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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-12-01 - Minutes -Council'Member Sonia Gutierrez Ward 1 Position 1 Council Member Sarah Marsh Ward 1 Position 2 Council Member Mark Kinion Ward 2 Position i Council Member Matthew Petty Ward 2 Position 2 Mayor Lioneld Jordan City Attorney Kit Williams City Clerk Kara Parton City of Fayetteville Arkansas City Council Meeting December 1, 2020 City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 1 of 39 Council Member Sloan Scroggin Ward 3 Position 1 Council Member Sarah Bunch Ward 3 Position 2 Council Member Teresa Turk Ward 4 Position 1 Council Member Kyle Smith Ward 4 Position 2 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on December 1, 2020 at 5:30 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. In order to create social distancing due to the Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, Council Members Sonia Gutierrez, Sarah Marsh, Mark Kinion, Matthew Petty, Sloan Scroggin, Sarah Bunch, Teresa Turk, and Kyle Smith joined the meeting via online using a video conferencing service called Zoom. Council Member Turk arrived after Roll Call. Mayor Lioneld Jordan, City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, Police Chief Mike Reynolds, Fire Chief Brad Hardin, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, and two staff members from the IT Department were present in City Council Chambers while demonstrating recommended social distancing. Pledge of Allegiance Mayor's Announcements, Proclamations and Recognitions: Mayor Jordan: In light of the current health concerns, Fayetteville City Hall is closed to the public. This meeting is being held virtually. I am present in Council Chambers with a handful of essential support staff. City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, IT Director Keith Macedo, Deputy Chief of Police Jamie Fields, Assistant 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 2 of 39 Fire Chief Tom Good, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, and two representatives from the IT Department. City Council Members, City Staff, and the public are participating online or by phone. Other than those of us you see before you, the voices you hear during the course of this meeting are being recorded for public record and piped into the Council Chambers. Participation remains of the upmost importance to the City of Fayetteville. We have provided many ways to participate in the meeting, which includes contacting Council Members, City Clerk office or city staff prior to the meeting. The meeting can be viewed through Fayetteville's government channel online, YouTube, and joining the Zoom conference by smartphone, tablet or computer. Staff can view when you join the meeting and when you raise your virtual hand. We ask that you refrain from raising your virtual hand until the public comment portion of the item on which you wish to comment. I will provide a longer than usual period of time for you to raise your virtual hand, so as to ensure time to be recognized. Fayetteville residents will be allowed to speak first. When recognized, please state your name and address for the record. Public comment shall be allowed for all members of the audience who have signed up prior to the beginning of the agenda item they wish to address being opened for public comment. Each speaker has one turn to speak. Each speaker is allowed five minutes to be broken into segments of three and two minutes, which staff will monitor. Amendments may receive public comments only if approved by the City Council by unanimous consent or majority vote. If public comment is allowed for an amendment, speakers will only be allowed to speak for three minutes. The City Council may allow both a speaker additional time and an unsigned -up person to speak by unanimous consent or majority vote. City Council Meetim,, Presentations, Reports, and Discussion Items: Monthly Financial Report Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer gave a brief summary of the Monthly Financial Report. He stated the General Fund is very strong. He stated sales in September are 8% over last year. He stated total revenue is up almost 3% at this point in time compared to budget. He stated sales tax is up almost 5% compared to the budget at this point in time. He stated Franchise Fees are softening a bit but are right around on budget. He stated licenses and permits are down. He stated building permits started softening a bit in October but are holding strong. He stated turnback's are down and fines are down about 23%, but all in all, the city is doing very well. He stated he's very satisfied with where the city is right now with the General Fund. He stated the Street Fund is up roughly 4%, parking revenue is 62% of budget, HMR taxes are down about 30% compared to last year, and the Water and Sewer Fund is up about 1 % in total. He stated Trash and Recycling is down about 2%. He stated the Airport sale of jet fuel is 65% of budget and total fuel sales are down about 21 %. He stated as far as budgetary conditions are concerned, he thinks the city is doing as well as could be expected at this point. Council Member Petty: Paul, you highlighted two or three of the funds that are more impacted than some of the other funds. You spoke about actions and practices being implemented to try and be responsive to where revenue is. Are we already taking or beginning to take more extreme measures in some of the more impacted funds, besides delaying capital projects? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 3 of 39 Paul Becker: We have not taken extreme measures at this point in time. One thing we have done in the Parking Fund is that we had an individual who is employed there and transferred internally to take another position in the city. We're not going to fill that position. We will look at the filling of positions going forward. If we get much worse or it continues much longer, we will have to look at other measures. At the Airport, we're trying to cut expenditures back as much as possible. We are doing everything possible to get the expenditures in line with the revenue. Agenda Additions: None Consent: Approval of the November 17, 2020 City Council Meeting Minutes. Approved GFAR Lessee LLC d/b/a Graduate Fayetteville: A resolution to approve an amendment to the lease agreement with GFAR Lessee LLC d/b/a Graduate Fayetteville by retroactively reducing the number of leased parking spaces in the Meadow Street Municipal Parking Deck for the period from April 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020, and to extend the Lease Agreement for one additional seven year term through 2033. Resolution 296-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Southwestern Electric Power Company: A resolution to approve a Memorandum of Agreement with Southwestern Electric Power Company to provide at its own costs all materials and labor needed to move the overhead electrical service to underground service along West Avenue to satisfy any and all the damages the city suffered to electrical equipment in City Hall and the Police Station from faulty transformer voltage surges. Resolution 297-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk I-49 and MLK Partnering with ARDOT: A resolution to express the intention of the City Council of the City of Fayetteville to work with the Arkansas Department of Transportation to complete improvements to the I-49 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Interchange. Resolution 298-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc Amendment No. 1: A resolution to approve Amendment No. 1 to the contract with McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. in the amount of $18,725.00 to provide additional design services associated with the West Center Street and North Harmon Avenue Intersection Project - 2019 Street Improvements Bond Project. Resolution 299-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 4 of 39 Fayetteville Police Department Policies: A resolution to approve Fayetteville Police Department Policies 33.1 Training; 41.3.5 Grooming and Uniform Requirements; and 46.1.2 Critical Incidents. Resolution 300-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Electric Motor Center: A resolution to accept a quote in the amount of $22,536.50 plus applicable taxes and freight charges from Electric Motor Center for the repair of an influent pump at the Noland Water Resource Recovery Facility. Resolution 301-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Bid #20-81 Paladino Painting Co., LLC: A resolution to award Bid #20-81 and authorize a contract with Paladino Painting Co., LLC in the amount of $107,575.00 for construction related to the removal and replacement of various secondary containment liner systems at the Noland Water Resource Recovery Facility. Resolution 302-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Dustin Davis and Ryan Youngblood Davis: A resolution to approve a Land Sale Agreement between the City of Fayetteville and Dustin and Ryan Youngblood Davis to acquire about 0.72 acres of land located near Fire Tower Road/County Road 4343 for the construction of a new Benson Mountain Water Supply Tank in exchange for a payment of $23,000.00 plus closing costs, the conveyance of a city -owned 0.06 acre parcel, and other consideration. Resolution 303-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Bid #20-83 Crossland Heavy Contractors, Inc. — 2019 Transportation Bond Project: A resolution to award Bid #20-83 and authorize a contract with Crossland Heavy Contractors, Inc. in the amount of $4,380,859.87 for the construction of the Sain Street Extension Project, to approve a project contingency in the amount of $438,086.00, and to approve a budget adjustment - 2019 Street Improvements Bond Project. Resolution 304-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company Inc. Supplement Agreement No. 2: A resolution to approve Supplemental Agreement No. 2 to the contract with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $294,086.00 for construction management services associated with the Sain Street Extension Project. Resolution 305-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk Council Member Marsh moved to accept the Consent Agenda as read. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 5 of 39 Unfinished Business: RFQ-19-01 Olsson, Inc. Amendment #2: A resolution to approve Amendment No. 2 to the Professional Engineering Services Agreement with Olsson, Inc., pursuant to RFQ #19-01, in the amount of $154,900.00 for the remaining architectural services related to the replacement parking deck for the Cultural Arts Corridor Project, and to approve a budget adjustment — 2019 Cultural Arts Corridor Bond Project. At the 11/17120 City Council meeting this item was tabled for two weeks. Mayor Jordan: Council, we talked about this at Agenda Session. I would like to table this for two weeks until we work out the contract that we're going to be talking about next. If you would give me the latitude of tabling this for two weeks, we will bring it back to the next City Council meeting with a contract. Council Member Scroggin made a motion to table the resolution to the December 15, 2020 City Council meeting. