HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-12-01 MinutesMayor Lioneld Jordan
City Attorney Kit Williams
City Clerk Sondra Smith
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City of Fayetteville Arkansas
City Council Meeting Minutes
December 1, 2009
City Council Meeting Minutes
December 1, 2009
Page 1 of 14
Aldermen
Ward 1 Position 1 — Adella Gray
Ward 1 Position 2
— Brenda Thiel
Ward 2 Position 1 — Kyle B. Cook
Ward 2 Position 2
— Matthew Petty
Ward 3 Position 1
— Robert K. Rhoads
Ward 3 Position 2
— Robert Ferrell
Ward 4 Position 1
— Shirley Lucas
Ward 4 Position 2
— Sarah E. Lewis
A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on December 1, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. in Room
219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville,
Arkansas.
Mayor Jordan called the meeting to order.
PRESENT: Alderman Gray, Thiel, Cook, Petty, Rhoads, Ferrell, Lucas, Lewis, Mayor
Jordan, City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Sondra Smith, Staff, Press, and Audience.
Pledge of Allegiance
Mayor's Announcements, Proclamations and Recognitions:
Mayor Jordan introduced the Spring International students and welcomed them to Fayetteville.
Presentations. Reports and Discussion Items:
Third Quarter 2009 Report of Financial Condition of the City — City Clerk
City Clerk Sondra Smith presented the reports to the City Council.
Consent:
Approval of the November 17, 2009 City Council meeting minutes.
Approved
2009 Series Bond Issue — Streets & Trails: A resolution adjusting the 2009 city budget to
appropriate the proceeds of the 2009 Sales Tax Bond Issue for streets and trails.
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Resolution 234-09 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
Bid # 09-67 Royal Overhead Door Inc.: A resolution awarding Bid 09-67 and approving
purchase of three overhead rolling service doors from Royal Overhead Door, Inc. in the amount
of $36,507.00 for use at the Noland Wastewater Treatment Plant; approving a $2,500.00
contingency; and approving a budget adjustment of $3,007.00.
Resolution 235-09 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
Alderman Rhoads moved to approve the Consent Agenda as read. Alderman Petty
seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Alderman Ferrell was absent.
Agenda Additions:
Unfinished Business:
Old Wire Annexation Appeal: An ordinance annexing that property described in annexation
petition ANX 09-3409 (CC2009-4), for property located at 3231 North Old Wire Road, the
northwest comer of Old Wire Road and Rom Orchard Road, containing approximately 39 acres.
This ordinance was left on the First Reading at the October 6, 2009 City Council meeting. This
ordinance was left on the Second Reading at the October 20, 2009 City Council meeting. This
ordinance was left on the Third Reading at the November 3, 2009 City Council meeting and
Tabled to the November 17, 2009 City Council meeting. This ordinance was left on the Third
Reading at the November 17, 2009 City Council meeting and Tabled to the December 1, 2009
City Council meeting.
Jeremy Pate, Development Services Director gave a brief description and update on the
proposed ordinance. He stated this was recommended for denial by Planning Commission and
staff.
Captain William Brown referred to a letter he wrote to Jeremy Pate which stated this could
cause some confusion for the officers and emergency services regarding the city boundaries and
whose jurisdiction it would be.
Alderman Ferrell: Would the same scenario apply to other places?
Captain William Brown: Yes sir, it could.
Alderman Lewis: Can you talk about the response time?
Captain William Brown: Anything that is on the perimeter of an area is going to get less extra
patrol. The response time should not be affected because we are out and about all over the city.
Alderman Thiel: I would like to hear from the applicant or the developer. Then the citizens
can respond to that.
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Todd Jacobs with Appian gave a brief presentation on the proposed annexation.
Alderman Lewis: Why would a developer want to be in the City versus being in the County
where there are fewer restrictions?
Todd Jacobs: The City will be able to provide utilities to the property. We have a lot more
design flexibility than we would in the County.
Alderman Thiel: When this went before the Planning Commission and staff do you think that
being linked together with a rezoning affected the approval? If this would have just come in as
an annexation would it have been denied?
Jeremy Pate: At the last Planning Commission they did not consider the rezoning. It was on
the agenda but the applicant withdrew that before it was discussed.
Alderman Thiel: And there was no consideration that it was all owned by one owner?
Jeremy Pate: I don't believe all this property was under one ownership. They have actually
brought in one more property owner to make the square that you see. The sliver of property that
is adjacent to the western side of the City limits that is considered as part of this parcel and that is
the portion that they are discussing about being in the city limits.
