with the program. Mrs. McNair said she had gone to the neighbors and explained to them in detail what she intended to do. She submitted a letter with signatures of most of the surrounding property owners'signatures on it. John Power said he felt there should be some stipulation limiting this to 15 children. Donald Nickell said in view of the fact that she had the permission of the majority of the neighbors, he would move to grant the Conditional Use Request for a period of one year. - Mrs. McNair wanted to know what this would involve. She said there was a fairly large expense involved in getting the equipment set up in her home. She felt that she could not afford to put all of this in and then not get to operate any more than one year. Some of the members explained that this was merely to give it a chance to see if it would work our alright. They told her that most of the time a Conditional Use Request was not difficult to get an extension on it, especially if there were no problems that came up. They told her that she could apply for the renewal in writing if she wished to do so. She said it would be next fall before she could get the equipment set up and start operating. She wanted to know if the time period could be for one year from the day she opened so she would have a full year to operate. Mr. Nickell amended his motion to grant the request from the day she began operation until a year from that date with her to notify the Planning Office when she began operation. Bill Kisor seconded the motion which was approved unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS Under "Other Business" the First National Bank submitted a request to waiver the safety zones between individual driveways on Block and Spring Street (where the old Ward Ice Cream building used to be). The Ordinance requires 30 feet between driveways on collector and higher designation streets. Block Street is designated a collector street. • ,, rcs Planning Commission -6- June 24, 1975 The Bank is requesting a safety zone of 18, 2". Ernest Jacks pointed out the letter from Scarbrough. and Lance guaranteeing they would not construct a driveway within 26 feet of their Northproperty line. Planning Administrator Bobbie Jones said City Engineer Paul Mattke had requested that letter and said he would issue the permit for the driveway cut if the Planning Commission would waiver the safety zohe'requirement. She said she had talked with Street Superintendent Clayton Powell and he was not in favor of any waiver. Ernest Jacks moved to grant the waiver since this is a one-way street and each driveway would be one-way traffic (one driveway for ingress and one for egress.) Donald Nickell seconded the motion which carried unanimously. Director Russell Purdy asked the Planning Commission what the status was on "riding stables and academies". The Commission pointed out thattat:the last: ' meeting they decided to table this until Planning Consultant Larry Wood and City Attorney Jim McCord could gettogether and give a package to define this and Use Condition 3 to place restrictions on it as to minimum acreage, setbacks, use of loud speakers, ingress and egress, etc, and they had not yet received any report on this from them. There was no further discussion. The meeting was adjourned at 5:45 P. M.. • • • RESOLUTION PC 33-75 WHEREAS, a public hearing was held by the Fayetteville Planning Commission, Tuesday, June 24, 1975, fifteen (15) days after a notice was published in the Northwest Arkansas Times, a newspaper of general circulation; and WHEREAS, after the public hearing, the Planning Commission voted to make a recommendation to the Board of Directors on a proposed ordinance to amend Ordinance 1747 (Appendix A - Zoning, Code of Ordinance, City of Fayetteville, Arkansas) to amend Use Unit 16 (Shopping Goods) to include "retail liquor Stores"; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RECOMMENDED BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF FAYETTEVIJJ.F, ARKANSAS. SECTION 1.. That the proposed ordinance, attached hereto and made a part hereof, be adopted to amend Ordinance 1747 to amend Use Unit 16 to include retail liquor stores. PASSED AND APPROVED this day of , 1975. APPROVED: Morton Gitelman, Chairman RESOLUTION PC 34-75 WHEREAS, a public hearing was held by the Fayetteville Planning Commission, Tuesday, June 10, 1975, fifteen (15) days after a notice was published in the Northwest Arkansas Times, a newspaper of general circulation; and WHEREAS, after a public hearing was held by the Fayetteville Planning Commission on Tuesday, June 24, 1975, voted to make a recommendation to the Board of Directors on a proposed amendment to the general land use plan; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RECOMMENDED BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS. SECTION 1. That the proposed ordinance, attached hereto and made a part hereof, be adopted to amend the General Land Use Plan for an area in and around the State Highway 265 (Crossover Road) corridor, extending southward to the lands lying south of State Highway 16 East and extending northward to the Northernmost Fayetteville City L.ithits line; also included is an area bounded on the west by Highway 71 and extending south to include lands on both sides of Mud Creek. PASSED AND APPROVED this day of , 1975. APPROVED: Morton Gitelman, Chairman