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. This resolution was tabled to the December 15, 2020 City Council meeting. New Business: Bank of Fayetteville/Depot Lot Site: An ordinance to approve a contract with the Bank of Fayetteville, Greg House, Fayetteville Depot, LLC (and possibly Ted Belden) to purchase about one half acre in the Depot/Bank Lot for $350,000.00, to approve a lease -to -own arrangement with Greg House for the .2 acre lot on the north end of the Civic Plaza, to agree to convey to Greg House the ownership of about 14,000 square feet of the bottom floor of the city's public parking deck and other items, and to pass an Emergency Clause. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan: Wade Abernathy and Susan Norton have a presentation to give. Mr. House and Mr. Belden would like to make comments. I'm going to give them all 10 minutes in total to do that. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. We've done a whole lot of research and have worked on some designs that we've been able to share with you and the public over the last several months. The essence of this project turned from building replacement parking into an incredible opportunity for a shared place making redevelopment of some Downtown that could become an anchor for our 50 acre Cultural Arts Corridor on the north end. On the southwest is the new public library and at the very south end is a University of Arkansas School of Art. This entire area deserves that book end of a potential project that can unlock more economic development for that area. We sought the advice of several experts. We did our own research to make sure that the elements we brought forward to you could ensure this project would be a model for future public private partnerships in Fayetteville and with our partners, Greg House and Ted Belden to do that. We rely on Kit Williams to make sure the contractual provisions protect the city in the event that we have any 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 6 of 39 kind of issues moving forward. We have dived into it deep enough that we have a very sound project to bring to you tonight. Wade Abernathy, Bond Projects & Construction Manager stated in January of this year, Council approved the Mayor to sign a letter of intent with Sage Partners, LLC for the purchase of .6 acres for parking deck and a conveyance of .2 acres on the north side of the Plaza. He stated in January, Council approved an engineering services contract with Olson Engineering for the design of the replacement parking deck. He stated in May, Council was presented concept designs and contract terms individually and in June, schematic design drawings of the deck and updated contract terms were presented at an Agenda Session presentation. He continued to present more recent drawings of the design development. He stated the second floor through the sixth floor shows potential future additional parking spaces the developer might want to include. He stated the contract includes many of the individual Council Members requested terms. He stated it includes City Attorney Kit Williams additional terms that will best serve the city's interest. He stated some of the terms include a conservation easement for the historic portion of the train Depot, seven years' protection of the Arsaga's building with no build -over, enhancement to the Arsaga's building, an option to purchase the trail plaza section for the trail rail and future mobility hub, verbiage for the time frame for the seven years, and a lease purchase agreement on the north plaza space, which allows the city to maintain ownership of the property for four years after the completion of the deck and start of the Plaza. He stated the deck liner will include a 2,000 square foot PD substation owned by the city. He stated we have 300 spaces that includes 290 replacement parking spaces and a potential 31 more spaces by the developer. He stated there is verbiage to address timeframe for the sixth and seventh floor completion of 10 years, the Civic Plaza building designed to be acceptable by the city, and transit hub bus stops at Dickon and West Avenue. Ted Belden stated Greg House invited him to be involved in the project this Spring and he's excited to be involved in it. He stated he owns properties around this site and hopefully those properties will help attract some other people to the city with this other site. He spoke about having a very informed meeting with the Urban Land Institute. He stated this is a project that will be a catalyst for future development. He stated Greg and he anticipate that over $50 million new dollars will come into the city with these new projects, which will generate lots more property taxes and sales tax for the city and county. He stated with all the money the city's investing in the new Cultural Arts Corridor, he wants to make sure the city and other entities are involved in the programming of those elements. City Attorney Kit Williams: Thank you to Ted for his comments and Greg for his work. I did submit this contract to the City Council and also to Greg and Ted's Attorney. I have received some comments back from their Attorney. Some of the comments I'll probably try to incorporate within the contract. This contract is not ready to be approved tonight. I want to get it in a better form. I would like to have Greg and Ted, as well as the bank sign the contract before I present it to you in two weeks. Normally, that's what we do. We don't present a contract unless it's been signed and accepted by the person we're trying to contract with. I felt like we needed to get moving on this and that I could write a fair contract to both sides on what had been negotiated by Wade and Greg through many months. So, that's what I presented. However, I'm going to listen to the comments and consider the comments that were made on behalf of Mr. House and Mr. Belden. I will be 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 7 of 39 getting back to them and hopefully we can have a signed contract for the City Council in two weeks. Mayor Jordan: The City Attorney would like to wait two weeks on this contract? City Attorney Kit Williams: Yes. This is a very important decision for the City Council to make. It needs to get out into the public as much as possible, so that any feedback the public wants to give the City Council, they have opportunity to do that. This is $10 million dollars. I surely think it needs to wait until December 15, 2020 for a final decision. Council Member Turk: I don't think the public is aware that we are speaking about this tonight. I don't think there's been a lot of publicity and this is a very important topic. It's a lot of money. It's going to change Dickson Street forever. I hope we'll wait two weeks so the word can get out by the Democrat Gazette and Fayetteville Flyer so people are aware and can participate in the discussion. Mayor Jordan: Okay, we'll leave it right here. This ordinance was left on the First Reading. Express Intent for Trail Economic Development: A resolution to express the intent ,of the City Council to study and develop ordinances to regulate and promote trail economic development in the City of Fayetteville. Mary McGetrick, Long Range Planner: Staff has reviewed the comments from the Agenda Session and we've met with Council Members to review the report. I'd like to recommend this item be tabled until the first meeting in January, in order to make the requested revisions and provide some additional information that's been requested by Council. Council Member Turk moved to table the resolution to the January 5, 2021 City Council meeting. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 5-3. Council Members Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Gutierrez, and Kinion voting yes. Council Members Petty, Smith, and Marsh voting no. This resolution was tabled to the January 5, 2021 City Council meeting. Fayetteville Youth Center, Inc.: An ordinance to waive the requirements of formal competitive bidding and approve a contract between the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas and Fayetteville Youth Center, Inc. in the amount of $225,000.00 to provide public recreation services for the youth and citizens of Fayetteville for 2021. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 8 of 39 Connie Edmonston, Parks & Recreation Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. She stated this is an annual contract the city has had with the Fayetteville Boys & Girls Club since 1967. She stated the contract provides public recreation services for youth and citizens of Fayetteville. She stated the 2021 budget includes the $225,000 for this contract, which is the same funding amount for the past five years. She spoke about meeting with the Fayetteville Boys & Girls Director to determine if the needs of the citizens are being met in the most efficient manner with a working agreement. She spoke about the contract including new indoor and outdoor programs. She stated the Boys & Girls Club facility is designated as an emergency shelter. She stated the club provides transportation for summer YRCC programs and for spatial running or cycling events. Eric Schuldt, Fayetteville Boys & Girls Club Executive Director: We'd like to thank you for your ongoing support. We believe the partnership with Parks & Recreation continues to be strong and is a benefit to the citizens of Fayetteville. We believe our organization is an integral part of the fabric of our community. This past year has been a challenging year for everyone. I am so proud of our staff and their efforts. Many of them have served as frontline workers so that we could provide summer programs, after school care, recreation offerings, sports, and a small day camp in the Fall for virtual learners. We provided a place for children to go, whose parents had to return to work. It has been tough on us financially. Our participation, specifically the after school program, has dropped. This is a national trend with Boys and Girls Clubs and youth serving centers. This has created a budget deficit for us in 2020 and 2021. While we have reduced attendance in our programs, costs are more than you would think because we have to work differently during the pandemic. We have to put kids into cohort groups and this requires us to have more staff. We're going to do our best to keep our reliance on the city to a minimum while providing a great value to the community. Council Member Smith moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Smith moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6381 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas: An ordinance to waive the requirements of formal competitive bidding and approve a contract between the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas and the Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas in the amount of $109,080.00 to provide public recreation services for the senior citizens of Fayetteville for 2021. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar,gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 9 of 39 City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Connie Edmonston, Parks & Recreation Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. She stated this is an annual contract the city has had for the past 49 years to provide financial support for senior citizens at the Walker Park Senior Activity and Wellness Center and the Hillcrest Towers. She stated the $109,080 was included in the 2021 budget, which is the same amount as they had in 2020. She stated this agreement is similar to the contract in 2020 with an update of the performance measures by the Centers Directors. She stated the Walker Park Senior Centers building is designated as an emergency shelter for the city, due to its location and facility availability to assist in housing citizens. Mayor Jordan reminded everyone of the 10-minute presentation guideline. Chase Gipson, Walker Park Senior Center Director: As most businesses, we have had a challenging year. We have maintained services of our home delivered meals, essential taxi services, and curbside drive -through lunch. We continue to serve people every single day. The city funding relates mostly to our congregate and social recreational services that we provide in the center. Prior to being shut down in March. We're on pace for about a 20% increase in our social recreational and our congregate meals. It's been especially difficult on seniors and homebound seniors. We continue to try to meet their needs and will continue to do that in the months ahead. Angela Belford, Fayetteville Housing Authority Executive Director: I support this resolution. The Fayetteville Senior Center is important, to not only the community, but especially those of our residents that live in public housing. I'm not sure how Hillcrest Towers residents would be able to travel to their doctors' appointments. The shuttle service that the Senior Center runs is phenomenal. How they've handled the Meals on Wheels and COVID has been very responsive to the needs. I love working with the Senior Center and thank you for all that you do. Council Member Gutierrez moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6382 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 10 of 39 2021 Seven Hills Homeless Center Funding: An ordinance to waive the requirements of formal competitive bidding and approve a contract with Seven Hills Homeless Center in the amount of $113,400.00 for services to homeless and needy residents in Fayetteville in 2021. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer: This is the same contract we had last year at the same funding level. We all know the situation with the homeless in Fayetteville. This is a request to continue to help fund the Seven Hills Homeless Shelter, to keep open the daycare, and run the facility. Council Member Smith: Do we have anyone from Seven Hills present? Paul Becker: I did not ask anyone from Seven Hills to attend. I'll be happy to answer your questions, if I can. Council Member Smith: I was just going to ask if they request funds like this from any other cities and what they have received from our neighbors in Northwest Arkansas. Paul Becker: I do not believe they have received funds from other cities. Yolanda Fields, Community Resources Director: I'm not aware of any funding that's been provided by any other municipality to assist Seven Hills. Council Member Smith: That is unfortunate, but I'm glad that Fayetteville is here to step up and help keep this essential operation running. Council Member Smith moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan: Paul, how long have we been providing funds to Seven Hills? Paul Becker: I believe we got involved in 2017. At that point in time, Mayor Jordan and I were approached and there was consideration of having to close the shelter, which was in the winter period. With the Council's overwhelming support, they recommended we help assist Seven Hills to continue to keep the day center open so the homeless wouldn't be on the street. We talked to Seven Hills about them attempting to get private funding and they did get some private funding to help. However, they've been strapped ever since. Part of the terms of the contract is that they look 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 11 of 39 for outside funding. They need the assistance to keep the facility at the same level. We all know it's needed more than ever at this point in time. Mayor Jordan stated he appreciated the Council stepping up at that time because it was a situation where Seven Hills could be closing the doors, but the Council stepped in and provided funding to keep it going. He spoke about Council Members who were on the Council at that time. He stated it's important to keep it going and thanked everyone. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6383 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Mike Parker Cost Share Agreement: An ordinance to waive formal competitive bidding and approve a Cost Share Agreement with Mike Parker for construction of a sewer line along a portion of North Shady Lane and a portion of property North of West Holly Street with a refund in an amount not to exceed $40,885.19 to be paid by the City of Fayetteville for the cost of improvements that exceed the rough proportionality of the impact of the development, and to approve a project contingency in the amount of $8,177.04. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Timothy Nyander, Utilities Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated the item was presented to the Water, Sewer & Solid Waste Committee on November 10, 2020 and received a 4 to 0 approval to forward it to the Council with a recommendation for approval. He stated funds are available in the Water & Sewer Impact Fee Cost -Sharing account within the Water & Sewer Fund. Blake Jorgensen, Applicant's Representative: This is a great opportunity to work with the city and this is what partnerships are all about. I'm glad we have this one and another one on the agenda. We look forward to working with the city and we hope you all approve this. Council Member Gutierrez moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Kinion seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Gutierrez moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 12 of 39 Ordinance 6384 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk NWA LD, LLC Cost Share Agreement: An ordinance to waive formal competitive bidding and approve a Cost Share Agreement with NWA LD, LLC for the upsizing of a planned sewer creek crossing associated with Crystal Springs Subdivision Phase IV with a refund in an amount not to exceed $26,670.00 to be paid by the City of Fayetteville for the cost of improvements that exceed the rough proportionality of the impact of the development, and to approve a project contingency in the amount of $5,334.00. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Timothy Nyander, Utilities Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated the development requires an 8-inch sewer main to cross Clabber Creek and it would be in the best interest of the city to upsize this to a 12-inch sewer main to allow for future development. He stated the city would benefit from this as it will provide an extension of this 12-inch grid and the construction will be less expensive and less disruptive if performed by the developer's contractor during the construction of the subdivision. He stated the funds are available in the Water & Sewer Impact Fee Cost Sharing account within the Water & Sewer Fund. He stated the item was presented to the Water, Sewer & Solid Waste Committee on November 10, 2020 and it received a 4 to 0 approval to forward it to the Council with a recommendation for approval. Council Member Smith moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Kinion seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Smith moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6385 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk 23 W 5th Street QOZB LLC Cost Share Agreement: An ordinance to waive formal competitive bidding and approve a Cost Share Agreement with 23 W 5th Street QOZB LLC, for the extension of a sewer line near the corner of South Block Avenue and West 5th Street with a refund in an amount not to exceed $16,898.00 to be paid by the City of Fayetteville for the cost of improvements that exceed the rough proportionality of the impact of the development, and to approve a project contingency in the amount of $3,379.60. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 13 of 39 Timothy Nyander, Utilities Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated the city would benefit from this proposed cost share and provide an extension of the 8-inch sewer line and the construction will be less expensive and less disruptive if performed by the developer's contractor during the construction. He stated the funds are available in the Water & Sewer Impact Fee Cost Sharing account within the Water & Sewer Fund. He stated the item was presented to the Water, Sewer & Solid Waste Committee on November 10, 2020 and received a 4 to 0 approval to forward it to the City Council with a recommendation for approval. Blake Jorgensen, Applicant's Representative: This is similar to the previous request and we look forward to collaborating with the city on this project. City Attorney Kit Williams: I want to make sure we have the name of your client correct. Is it only, QOZB, LLC or is it 23 W. 5th Street QOZB, LLC? Blake Jorgensen: It includes that 23rd portion. City Attorney Kit Williams: The name of your client is, 23rd W. 5th Street QOZB, LLC? Blake Jorgensen: Yes, that's correct. City Attorney Kit Williams: Okay. Thank you. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6386 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Amend 50.40 Rates for Services: An ordinance to amend §50.40 Rates For Services of the Fayetteville City Code to change the commercial cart size from 95 gallon to 96 gallon and to enact a lease fee for those carts. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 14 of 39 Peter Nierengarten, Environmental Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated this is a relatively minor change to the ordinance that we manage for commercial trash rates and it helps us with some operational efficiency improvements at the Recycling & Trash Collections Division. He spoke about the cart sizes. He stated in order to standardize our inventory and try to use carts that we can repair, we're recommending we discontinue issuing the 9.5 gallon carts to our commercial customers and begin issuing them the green 96 gallon carts that also match the residential carts we currently use. He stated there would be no change to the monthly rate for the commercial customers for that additional gallon trash service they are receiving. He stated the only change is that instead of the commercial cart customers buying the 95-gallon cart from the city at the beginning of their service and subsequently if it's damaged and needs to be replaced, instead of them buying that, they would begin leasing the 96 gallon carts from the city at a cost of $2 per month. He stated the item was presented at the Water & Sewer Committee meeting on November 10, 2020 and it received a 4 to 0 recommendation from the committee. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6387 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk RZN-2020-016 (1011 S. Hollywood Ave./Watson): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 20-016 located at 1011 South Hollywood Avenue for approximately 1.3 acres from RSF-4, Residential Single Family, 4 units per acre to CS, Community Services. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated the request is very similar to one that Council recently approved. He stated the surrounding zoning is largely more intense than the existing RSF. He stated the parcel that Council approved just immediately across the street also has trail access. He stated this is an area that is rapidly redeveloping primarily for university related housing. He stated no issues were identified and there was no public comment. He stated it's in alignment with our future land use map. He stated Planning Commission and staff recommend approval. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 15 of 39 Don Watson, Applicant: I appreciate your consideration of our ordinance for rezoning. Council Member Gutierrez: I have spoken to someone who has lived in this area for a while. I'm not sure if they're one of your tenants, but they are concerned about notification and getting ample time if they need time to move. Could you consider that as you're moving this forward? I feel like it's a very intense area of redevelopment and infill. I request that you have a good communication with your current people there. Don Watson: I was contacted by one of my tenants. I told them we had no plans to move forward with any kind of development. We're kind of old and out of the business. Our intentions are merely to position the property for future long term development. Council Member Gutierrez: Thank you, sir. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Smith seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6388 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk RZN 2020-019 (907 S. Hollywood Ave./Watson): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 20-019 located at 907 South Hollywood Avenue for approximately 0.3 acres from RSF-4, Residential Single Family, 4 units per acre to CS, Community Services. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated it's designated urban center area. He stated intense development is appropriate and anticipated high infill score. He stated it is well served with city services consistent with our land use map. He stated the Planning Commission and staff recommend approval. Don Watson, Applicant chose to not address the Council. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Kinion seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 16 of 39 City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Kinion seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Gutierrez: If we wanted to have a way to make a minimum notification for renters once their property gets rezoned so they can make plans, is that something at the city level we can do? City Attorney Kit Williams: I will need to think about that a little bit. You could potentially put something like that in the Unified Development Code and that would be for any rezoning. That's the way it would need to be handled, rather than zoning by zoning. If you want to try to put some sort of notification requirement in, then that will need to be adopted and then we can enforce it. Council Member Gutierrez: Thank you. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6389 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk RZN 2020-014 (SE of I-49 & Wedington Dr./Marinoni Farm): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 20-014 located Southeast of I-49 and Wedington Drive for approximately 112.85 acres from RSF-4, Residential Single Family, 4 units per acre; RMF-24, Residential Multi Family, 24 units per acre; R-O, Residential Office; and C-2, Thoroughfare Commercial to UT, Urban Thoroughfare and CS, Community Services. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated this is perhaps one of the most visible parcels of undeveloped ground in the City of Fayetteville. He stated the infill score ranges from three to four. He stated the Master Plan shows a number of Master Street Plan connections and trail connections. He stated the Planning Commission recommended approval on a split vote. He stated issues were the designated natural area infrastructure improvements, which should there be connections, and should that be worked out before more intense zoning is approved. He stated there was some written public comments, both in support of the rezoning, as well as opposition. Mayor Jordan: The applicant has 10 minutes for their presentation. Paula Marinoni, Applicant stated this is the Marinoni Farm for over 70 years. She stated we're excited about how things have unfolded over the last year with Centennial Park and the Markham Hill development. She stated the new 62 acre city trails park joins us on our east -west property 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 17 of 39 line on the south side of the property, which is about 3,000 feet. She stated we need the zoning on this property to be able to justify putting in the streets, which we have had Craft and Tull engineer for us, per the city's Master Street Plan and to be able to have something in place so that when people come, they're ready to go. She stated this is in line with what the city has asked for. She stated in the development guidelines of the 2040 Plan, there are six guidelines, and this meets five of them. She spoke about the guidelines. She stated this is an unbelievable opportunity for Fayetteville. She spoke about writing a three page statement that tells some of the history and how much effort has been put into positioning the property. She stated you could call her property Midtown because the west city limits are now over five miles west of us and the east city limits is over five miles east of us. She stated this is long overdue infill and it is not sprawl. She stated we will be making about a $4 million dollar commitment of the streets and the land. She stated the zoning follows the parcel because the streets may change. She stated the aerial photograph shows how our property beautifully presents itself to the highway and to Northwest Arkansas and to I-49 as a major north -south artery in the country. She stated people have mentioned the traffic and she would challenge anyone to come up with a piece of property in the city or anywhere in Northwest Arkansas that can move people faster than that property. She spoke about the easy ability of Cross Church having good flow of vehicles in and out of their parking lot. She stated this is due to the access road that's two lanes to a dedicated stoplight. She stated the way it is now without any improvements, that property can move traffic better than any place. She stated Steve Clarke wrote a letter, which said, it is time to allow the landowners to develop their property, just pure and simple. Council Member Smith: The traffic is going to be the biggest concern we hear in public comments tonight and the uncertainty of our development sequence. I'm looking at our Master Street Plan and I noticed there's a substantial strip of right-of-way that's unbuilt on the east property line. How will that play into those later phases as they get to the more detailed traffic planning parts? Garner Stoll: Are you talking about the east edge? Council Member Smith: Yes. It looks like an extension of Lonnie past Berry, that lines up there with Porter Road. There's a gap, but then there's another section between this property and the Heckathorn field. Garner Stoll: Unlike some other proposals, this particular parcel of ground has excellent access to arterial streets and the interstate. I view those proposed connections in the 2040 Master Plan, as well as the right-of-way on that east edge as desirable for convenience. I don't think they would be major entrance and exit points and I don't think that's the intent. They're more illustrated in the 2040 Plan to connect the existing neighborhood to the future neighborhood so people can walk or access the development. The more intense development to the west without getting on Wedington. Whether or not those are built, that's going to depend on a lot of things. I think there are more on the Master Plan to illustrate the desirability of connectivity. It may end up that a future Council will say that connectivity will be pedestrian or bicycle connectivity too. Council Member Smith: There's one major connectivity feature here that's missing. It would be where Persimmon west of the highway has a future planned overpass. That's a critical connection 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www,fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 18 of 39 for folks on the west side to be able to cross that big divide without having to interact with on - ramps and off -ramps and interstate traffic. That is not drawn in on our long range plans. Is that something as the development and engineering part happens that it could be included as a major connection that would direct traffic away from the neighborhoods on the east side or is that because it's not in our plan now? Would that be off the table? Garner Stoll: How to connect to the west is actively being discussed right now. Council Member Smith: Okay, thank you. Garner Stoll: There's an effort to try to figure out whether the underpass can be improved, or whether it would be more efficient to span the interstate with an overpass. We need the trail connection. That's a major trail connecting the university and the city with Centennial Park. That's an active ongoing exploration right now. Council Member Turk: To the east, I'm looking at image 51 of 54, there's a dotted blue line that goes from the west to the east and it travels to hook up with Cleveland. There's no right-of-way there. As far as I know, in order to have that road or access be built to the east side where most of the neighbors are, there would only be two options. Right? There would be eminent domain, or the landowner would have to sell their property for access there. I believe that's right by the Temple Shalom. Are those accurate statements? Garner Stoll: I believe you're correct. The right-of-way would have to be acquired. Angela