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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-10-26 Minutes• MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE FAYETTEVILLE PLANNING COMMISSION A meeting of the Fayetteville Planning Commission was held on Monday, October 26, 1987 in the Board of Directors Room of the City Administration Building, 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. MEMBERS PRESENT: Ernie Jacks, Stan Green, Julie Nash, Frank Farrish, Fred Hanna, Sue Madison, B.J. Dow and Butch Robertson MEMBERS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT: Gerald Seiff Dewitt Smith, Bill Kennedy, Dixie Cain, Claude Prewitt, Larry Wood, Gerald Boyd, Sandra Carlisle, Tessi Franzmeier, members of the press and others PUBLIC HEARING - REZONING R87-23 WILLIAM H. BASSETT - NORTH OF ROCK & WEST OF WASHINGTON The first item on the agenda was consideration of rezoning petition R87-23 submitted by William H Bassett and represented by Dewitt Smith. Request was to rezone a part of lots 2 and 3, block 1, Hick's Addition and a tract of land:north of Block 1, Hick's Addition all containing 23,463.6 sq. ft., located on the north side of Rock St. west of Washington Ave. and on the west side of Washington Ave. 107 feet north of Rock St., from R-2 (Medium Density Residential) District to R -O (Residential Office) District. Planning Consultant Wood's recommendation was; R -O District is recommended for the following reasons: 1. It is assumed that the public land use recommendation of the General Plan, intended the land in this area to be in support of the Courthouse, which would make the R -O District request in compliance with the General Plan; 2. There is a need for additional parking around the courthouse; and 3. The public facilities and services are available to serve the uses in the R -O District. Chairman Jacks opened the public hearing and asked if anyone would like to speak for the petition as requested. • • Planning Commission October 26, 1987 page 2 Dewitt Smith representing William H. Bassett stated he had nothing pertinent to add to what had been submitted. Mr. Smith said he was aware of a drainage problem that had occured by dirt work and noted that Mr. Bassett was also aware of the drainage problem and that it would be corrected. Commissioner Madison asked how many parking spaces would the parking lot provide. Mr. Smith replied the estimated count would be 20-25 spaces. Chairman Jacks asked if anyone in the audience would like to speak against the petition as requested. Letitia Brooks Shockley stated she owned the property at 139 S. Washington which was adjacent to the property in question. Ms. Shockley presented some pictures to the Planning Commission of the property in question. She also presented a letter from Marilyn Johnson stating the Board of Directors had toured the property in question and they saw the real concern that Ms. Shockley had. Ms. Shockley said she had not received a response from the Acting City Manager, Scott Linebaugh. Ms. Shockley said she opposed the rezoning because it was unsightly, and that the water runoff had drained on her property and there was not a retaining wall. She said the retaining wall that Mr. Bassett had put up on the property was merely rocks which had fallen onto her driveway and ruined it. She doubted that the property in question would supply 20-25 parking spaces and also the rezoning report was in error saying there was a single family home on the lot, she noted the house had been moved off the lot a year ago. She also was worried not only with her property but with Washington Ave. as well. She said without a retaining wall on Washington there would be rocks, mud, and dirt all over Washington Ave. She felt the City would not want to clean up the mess and Mr. Bassett had not been real good about cleaning up her property with his mess. James Moore stated he lived at 129 E. Mountain Street just west of the property in question. He said he had the same complaint as Ms. Shockley and added when the parking lot was started Mr. Bassett had pushed his fence down. He said when it rained the water ran off the hill onto his property. Mr. Moore said if a retaining wall was constructed the right way he would not have an objection to the petition. Commissioner Hanna asked Mr. Moore if the drainage problem had increased since Mr. Bassett started dumping dirt on the property and Mr. Moore replied "yes" it had increased a great deal. • David Swenson stated he lived at 120 E. Rock and his lot adjoined the property in question to the rear. He objected to the parking • • Planning Commission October 26, 1987 page 3 lot and all the dirt and felt it was enchroaching. James Brooks stated he owned property on the east side of Washington Ave. which was a vacant lot. He did not believe that the Planning Commission could realize the difference that Mr. Bassett had made in the property until they saw it. He said the east section of the property in question was higher than any of the houses on either side of it. The fill that Mr. Bassett had put in had run to the east and the further east the higher it got, so all the drainage was coming back to the west. Mr. Bassett made no effort to install any drainage whatsoever. Mr. Brooks said he was strictly against the rezoning petition and felt there was something the City could do about this mess. May Apple Swenson said she lived at the property on 120 E. Rock which was just north of Ms. Shockleys' backyard and the mountain of dirt supplied by Mr. Bassett. She was opposed to the rezoning because it was an artificial fill and she saw no way the land could be retained with any sort of retaining walls. She said it would wash and be a horrible mess. She said the so called retaining wall that existed now was a farce and was just really rocks pushed into the dirt and as soon as the rains come they would tumble down. - Dewitt Smith said Mr. Bassett had authorized him to committ to solve whatever water problem there was which would include whatever maneuvers were necessary. Commissioner Nash said she looked at the property and it was a mud pile and looked awful. She said a lot of building sites look awful in the primary stages and asked Mr. Smith if he could explain what the completed project would look like. Mr. Smith said the lot would require a hard surface which his