Alderman Thiel: I am just not very clear on what we have. I guess page 66 of 70 is what you
are referring to.
Jeremy Pate: Yes that is correct.
Todd Jacobs clarified the property boundary lines.
Alderman Lewis asked for clarification on what is being annexed.
Todd Jacobs showed the area that is being annexed on the map.
A discussion followed on which area it was.
Colleen Gaston, resident of 32703 Rom Orchard Rd. submitted photographs of the blind curve
on Old Wire just before arriving at the property proposed for annexation. She also submitted
photographs of subdivisions that are vacant and three letters from residents. She went on to
speak in opposition to the ordinance.
Alderman Ferrell: I would still like to know which citizens are citizens of the City of
Fayetteville.
Terry Peyton, resident of Bridgewater which is just inside the City's growth area expressed his
concerns and went on to speak in opposition to the ordinance.
Alderman Ferrell confirmed that he was in fact a citizen of Fayetteville. He also asked did Dr.
Knox develop a portion of his property at one time.
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Terry Peyton: I don't think so. I do know they are working with the City to straighten the curve
on the extension of Joyce to donate the land at the far northern reaches of her land.
Peggy Hart, resident of 521 East Ash spoke on behalf of her parents who live at 3119 Rom
Orchard Rd. She expressed their concerns and went on to speak in opposition to the ordinance.
Jeff Danjo, resident of 3284 Rom Orchard Rd expressed his concerns and spoke in opposition to
the ordinance.
Hank Broyles, the developer spoke on previous developments that also have county property on
the other side of the road and stated they have worked out well. He also pointed out part of the
Knox property that is zoned RSF-12.
Alderman Thiel: I see in the packet that it is RSF-12. So it is shown very clearly. Can you
remind me about the Bridgewater extension?
Hank Broyles: Bridgewater is part of the 20/20 Master Street Plan. In the future when this
property is developed whoever develops it will have to put in Bridgewater from Old Wire Road
all the way to the western edge of this piece of property.
Alderman Thiel: Is that owned by the Knox's?
Hank Broyles: The Knox property is all north of our property. They have no property to the
west of us.
Alderman Thiel: So there is a possibility that someone would want to extend Bridgewater.
Hank Broyles: Someone could extend Bridgewater. The property that I have now there is
about sixty feet or so that brushes up against the Knox property.
Alderman Thiel: Jeremy, when Hank brought up the rezoned area that belongs to the Knox's,
do you remember when that was rezoned?
Jeremy Pate: I believe it was before my time here but I am not sure when.
Alderman Thiel: So they did not do it or you don't know?
Jeremy Pate: I don't know.
Alderman Thiel: My other question is on that same page 65 of 70 just past Natchez Trace there
is the peninsula that sticks out that is zoned R -A. When did that come in and why?
Jeremy Pate: It was in a conservation easement. That property and the adjacent property are
also in conservation easements that are maintained by Ozark Regional Land Trust as part of the
protected area. There are certain residential structures and we have a copy of that in our office.
That was brought in maybe in the early 2000's and dedicated as a protected area.
Alderman Thiel: It's not in the City it is just green.
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Jeremy Pate: No that little sliver is in the City and I believe the intent at the time was to
develop it however through those discussions it became a conservation easement and has not
been developed.
Alderman Thiel: However at one point staff, and Planning Commission and the City Council
did approve a peninsula like that.
Jeremy Pate: Yes.
Alderman Gray: I have a question for Colleen regarding these other subdivisions. Can you
give me some distance and also some kinds of houses that are being built there?
Colleen Gaston: The subdivision on Skillern which is Crestmont is a single street with 10 lots.
It has a stormwater detention pond at the rear of the development that is full of trash. It has been
undeveloped for over a year now or possibly longer. All of the subdivisions that I gave you
photos of are by road within a mile of the proposed annexed property. Then you go to the
subdivision on Crossover which is RPG.
Alderman Gray: You don't have any idea how this is zoned and what size houses they planned
to put there?
Colleen Gaston: I am guessing it is four houses per acre but I don't know how the lots are
actually sized.
Jeremy Pate: I would anticipate both are zoned for four units per acre.
Colleen Gaston: The other lots are further south on Crossover before you get to Township.
Hickory Park Subdivision does have some houses but it has more vacant lots than it has houses.
Jeremy Pate: Hickory Park is actually a residential planned zoning district and it's roughly four
units per acre as well.