Belford, Fayetteville Housing Authority Executive Director stated they also have their nonprofit FHA Development. She stated we have taken over operations of the property across the street from this on West End Avenue. She stated it's fantastic that the area is being developed. She spoke about flooding concerns. She wanted to know what is going to be the pedestrian access from the north to the south and what mechanisms the city might consider to alert drivers there's someone trying to cross. Garner Stoll: This scale development would be subject to all our stormwater retention and water quality requirements, which would be applied at the large scale or subdivision level, depending on what the use is. It won't be exempted from those requirements. Those will be applied at a later stage. Under Fayetteville's process, the development standards are applied at the next stage. With regard to the pedestrian crossing, I believe the intersection improves that. It makes a single point for the crossing and due to the city's participation, the project will add pedestrian bicycle facilities wider than the Arkansas Department of Transportation normally provides. Chris Brown, City Engineer: The off -ramp and the frontage road will be consolidated. So, we'll have a single signal and that will have full pedestrian heads. There are a lot of answers embedded in that question. With regard to transit, we have talked to Razorback Transit about the way they serve that area. They're kind of waiting to see how the interchange all comes together before they make any decisions about any changes to their bus stops. As that area develops and if there are demands for pedestrian crossings, we can work with ARDOT to create some safer pedestrian 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 19 of 39 crossings using pedestrian hybrid beacons and flashing lights. That's a little way out in the future. It just needs to be something to be considered as projects come through. Lisa Orton, 1663 West Tulsa Road stated the degree of rezone requested for the Marinoni property is not appropriate beside the natural area on the south boundary and beside the low density residential neighborhoods and Temple Shalom on its east boundary. She stated Temple Shalom are opposed to the rezoning and to any increased traffic that will increase the risk of anti-semitic vandalism. She spoke about the philosophies of RSF-4 zoning. She stated if we up -zone neighborhoods that do not want to be up -zoned and we send more traffic through neighborhoods that do not want it, then we are not allowing for diversity and are actually trying to eliminate it. She stated a single developer should have higher priority than the current residents in the neighborhood on how that neighborhood proceeds. She spoke about different visions for Fayetteville among residents and that they are in conflict. She spoke in opposition of the rezoning. Stanley Rest, 955 East Peel Street: I am the past president of Temple Shalom. If Cleveland were extended straight, it would be next to our parking lot. The noise would be much increased and affect our attempts to control our parking. We like the residential neighborhood and we're not opposed to the entire development, but when we were allowed to build there, we felt this would be a semi -secluded place for the temple. Extending Cleveland would change the environment around our temple. I'm opposed to several aspects of the development. Ed Baker, 2131 Lauren Circle: We live right on the back of the circle. We're on the eastern edge of this. How close is this going to be to the back of my house? Is there a consideration of Maple being an outlet? Maple runs right to the south of our circle at the bottom of Markham. If I'm not mistaken, that's city owned property at the end of Maple that used to be university owned. We are opposed to the development. Garner Stoll: I think the issue is the distance from the houses on Lauren Circle and Maple. Is that correct? Ed Baker: We live on the back of Lauren Circle. I'm trying to figure out what this development is going to be to the back of my house. Garner Stoll: The boundary line appears to be your property boundary line. The Community Services district would propose to zone to your property line. I believe your houses back on to that Community Services parcel. Ed Baker: That's what I was afraid of. I would rather see Mrs. Marinoni's horses that come up to my back fence. I don't want to see a building right back there. Council Member Turk: We received a lot of letters today. I'm surprised there's only four people speaking, but ,we had a large agenda tonight and it's during the holidays. This is the first reading. I hope we don't advance this tonight and will hold it right here. This is an exceptionally large piece of property that we're discussing with very few details on how it's going to be developed. I'd like to give other people an opportunity to be notified about this potential rezoning and be able to share some of their experiences or their opinions. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www,fayettevilie-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 20 of 39 Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. Council Member Turk, do you have any particular notification in mind, or simply holding it and letting the reporting bring attention to it? Council Member Turk: I don't know if there's the requirement. Garner, is it 250 feet where residents on Lauren Circle and some of the other in the Temple and the other neighborhoods are notified of this? Garner Stoll: Yes. The ordinance requires notification of the Planning Commission's hearing. That notification was made. Council Member Turk: They were clear that the Planning Commission was going to hear it, but there was no requirement for a second notification that it passed the Planning Commission and it's now at the City Council? Garner Stoll: The ordinance doesn't provide for that. Council Member Turk: Thank you for clarifying that. I would hope that the newspaper outlets would be able to advertise this a bit more. I don't believe that word has gotten out. If it got out, it was at the last minute because we received a lot of letters today. It's during the holidays and the COVID pandemic. All of those things make public input very challenging right now. There's quite a bit of concern about this rezoning and the impacts to the neighborhood with traffic and flooding. It needs to have a lot of consideration. I hope we would leave it on the first reading tonight. Council Member Smith: I wholeheartedly agree with that. I support some form of development here, but this is a big old piece of land to carry forward with such a dramatic change and not a better plan. This is a prime candidate for a PZD, and I know that comes with additional complications and costs. There's just a lot of connectivity concerns on all sides of this. This is a highly visible entrance to the community from north and south. It deserves to be treated right. I hope given its scale, there is some flexibility to pursue that approach or more detailed plans and commitments on the street connections. Council Member Scroggin: I also want to see a PZD on this. I'm fearful if a car lot wants to go in here or the thing that's behind Harps. That would be without taking any contextual cues from the areas around it. I'm not sure if I would vote on it as is, but I definitely want a PZD. Mayor Jordan: What I'm hearing from the Council is that we need to let it sit at least two weeks and then bring it back. If there's not anyone opposed to that, then we will plan on holding this for two weeks and bring it back to the Council on December 15, 2020. This ordinance was left on the first Reading. RZN-2020-018 (310 & 325 N. Fletcher Ave./McDonald): An ordinance to rezone that property described in rezoning petition RZN 20-018 located at 310 and 325 North Fletcher Avenue for approximately 0.92 acres from RSF-4, Residential Single Family, 4 units per acre to RSF-8, Residential Single Family, 8 units per acre. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 21 of 39 City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated the RSF-8 allows 5,000 square foot smaller lots and 50 foot frontage, which is the major difference. He stated there are varying land uses surrounding this parcel. He stated there was public concern and comments discussed at Planning Commission about drainage and the character of the neighborhood. He stated Planning Commission and staff recommend approval. Allison Quinlan, Applicant's Representative gave a brief PowerPoint presentation. She stated we as a city should be proud of our forward looking growth policies. She stated the city is committed to making traditional town form and appropriate infill priorities. She stated even with significant effort given to policies to promote appropriate infill, we're neither keeping up with the number of new units required to match our population growth, nor an appreciable number of those units located in proximity to the jobs and services of Downtown. She spoke about demographics and historical neighborhood patterns. She spoke about the Walton Family Foundation housing report. She stated the report notes that 80,000 new households are expected to move into Northwest Arkansas in the next 20 years and at least half of our new units will need to be for workforce housing. She stated in order to provide affordable housing, we as a city need to provide new homes in the total purchase price of $150,000 to $360,000. She spoke about average neighborhood recent sales. She spoke about how rezoning property out of RSF-4 impacts the availability of attainable housing in the city. She stated she expects this project to improve the current storm water situation on site. She spoke about how the target workforce housing total purchase prices are to be achieved. She spoke about the surrounding land use being very diverse. She stated the pattern fits the context of the surrounding neighborhood well. She stated the zoning is appropriate for the site and appropriate for the needs of the city's housing demand. She stated the change that's being requested is much less intensive than many of the recent rezoning's and hopes Council will agree that it's an appropriate rezoning. Justin Minkel, 633 Crescent stated his backyard borders the lots being considered for the potential rezoning. He spoke about Fayetteville's rapid growth. He spoke about finding a balance between increasing density and preserving what makes his neighborhood such a wonderful place to live. He spoke about his neighborhood being different home prices and styles of homes. He spoke about drainage, runoff, and traffic concerns. He stated any change this extreme needs to be approached in partnership with the families who have chosen to live in this neighborhood. He stated he is opposed to the rezoning. Case Miner stated this notion that we're going to be keeping in line with what's there now, is not accurate. He stated setting a precedent for doubling