understanding was at minimum a chip and seal surface only. Nash asked what kind of permanent retaining wall would be installed. Mr. Smith replied whatever was required to stabilize the area. Commissioner Madison asked if the small portion of the property was going to be used for parking as well. Mr. Smith said a portion of that piece would be used for parking. Mr. Brooks asked if the property should have been rezoned before construction of the parking lot took place. Chairman Jacks said the owner of the property had the right to do earthwork, but before the parking lot was in use it would require rezoning. Mr. • Brooks asked if there was nothing that the City or the Planning Commission could do about what type of a landfill a fellow makes on his property. Chairman Jacks replied a person could do pretty n — • • • Planning Commission October 26, 1987 page 4 much what he wanted on his property unless he affects someone else in which case the affected property owner would have legal recourse. Chairman Jacks advised the Planning Commission was called upon to judge whether the property should be rezoned R -O rather than R-2. He said the matters Mr. Brooks was talking about were engineering matters and noted if an engineering problem occured where water was deverted onto other properties then a lawsuit would be an appropriate action. Commissioner Hanna said he saw sort of a catch-22 here and could sympathize with the people who were affected by the runoff. He said the damage that had been done to the trees on the property in question had been done and they were going to die. He said if the Planning Commission did not rezone the property Mr. Bassett could chose to leave the property just like it was and they would still have a problem. He said if the Planning Commission did rezone the property there would not be any assurance that Mr. Bassett would do the engineering necessary to keep the water off of their property. Hanna suggested tabling this item until some plans had been submitted by an engineer showing what the lot would look like before a vote to rezone. MOTION Commissioner Hanna moved to table this item until some engineering plans could be submitted for review, seconded by Commissioner Green. The motion to table passed 8-0-0. In aswere to a question from Commissioner Madison, Sandra Carlisle replied a parking lot must be in a R -O zone or a higher density. Commissioner Madison had some concern about the setbacks for the parking lot. She said from what she had read the setback from the street would be a required 25' and 5' from the rear property line and felt there would not be room for adequate parking on the small portion of the property. REQUEST FOR OFF-SITE PARKING BILL KENNEDY - 608 W. DICKSON (MR. TUX) The second item on the agenda was consideration of a request for off-site parking submitted by Bill Kennedy for property located at 608 W. Dickson (Mr. Tux). Property zoned C-3, Central Business Commercial. Mr. Kennedy stated he had nothing else to add other than what had been submitted. • • • Planning Commission October 26, 1987 page 5 Commissioner Madison asked Mr. Kennedy how many spaces would he be short for the addition and Mr. Kennedy replied 2 spaces. Commissioner Hanna asked if the nature of the business was to change. Mr. Kennedy replied "no". MOTION going Commissioner Hanna moved to grant the off-site parking as requested, seconded by Madison. The motion to grant the off-site parking passed 8-0-0. WAIVER OF THE SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS - LOT SPLIT HOWARD CAIN - LOT 2, SUNSET HEIGHTS The third item on the agenda was consideration subdivision regulations (lot split) submitted represented by Dixie Cain. Property zoned Residential District. of a waiver of the by Howard Cain and R-1, Low Density Ms. Cain said the split was requested because they wished to sell a portion of their lot and added the lot size conformed to the R-1 regulations. Carlisle noted the lot requested to be split was 90' X 130'. Commissioner Madison asked if the lot in question was part of the Sunset Heights Addition. Ms. Cain said she really did not know. Madison asked if the covenants in that subdivision restricted lot splits. Carlisle said there may be covenants at the courthouse and that would have to be taken up with the property owners association. MOTION Commissioner Farrish moved to grant the lot split as requested, seconded by Robertson. The motion to grant the split as requested passed 8-0-0. WAIVER OF THE SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS - LOT SPLIT WALTER DIAL JR. - COUNTY RD. 707 - OUTSIDE CITY LIMITS The fourth item on the agenda was consideration of a waiver of the subdivision regulations (lot split) submitted by Walter Dial and represented by Claude Prewitt. Property located outside the Fayetteville City Limits, but within in the Fayetteville growth area. Claude Prewitt stated the property in question was on County Road • • • Planning Commission October 26, 1987 page 6 707 and was located east of Wheeler. The split would consist of a 2 acre tract. MOTION Commissioner Hanna moved to grant the lot split as requested, seconded by Nash. The motion to grant the lot split as requested passed 8-0-0. REPORT FROM LARRY WOOD -SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS Larry Wood advised a draft would be turned into the Planning Office by the next meeting for word processing. OTHER BUSINESS Chairman Jacks advised Planners would attend the Chairman Jacks also unsuccessful trying to Directors Agenda for Program. a representative from the selected next meeting on November 9, 1987. advised the Planning Commission was obtain a slot on the City Board of the proposal of Capital Improvements Commissioner Farrish stated the City Manager was unavailable to speak with him on the telephone. Farrish said he had made a decision independently not to attend the agenda meeting because he felt there would be no requirement to attend. Commissioner Hanna advised a discussion of housing for the elderly would be discussed at the next regular Planning Commission meeting. MINUTES The minutes of the October 12, 1987 meeting were approved as distributed. Commissioner Madison requested that the Planning Commission minutes be mailed to the Planning Commissioners within 3 -days of the meeting. There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.