Alderman Gray: And Lynnwood?
Colleen Gaston: That is a subdivision that goes off of Crossover directly and you can maybe
see from the photograph how many lots there are.
Alderman Gray: It looks like six but we don't have any idea how many acres are there.
Colleen Gaston: No, I am sorry. I can say on the peninsula that you asked about Ms. Thiel, my
recollection is that when that came before the Planning Division first as an annexation/rezoning
that the Planning Division recommended against it because it was creating an island. I think the
Planning Commission denied it and it was an appeal to the City Council and they annexed it in
but did not rezone it. The actual conservation easement was worked out once it looked like it
wasn't going to be rezoned for high density development. The neighbors went together and
bought the property and then put it in a conservation easement.
Alderman Petty: I think in spite of all the content I have read from the Planning Commission I
am going to support it. My principal concern is preserving our agricultural production and the
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potential of this land. I am going to vote for this as a gesture of good faith to say that if the
developer will bring forth something that is up to my standards when it comes to urban
agriculture I will work very closely with you. If it is anything other than that I can't support any
other rezonings.
Alderman Lewis: The City has a footprint and you should try not to go out of it. No matter
what happens with this property the City has the long term maintenance of whatever utilities go
in etc. and that is a cost to the citizens. I am not a proponent of annexation at this point in time.
We have a lot of space in Fayetteville that can be developed and that is what we need to be
looking at.
Alderman Thiel stated I favor annexation when it is this close to town. This is actually going to
be developed and we want the structures to be based on our City Codes so I probably will
support this.
Alderman Rhoads stated I don't know if I have ever voted against an annexation and the reason
being is I believe eventually it would be the City's responsibility to take care of those areas
anyways. I would rather do it on the front end than on the back. You all will get another chance
to come back and your voices will be heard on what is developed out there. I am going to
support it as well.
Alderman Lewis: If we want to protect our water resources and you are talking about septic
tanks then instead of sprawling we need to be working with the County to create regulations at
the County level to keep them from using types of septic systems that would affect our water
supply. It doesn't seem like the City should sprawl in order to protect our water resources. That
is not the correct tool to address that problem.
Alderman Thiel: I think we have come a long way in septic systems but the only way to ensure
that there is not leakage and run off is if they are on Sewer Systems and the City does not extend
sewer into the County. As far as us trying to get the county to regulate construction that is just
not our purview.
Alderman Lewis: I understand what you are saying. I would just like people to think about that
and what tool we are using to address that.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 6-2.
Alderman Lewis and Cook voting no.
Ordinance 5287 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
New Business:
Fayetteville Animal Shelter Donation: A resolution accepting a donation of $25,000.00 to the
Fayetteville Animal Shelter from the estate of Kathryn B. Stout, and approving a budget
adjustment recognizing the donation.
Justine Middleton, Animal Services Superintendent expressed her gratitude for the generous
gift.
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Alderman Lewis: Thank you Justine for saying that out loud. That was a significant
contribution and deserved some recognition.
Alderman Lucas: I knew Mrs. Stout and she was a fantastic lady and very generous to many
things. The Animal Shelter was very important to her and I think this is wonderful.
Alderman Ferrell shared his memories of Mr. Stout.
Alderman Thiel moved to approve the resolution. Alderman Ferrell seconded the motion.
Upon roll call the resolution passed unanimously.
Resolution 236-09 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
RZN 09-3442 (Kimbrough): An ordinance rezoning that property described in rezoning
petition RZN 09-3442, for approximately 0.3 acres, located at 805 West Bel Air Drive from
RSF-4, Residential Single -Family, 4 units per acre, to RSF-8, Residential Single -Family, 8 units
per acre.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jeremy Pate gave a brief description of the ordinance.
Alderman Lewis: Are there any regulations on the design of that as far as the parking lot and
how close they can be?
Jeremy Pate: There can be a parking lot. It's a single family district so the only use that is
allowed is one single family home. It would have one or two parking spaces likely within the
driveway or garage. We don't have any architectural design standards for single family homes
so there is nothing really that we would have a regulation on.
Alderman Lucas: Why did they not go for a lot split?
Jeremy Pate: If the zoning is approved they go through with the lot split but as it is currently
you could not split the lot out and still have an RSF-4 lot for development. It would have to be
zoned RSF-8 or RSF-7.
Alderman Lucas asked him to explain again.
Jeremy Pate explained why a lot split was not done.
Alderman Lucas: Why couldn't you have RSF-4 there?
Jeremy Pate: The lot wouldn't be big enough. The RSF-4 zoning district requires an 8,000
square foot minimum lot and the RSF-8 requires 5,000 square feet. This allows them a little
more flexibility in terms of providing another single family home.
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Alderman Thiel: The fact that it is single family, its meeting affordability, infill, etc. I think it
is a good thing.
Alderman Thiel moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Alderman Cook
seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Alderman Cook: In the past there have been arguments about parts of this neighborhood but
with this RSF-8 all they could build on this would be another single family house.
Jeremy Pate: That's correct. We had the exact same discussion and we have had concerns west
and east of Garland. There is not as clear of a dividing line except for this neighborhood. The
change of density with RSF-8 is certainly an additional single family unit but it's the same use as
any of the neighbors that would be directly adjacent to that.
Alderman Petty moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading.
Alderman Ferrell seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Alderman Lucas: I am not going to support this. This is the neighborhood that fought long and
hard for the property across the street from this when they were trying to build the apartments
right up against their houses. I just feel it slowly creeps into a neighborhood when you change
the rezoning.
Alderman Ferrell asked Alderman Lucas to repeat what she just stated.
Alderman Lucas re -explained her reasons for not supporting the ordinance.
Alderman Lewis: Has the ward representing this heard anything?
Alderman Petty: No.
Alderman Lewis: Kit, did you put a condition of approval on this zoning stating it can never be
changed?
City Attorney Kit Williams: No, it wasn't like that.
Alderman Lucas: It wasn't that way. It was when the apartments were built and this property
was going to be part of that and we refused. The idea in order to get this rezoned was to
preserve this.
City Attorney Kit Williams: One City Council can not prevent another City Council from
rezoning property. It was not a condition like that that could be enforced.
Alderman Lucas: Somehow or another they said they were not going to do anything to that lot.
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Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass.
Alderman Lucas and Cook voting no.
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Upon roll call the ordinance passed 6-2.
Ordinance 5288 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
Illinois River Watershed Partnership: An ordinance waiving the requirements of §34.23, of
the Fayetteville Code of Ordinances and approving a contract with the Illinois River Watershed
Partnership in the amount of $10,000.00 for Watershed Education and Planning Services.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Alderman Lewis: I would like to recuse from this. Three years ago they made a donation to my
dissertation research and I think I should not vote on this.
Chris Brown, City Engineer gave a brief description of the contract.
Alderman Thiel moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Alderman Lucas
seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Alderman Lewis recused.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Alderman Gray moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading.
Alderman Ferrell seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Alderman
Lewis recused.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-0.
Alderman Lewis recused.
Ordinance 5289 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
ADM 09-3467 Park Centre C-PZD Amendment No. 1: An ordinance amending a commercial
planned zoning district entitled C-PZD 08-2894 Park Centre to allow modification to the
approved building elevations, as described herein.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jeremy Pate gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated we are recommending
approval.
Alderman Thiel: It looks like to me that this is an improvement of what we originally accepted.
Alderman Lewis: I mentioned that it looked like a strip mall and I am wondering if there is any
way to get them to move their parking lot so that it will be more walkable as opposed to the sheet
of parking in front of the building.
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Jeremy Pate: They have about five years to obtain their building permits. We expressed our
desire for the buildings to either face onto Zion or Vantage Street. The Planning Commission
and Council voted to keep the buildings where they are currently. We were able to add
additional outdoor eating and retail space along the endcaps of those buildings. The other good
thing about this project is the extension of Vantage into the park which will extend the trail
system and bike lanes in the park.
Alderman Lewis: I am just worried that it will look like Sixth Street near Chick Fil A and I
don't want that.
Alderman Ferrell: I think you were on the Council when this came the first time and in my
opinion there was a lot of give and take. I think they would like to have preservation and a pretty
nice area.
Alderman Ferrell moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Alderman
Lucas seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Alderman Ferrell moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading.
Alderman Lucas seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Alderman Petty: I sympathize with what you are saying Sarah but I am going to vote for it
because it is better than what has already been approved. I don't want to change the whole thing.
They have five years so we might see someone else come forward and make some of those
changes.
Alderman Lewis: Is the applicant here? Can you speak to those concerns about the parking?
Roger Boskus, Architect for the project stated the concept is pretty simple. The homesteads are
fronted along Zion Road so the buildings are occupying where the homesteads were. This
basically puts themselves in that proximity which preserves the natural tree line along Zion
Road. This allows us to save a nice canopy.
Alderman Ferrell: There is an existing log cabin there and they offered the log cabin to the
Parks.
Alderman Lewis: Did we keep it?
Alderman Ferrell: No.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed
unanimously.
Ordinance 5290 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
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Private Parking Lot Agreements: A resolution to express the City Council's support for the
City Parking Division to seek leases and agreements to manage private parking lots.
Sharon Crosson, Parking and Telecommunications Manager gave a brief description of the
resolution. She stated we are asking for the Council's support in going forward with negotiating
contracts with private parking lot owners that offer public parking in the Dickson Street
Entertainment District. The things we will gain are continuity of enforcement and consistency in
the rate structure and the rates would be set within each individual contract.
City Attorney Kit Williams: They have to be set by ordinance so we would have to pass an
ordinance to our code to set the rates.
Sharon Crosson: We will define that more as we get into the negotiating of those. Another
thing it would benefit is centralization of customer service and it would also provide enforcement
with written citations rather than towing and booting of the vehicles. Lastly it would provide a
legal method of litter control and cleaning of those areas.
Alderman Thiel: I support this, however would we have to manage our public lots to make this
cost effective or can we just do this part of it and consider something different with the public
lots?
Sharon Crosson: It would depend on the lot and the times they want to enforce it. She went on
to explain the staff time constraints.
Alderman Thiel: So at this time you have not analyzed it enough to feel like it would pay for it.
Mayor Jordan: Here is why we are bringing this forward. These are resolutions of intent
before the staff spends hours on something that may not pass this Council I wanted to make sure
that the Council was okay with this and then we would take it from there.
Don Marr, Chief of Staff stated the Mayor directed us to address the Walton Arts Center's
problem which was parking for their patrons. We shared with the Walton Arts Center that we
would have to have dialogue with a lot of people to make any agreements. That dialogue
evolved as a result of the input that the Mayor received from all those people. I would expect
that you will see a plan come back from the staff that is a combination of both public and private
and that there will also be public lots that we may look for someone else to manage like the
Walton Arts Center so that we can handle and best fit their needs. We look at this as a means of
being able to have consistency in the area but that is a policy decision we need your
authorization on.
Alderman Rhoads: I am supportive of this but that does not necessarily mean I plan on voting
for exactly what comes forward. My take is not so much as trying to please various groups as
much as keeping our eye on what is best for Fayetteville. This area is one of the crown jewels of
Fayetteville and we need to make sure that it gets better and better. Parking can either be an
incredible attribute or it can mess it all up. Whatever we do finally vote on will probably be
dynamic and potentially meant to be changed.
Alderman Petty: There have been more than 50 comments online about parking in the last
week and I think everyone needs to know to expound on what Lioneld started with. There are no
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proposals or policies on the table tonight. The reason we need to show our support is because
the one show stopper in any parking plan is going to be a lack of Council support. We need to
take steps before we commit hours of staff time towards this to indicate that we are not going to
be obstinate about any parking plan that comes forward that we are going to consider things
carefully. If you are one of the stakeholders involved this is your chance to give us input.
Alderman Ferrell: I am going to support this. One of the biggest things I have heartburn with
is the towing. I am very willing and glad to look at this. The way it is presented I think it is a
good idea. Alderman Ferrell expresses his concern about people being towed.
Nelson Driver: I occupy a business on Dickson Street. I firmly agree that dialogue needs to
begin. I would hate to see paid parking come to Dickson Street because of what I think it would
do to the businesses. I think it is inevitable that something is going to have to change down
there. If we are going to be able to build a parking garage to take care of the parking menace that
we have in the Dickson Street area we are going to have to have the revenue sources to do that
with.
One of the biggest problems that we have with the private/public lots around the entertainment
district is towing. That sends a negative message to the people coming into this town. My
comment about the City managing private lots from a continuity standpoint as a business person
it is the only thing that makes sense.
Alderman Lucas: We already have paid parking down there. It is a matter of whether we are
going to manage it or they are going to manage it individually. I am in support of this if we can
have continuity.
Mayor Jordan: The main thing we are going to get from this is when the City starts managing
that there will not be any more towing. We will issue citations but their vehicle will not be
towed off. When I met with the business owners the number one concern that they had was
towing.
Alderman Lewis: I think this is also worth exploring. What type of business owners did you
meet with? Was it a pretty good mix?
Mayor Jordan: I think it was a good mix.
Nelson Driver: The Mayor met with the Dickson Street Merchants Association, which is an
association of all the business owners on Dickson Street. It is a pretty good mix of everyone on
the street.
Alderman Lewis: I would like to look at other options if something else comes that is easier or
better.
Mayor Jordan: Absolutely.
Alderman Thiel moved to approve the resolution. Alderman Gray seconded the motion.
Upon roll call the resolution passed unanimously.
Resolution 237-09 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
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Dickson Street Parking: A resolution to recommend that City staff prepare plans to make all
City parking lots in. the Dickson Street entertainment area paid parking.
Sharon Crosson: The amount of revenues that could be made in the entertainment district, a
majority of those revenues we could make on the property that we already own. If we went to
paid parking in those lots and we provided services after hours and six to seven days a week not
only does it generate revenue to build a future parking deck, it also put another set of eyes and
feet in the entertainment district to help with litter control, residents, etc. It will also afford us
the opportunity to help the Walton Arts Center when they have a large event because we will
have staff to help with parking. We are asking the Council for their support in us developing a
plan to change the public lots to paid parking. The money that could be generated all or a
portion of it would be earmarked for a future parking deck.
Alderman Thiel: This doesn't exclude conversations with the Walton Arts Center as far as
possibly a different management plan. This is just looking at paid parking on our public lots?
Don Marr, Chief of Staff: That's correct. There are four lots that the City currently owns in
this area. We would evaluate each of those being a paid option. There would be a plan
addressing the operating expense related to those lots, the revenue, rates and hours of service and
where those proceeds would or could be used based on who was managing or leading them.
Alderman Lewis: I hope a part of this is some sort of education process that tells people about
the parking.
Don Marr: I don't think we are going to have any problem trying to find where to spend the
money. I think everyone wants it and everyone has ideas about it.
Alderman Thiel: I have never been in a large City that had free parking. The free parking that
we have in turn creates parking problems because we do not have enough room. I think we need
to move into the future.
Don Marr: We have been trying to identify all the parking available downtown in the
entertainment district and the cultural arts district and it is very interesting that we actually have
quite a bit of parking that is still available that is still free. It is all about perspective. Sometimes
we have a walking problem, not a parking problem. Sometimes we have an informational
problem in letting people know where that availability is. Part of this plan will be to show
people where there are free parking options also available. It is not to eliminate all the free
parking options. We have a lot of private options that are still available.
Nelson Driver: One of the things I would ask the City to look at as far as the parking lot plans is
to go back revisit some of the exceptions that have been made by past Councils as far as not
requiring the developers that have built and remodeled to not comply with the City standard
number of parking spaces per unit, person and occupancy to see where we should be.
I would take a look at the dialogue with the university. One of the things that has happened to us
on Dickson Street and some of the areas around the University campus is when the university
built their parking decks it drives the parking to Dickson Street for the students. There are a lot
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 575-8323 accessfayetteville.org
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City Council Meeting Minutes
December 1, 2009
Page 14 of 14
of different problems that we have with parking. This is not a new issue. I appreciate the
Council's support for opening dialogue on this and trying to come to an equitable solution to the
problem.
Alderman Lewis: Does the City have parking lots any where else in town except in downtown?
Sharon Crosson: No.
Alderman Petty: All the square parking is paid. It is easy to be afraid that a move to paid
parking on Dickson Street is going to kill business but it has not on the square. I think we are
entering a period of revitalization on the square and we have an example of successful paid
parking in the City.
Alderman Thiel moved to approve the resolution. Alderman Petty seconded the motion.
Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Alderman Rhoads was absent during the vote.
Resolution 238-09 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
Residential Parking Permits — Dickson Street Area: A resolution expressing the City
Council's support for residential parking permits in the Dickson Street area and requesting the
administration to present such a system for City Council approval.
Alderman Petty: It is incredibly likely that any plans that come forward are going to be
dynamic and it is unlikely that they will all be implemented at once and that includes any sort of
residential permitting system. This is just getting something for us to look at.
Alderman Thiel: I know this was discussed. We talked about it a long time ago. I am glad that
Matthew brought it as a whole separate resolution.
Alderman Petty moved to approve the resolution. Alderman Thiel seconded the motion.
Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Alderman Rhoads was absent during the vote.
Resolution 239-09 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk.
Announcements:
City Council Tour: None
Meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
Sondra E. Smith, City Clerk/Treasurer
113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 575-8323 accessfayetteville.org
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