the housing density of the area will drastically change the character of this neighborhood. He stated he doesn't feel like the Planning Commission addressed his issues when they voted to pass this up to the Council. He spoke about parking, traffic, and stormwater runoff concerns. He spoke about his basement flooding. He spoke about infrastructure concerns. Natalie Undernehr, 365 North Fletcher stated she is directly across the street from this property. She stated affordable housing is why she lives in this area, but $300,000 houses do not support affordability. She spoke about parking issues and traffic concerns. She spoke about pedestrian 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 22 of 39 safety. She stated adding the amount of houses in that area will get rid of trees in the Hilltop historic area and cause more water runoff as the roofs will add more non -porous surfaces to the mix. She spoke in opposition of the rezoning. Council Member Kinion: We should hold it here for the same reason as the other one. Just today, I got several emails on this, but otherwise, I don't think people are paying much attention. Council Member Marsh: I'm very much in support of the rezoning requests, but I agree we need to hold it and just make sure the community is aware. I would support leaving it on the first reading. Council Member Turk: It seems like there are quite a bit of drainage issues up there. If there is any additional information the city could provide, that would be very helpful. Things like flooding, any kind of manhole or other kind of information that would maybe shed some more light on the drainage issues we've been hearing from the neighbors. I'm in support of holding it right here. Mayor Jordan: We will get you that information. Council Member Turk: Thank you. Council Member Gutierrez: I want us to double check about sinkholes as well. Council Member Marsh: It's important we remember this is a land use rezoning request. These other issues will be addressed later on in the development process. Mayor Jordan: We will hold it right here for two weeks. If you need any other information you can email us or call us. This ordinance was left on the First Reading. Amend §33.341 Purpose and §33.342 Powers and Duties: An ordinance to amend §33.341 Purpose and §33.342 Powers and Duties of Article XXII Arts Council of the Fayetteville Code. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan: Council Member Marsh, you have this one? Council Member Marsh: Yes, thank you. I'm bringing this forward on behalf of the Fayetteville Arts Council. They've been working on this ordinance change for about a year now. They started by doing research on peer cities and aspirational cities that we thought had effective public arts programs. We incorporated language from those model ordinances into this one. The original charter of the Arts Council was very limited in scope and the committee, which is full of working artists in our community. They are trying to find a way to empower the Arts Council to take action towards building a healthy local arts economy and ecosystem. They're looking to provide advice and recommendations on areas they have specialized expertise. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 23 of 39 Council Member Turk: I'm looking at the powers and duties, on number two. It says to assist the city in using public art to enhance the built environment. This includes but it's not limited to the City Council and all city departments, committees, and advisory boards. Could you clarify what that means? Council Member Marsh: Let's say the Parks Department wanted to incorporate public art into the parks. They could come to the Arts Council for guidance, recommendation, and assistance for doing such things. Likewise, if the City Council is looking to purchase public art or receive a large piece of public art, the Arts Council would be there to assist with that as well. We have several of our committees that launch things. The Keep America Beautiful group does the public utility boxes and there's been a lot of concern in the creative community that previously those were not paid jobs. One of the things the Arts Council wants to do is to look for funding opportunities to help supplement those. The Arts Council is there to be a support and advisory board for any municipal entity that is looking to incorporate public art. Council Member Turk: How would the process work? Like your example with the Parks Department. Would the Parks Department be required to come to you all? Council Member Marsh: This doesn't require the Arts Council recommendation unless the project is over $5,000 for art. Why would they not come and seek the advice of experts in the field and supportive guidance in incorporating public art. It's empowering them to be there as a resource and provide guidance wherever they could be useful. Council Member Turk: Thank you so much. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff. Mayor, just as soon as you closed public comment, the Arts Council Chair raised his hand. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Scroggin: Did the Arts Council Chair want to speak? City Attorney Kit Williams: Yes. According to your rules, he can only speak if the City Council by unanimous consent or majority vote allows him to speak now. Council Member Scroggin: Is that because he missed public speaking? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www,fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 24 of 39 City Attorney Kit Williams: Yes. Public speaking was closed. You do have something in your rules that says the City Council can still allow a person to speak, which it requires unanimous consent or if there's any objection, a majority vote. City Council granted the Arts Council Chairman to speak. Robert Stafford, Fayetteville Arts Council Chairman thanked Council Member Marsh for sponsoring the ordinance. He thanked the Arts Council members for their work on the ordinance. He stated they looked at over a dozen other cities with what they've done. He stated we tried to come up with a simple document that made sense. Mayor Jordan: Thank you, Bob for all your hard work. Council Member Gutierrez: Thank you to Council Member Marsh for her work and leadership to bring a Council Member to that committee and help lead the creative economy in a good direction as we look to bring the Cultural Arts Corridor online. This is going to be a really important committee as we start to see that come to fruition. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff: Thank you very much, Council Member Marsh. Council Member Marsh: Thank you. I want to thank the committee. They formed subcommittees and had a lot of special meetings. We used to have a big issue with the Arts Council not being engaged, but our current group of members has worked very hard. They've worked on grant funding rubric, as well as launched some opportunities for artists in the community. I look forward to seeing what that committee does next year when there's a new Council Member on it. Mayor Jordan: I certainly agree with those comments. You've done a wonderful job on the Arts Council. Thank you for your work. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. Ordinance 6390 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Enact Article XXXI Community Development and Assistance Programs Advisory Board: An ordinance to enact Article XXXI Community Development and Assistance Programs Advisory Board in Chapter 33 Departments, Boards, Commissions and Authorities of the Fayetteville Code. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Mayor Jordan: I believe this was yours, Council Member Smith. Council Member Smith: Yes, Mayor. This came from some review of peer cities. The closest of which being Fort Smith. The primary intent is to allow our community to be more involved in the 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www,fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 25 of 39 disbursement of Community Development Block Grant funds and also to bring better visibility to the assistance programs that our city offers from CDBG and other sources. We occasionally hear that organizations that want to access or apply for those funds have a hard time getting a handle on the process. Hopefully this sets them up with a regular recurring and frequent interaction where they can keep up with that better and have more of an opportunity to get involved. The membership was outlined based on the eligible uses for CDBG money, but you'll see that the powers and duties include other things beyond that. This year we saw other assistance programs from the endeavor grant for rental assistance. As opportunities like that come up, I would like for the group to be involved in seeking those opportunities and making the most of them. The other main feature of this advisory committee that may be different from the others is the intentional inclusion of board members who may benefit from the services. I did receive some questions from members of the public about why we didn't specifically include people experiencing homelessness and one of the reasons that is not a reserved spot in the membership, is the goal of eliminating homelessness so there would be no one eligible in our community to serve that role. Instead, I focused on people who are the next in line closest to that experience and those are the direct service providers. The expertise, not only for meeting the needs, but their operational needs as an organization to facilitate assistance. Angela Belford, Fayetteville Housing Authority Executive Director stated she was bursting with pride that there's a City of Fayetteville resolution that includes the Northwest Arkansas continuum of care goal to end homelessness. She spoke about the important role that the City of Fayetteville plays in the Continuum of Care. She stated Yolanda Fields brings an incredible amount of expertise when it comes to HUD. She stated when you look at how CDBG is currently allocated, we would love to see a more progressive use of CDBG that would match the leadership the City of Fayetteville has provided and the commitment they have to homelessness. She spoke about CDBG Public Facilities grants. She spoke about housing as infrastructure and it could be that CDBG is a major opportunity to fund housing, especially housing development. She stated putting this committee in place at this time in our nation's history is going to be looking forward and be ready for exactly what is needed as the nation recovers from the pandemic. She thanked the city for the rental assistance program which prevented a lot of people from losing their housing. Sarah Moore, Fayetteville citizen thanked Council Member Smith for bringing the item forward and the thoughtfulness of looking to see what other areas of the country were doing. She spoke about goals with the Continuum of Care to end homelessness. She stated the pandemic has stretched all of us in the community that have been trying to be a safety net for our vulnerable community members. She spoke about economic recovery. She spoke about federal grants. She stated she is very supportive of the ordinance. Kathleen Everitt, Director of Real Estate Investors of Northwest Arkansas. She stated this is very exciting to see the positive action being taken on creating steps for more affordable housing. She recommends Council to consider including small builders, small investors and small developers on the board. She stated we are the stakeholders who are working directly with the individuals who are using, looking for and need more affordable and low income housing. She stated it's our vision to work towards more public private projects and ventures. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 26 of 39 Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Marsh moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Gutierrez: Thank you to Council Member Smith for his leadership on this. It's a great direction that we are going to help assist CDBG. Mayor Jordan: Thank you Council Member Smith for bringing this forward. This is an important step for us. Council Member Smith: Thank you. It should be a point of pride for our community that we have many people who are committed to tackling our homelessness and poverty issues. The fact that they want to get involved and help lead, means it's a problem we can tackle. This is an opportunity to nurture and support that grassroots leadership. Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously,. Ordinance 6391 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Short -Term Rental Regulations: An ordinance to amend § 118.01 Applicability of Chapter 118 Business Registry and Licenses, Chapter 151 Definitions, Chapter 161 Zoning Regulations, § 162.01 Establishment/Listing of Chapter 162 Use Units, and Chapter 163 Use Conditions of the Unified Development Code to classify the types of short-term rentals and create regulations to permit and inspect the rentals. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Garner Stoll, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He stated staff is very pleased to bring this draft to Council for consideration. He stated there was a state law passed recently saying that if all rentals less than 30 days are subject to HMR taxes, which this facilitates collection of that important tax. He stated the benefits to having short-term rentals are economic development, they produce sales tax, provide choices for our visitors, and provide income for owners and operators. He stated there are problems associated with short-term rentals. He stated they can turn into party houses, they are sometimes over occupied, and they create parking problems in neighborhoods. He stated the city received a lot of public input. He spoke about a focus group that was created and they met three times with good attendance. He stated there was unanimous recommendation from the focus group that there is a need for an ordinance. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 27 of 39 He stated they believe that these users are here to stay. He stated the hotel and motel owners are very interested in leveling the playing field and the ordinance tries to do that. He stated it sets up a business license, safety inspections, and a method to make sure they pay the same taxes the hotel and motel users do. He stated there was concern about neighborhood compatibility, which the ordinance addresses that through occupancy cap and the ordinance addresses if you don't live in the short-term rental. He stated the Planning Commission had two public hearings and they made recommendations for changes, which their recommendations are included. Mary McGetrick, Long Range Planning/Special Projects Manager gave a brief description of the ordinance. She stated a short-term rental is generally the leasing of a furnished residential dwelling on a short-term basis less than 30 days. She stated pre COVID, it was estimated there were about 500 to 600 STR units in the city limits, which we don't have specific rules governing STR's at this time. She spoke briefly about the general standards. She spoke about the types of short-term rentals. Mayor Jordan stated staff was out of presentation time and Council could grant additional time if they choose. Council Member Turk: I'd be happy to give Mary an additional three minutes. Mayor Jordan stated no one disagreed and gave Mary three more minutes. Mary McGetrick stated the density cap only applies to Type 2's. She stated it's a 2% density cap on all the dwelling units in the city limits and the total dwelling units are determined from either the current Census Bureau or American Community Survey numbers, whichever is higher. She stated Type 2 short-term rentals, commercial and mixed use zoning districts where hotel and motels are permitted by right, do not count towards the city wide density cap. She stated this addresses concerns with housing availability because even pre COVID, we hadn't really met that density cap and we probably won't for some time, but it will increase as the population increases. She spoke about providing a six-month grace period for all the short-term rentals in the city to come into compliance. She spoke about the conditional use process. Council Member Bunch: To qualify for the Type 2, they have to have proof that they've been renting it and breaking the law in the past? Mary McGetrick: Yes. Council Member Bunch: We're going to give them a six-month grace period? Mary McGetrick: Yes. Council Member Bunch: But someone who is considering doing this with their house, cannot apply during that six months? Mary McGetrick: They can. In that six-month period, if you had a Type 2 or you were anticipating doing a Type 2, you could apply for conditional use permit if you haven't previously 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 28 of 39 been operating. It's a way to bring people into compliance, but it's not to say in that six-month period if you wanted to initiate a Type 2 use that you could not submit an application to Planning Commission and go through the conditional use permit process. Council Member Bunch: Okay. Garner Stoll: Given the number of rental units that are presently operating and to request that they all go through a conditional use permit when we have no evidence of any complaints, would flood the Planning Commission. We found this typical of startups for virtually every short-term rental we looked at. There's a period for asking the existing short-term rentals to meet the city requirements, which in our case, is a business license and a safety inspection. Council Member Bunch: When we're talking about the number of units and the language said duplex, triplex, and fourplex were not part of a complex, what does that mean? Mary McGetrick: If you have a Type 2 and you apply for a conditional use permit, we're trying to avoid an apartment complex renting out 30 of their units as short-term rentals during large events. It would limit the amount of multifamily units and a multifamily complex could have. For example, a multifamily dwelling complex could only have two dwellings that could be considered Type 2 rentals. You could not get a conditional use permit for a third dwelling within a multifamily complex. Council Member Bunch: Let's say I have four duplexes that are all right together. Is that considered a complex or what? Mary McGetrick: It says individual, two family, three family, and four family buildings, which are not part of a complex, cannot have more than one Type 2 rental unit per building complex. I take that to mean if you had a duplex, you could only have one short-term rental. Council Member Bunch: In each building? Mary McGetrick: Yes. Garner Stoll: This also goes towards leveling the playing field. These are not zoned commercially like hotels and motels. How do you prevent an apartment complex through this process becoming a hotel and motel? This provision is trying to address that issue. Council Member Bunch: I know someone who has four duplexes who rents them out by the month furnished, but would possibly like the option to rent them out for maybe less than a month. This reads almost as if you cannot do that. They're not looking to run a hotel, their just looking to rent out a couple of units. So, they could have one unit in each duplex? Mary McGetrick: Yes. Council Member Bunch: Would they have to have a conditional use for that? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 29 of 39 Mary McGetrick: If they live in one of the units like the adjacent unit, they would not have to. If it was a duplex and the owner lived adjacent, they would not be considered a Type 2, but if they rented the adjacent unit long-term and then the other unit was a short-term, then it would be considered a Type 2. Garner Stoll: The way the ordinance is written, is if they can show they can get the homestead exemption, they would be Type 1. Council Member Marsh: I understand how that limitation works when the complex is owned by one entity, but what about when we're talking about condo buildings and you have multiple owners. Who gets first dibs? If you've got six different owners that each want to have their units that they bought to come up here for game days and they want to rent it as Type 2 other times, who decides who gets to have the short-term rental and who doesn't? Garner Stoll: The ordinance presently says that you can only have two for the complex, but they could request the Planning Commission to grant more. The Planning Commission is authorized to review the ordinance and grant exceptions. Council Member Marsh: If I own a condo in a building and two other owners have theirs. They've gotten their business license to do this. So, the burden would be on me as the person wanting the third unit in the complex to go to the Planning Commission and have that special variance? Garner Stoll: Yes, that would be my interpretation of the ordinance. Council Member Marsh: What happens if the other two people with the licenses aren't using them? Is there any expiration or anything you could file that says they're not using their license? Garner Stoll: Yes, there is. The business license is renewed every year. If they allowed that to lapse, it would then not be considered currently operating short-term rental. Council Member Marsh: Well, that would be if they allowed the license to lapse, but even if they're paying their licensing fee, they may not actually have been using it as a rental. Garner Stoll: That's true. Council Member Bunch: Wasn't there something where we said you had to have it rented at least once a year or something like that? You had to have proof you actually used it as a STR to keep the permit? Mary McGetrick: Yes, we discuss that. I think it's a good option. If you let your license lapse or you have to renew your business license every year anyway. If you couldn't prove that you had rented it for a certain amount of time as a short-term rental in the past year, then you could not renew your business license as a short-term rental. We had discussed that. It's not part of the ordinance now. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 30 of 39 Council Member Bunch: Maybe something like that might help with what Council Member Marsh was talking about where people come in and buy up the ability to have short-term rentals, but then they're not using their property as short-term rentals. That only applies if it's in certain parts of town, like the Downtown area, which allows hotels and motels anyway. This would not apply to them if they were in that type of zoning? Mary McGetrick: Yes. Council Member Bunch: How often does the Planning Commission review conditional use permits? Garner Stoll stated it's very common. He gave a brief description about conditional use permits. Council Member Bunch: If someone was wanting to do this and they had to get a conditional use, what would be the cost for the conditional use permit? Garner Stoll: I believe the application fee is $25. Mary McGetrick: It is. Garner Stoll: There's a notification requirement of 200 foot surrounding property owners, which is probably the biggest requirement or the most difficult requirement to meet is the notification. The timeframe in Fayetteville is 30 to 45 days. It's a quick review. Council Member Turk: I'm slightly concerned about the limit of two units in a multi -housing complex. Was there any discussion about a ratio? If you've got two units and there's only eight total, but if you've got a big apartment complex that's got 50 in it and you've only got two out of 50, that changes things quite a bit. I did not participate in any of the focus groups. Was that issue discussed and how did you all come to just the two limit? Garner Stoll: I can go pull earlier drafts up. I think we did have a percentage occupancy. There were substantial concerns that apartment complexes needed to operate as apartment complexes and hotel and motels needed to operate as hotels and motels, which have completely different safety, access, and egress. They are more expensive to operate and secure, but that's something the Council could take a look at. Do you want to go back to a percentage of the complex? Council Member Turk: I'm not familiar enough with how large of complexes we have here. I don't know how that would kind of shake out in terms of the data. It would be interesting to investigate and see what proportionality that would end up with. It is important to limit the number there and those are points well taken, but I could see some challenges. Garner Stoll: We'll go back and take a look at that and see what we had earlier proposed. Council Member Turk: Thank you. I don't know where we'll end up with this tonight, but I have several people I know that have short-term rentals that are adjacent to their primary residence. They're not connected. They're separate lots or there a couple of houses down the street, but those 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www,fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 31 of 39 function right now as a short-term rental Type 1, rather than a Type 2. There's a great deal of oversight by those owners and right now the way things are written, they would all be thrown into a Type 2, which I don't think is a reasonable designation because they're functioning much more like Type 1. I would ask prior to making any formal amendment, that you all reconsider how to handle those. I feel like there's a great deal of oversight. If there are any problems, the neighbors would certainly complain to the owner and it would be resolved quickly. I ask that you go back and look at that if possible and find a medium area. Garner Stoll: We will. Thanks for the heads up this morning on that issue. If you are presently operating a Type 2, it's treated as a Type 1 if you go ahead and get your business license during the grace period. Council Member Turk: I realized that and there might be some reasons to only designate them as Type 1. I don't think we would like a developer to come in here and scoop up all of the rental property. There are some considerations we need to make. The note I sent to you, I capped it at three and gave it a radius around there. I'm open to ideas to make sure we are able to achieve that proper balance. Garner Stoll: It could become a loophole, I think. We'll certainly take a look at it. Council Member Turk: Thank you. I appreciate it. Council Member Marsh: I have some issues with the item Council Member Turk just brought up. One of my primary reasons for supporting this type of ordinance is importance of preserving long-term rentals. It's not about the supervision of someone living in the neighborhood that's renting it. It's more about having the smaller units available as long-term units. I would like to see the classification of Type 1 and Type 2 stand. I do have some concerns. I noticed it says that these have to be permanent residential dwellings. I wonder how this would apply to something like the airstream trailers along our trail corridor and the opportunity to expand programs like that. Those are not permanent residential dwellings, but they serve a niche market for Airbnb. What are your thoughts on that and how will those be handled? Mary McGetrick: We have an exception allowance in the ordinance. If you had an airstream park or whatever it is that the people are doing for these different kinds of niche markets, you could apply for an exception and conditional use permit to Planning Commission for approval. While you couldn't go for a straight Type 2 and a conditional use permit, you could apply for an exception and get that approved through Planning Commission. You could do that within a six-month grace period. If you were operating the airstreams that are operating now, they could apply for an exception now or as soon as the ordinance is enacted and not have to wait. There wouldn't be any penalty for them to go through the process immediately. Council Member Marsh: Is there room for more of those types of units to come online or would they be limited by this ordinance and the requirement that they'd be permanent residential dwellings? 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 32 of 39 Mary McGetrick: Once you set a precedent of granting an exemption to those types of uses, I don't see any reason why different businesses or owners couldn't continue to apply for exceptions. I don't think there's anything limiting exceptions for different kinds of uses. It's a pretty general exception standard in the ordinance now. Council Member Marsh: What would the criteria be for approving such exemptions and has that been established? Mary McGetrick: Right now, it's a Planning Commission process. Council Member Marsh: What criteria would they be considering or allowed to consider. Garner Stoll: The one example that there is an airstream operating as a short-term rental right now and we've been contacted about that. I believe that did go through an exception process to the Planning Commission in order for it to be legal. The ordinance generally has language about compatibility and fitting into the neighborhood and not causing traffic or other problems. I don't know if there are any specific regulations that would give you foothold to say this one meets the requirements, but there are general recommendations in the ordinance that the Planning Commission uses to make sure the conditional use permits fit into the neighborhood. They can also add conditions. Council Member Bunch: Lots of places have airstreams and little travel trailer homes you can rent, but they're usually on water and sewer or septic connections. If you're traveling in a trailer, you have a hose that you run out into a drain for your sewer connection. If it's going to be permanently in place and used as a short-term rental, I think it would need to have some sort of connection there. Council Member Marsh: If you're a retired couple and you travel in your RV nine months of the year and three months it's parked in your backyard; why would you not be able to rent that out as an ADU? Right now it doesn't seem like that would be a possibility without jumping through some regulatory hurdles without clearly defined what the criteria would be for allowing such things. While I think there's a lot of good things in this ordinance and it's headed in the right direction, I don't think it's quite there yet. Council Member Bunch: I do like the idea of letting people use their travel trailer or something like that. There's one in my neighborhood where the people have a pad, electric and water hookups for it and they're gone most of the time. When they come back, a family member stays in it part of the time and they hook it up. I don't know if they got a permit for that. They've been using it for a long time. There are places where people might use something that's sort of built as a garden shed like you would buy at Lowes and try and turn that into a cottage. I don't know how I feel about that. I don't feel like that's quite the same as a travel trailer. Council Member Marsh spoke about it needing to be safe and having sanitary conditions. She stated the infrastructure being in place makes a big difference. There was a discussion about holding the item for two weeks. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIIe-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 33 of 39 City Attorney Kit Williams stated he sent Council a memo to read. He stated this is a very good start of this ordinance, but it needs a lot of polishing. He spoke about problems with the definitions. He stated we need to make sure that when someone has one of these units and it's causing problems in the neighborhood that there's a way to bring it back to the Planning Commission to determine whether the conditional use that was granted by the ordinance initially has been violated and to check compatibility. He spoke about requirements to comply with the normal things for a conditional use. He stated leaving it here is probably a good idea. He stated there might be some proposals before the next meeting with suggestions to make the ordinance even better. Mayor Jordan stated the rules for the public to speak. Charles Goins, Fayetteville citizen stated it is extra work and hoops to jump through for the process of acquiring a license. He spoke about his house already having an inspection and he pays his taxes. He spoke about renting his house on the weekend to make extra money and feels the ordinance is going to push people back to hotels. Alex Reiney, Balboa Street stated some kind of guidelines do need to exist for Airbnb for short- term rentals, but the proposed ordinance seems like too much regulation. He spoke about safe and sanitary conditions. He stated Airbnb's are self-regulating with a rigorous review process. He stated he would like the ordinance to be simplified. Susan Norton, Chief of Staff spoke about citizens signing up to speak at the City Council meeting. Logan Humphrey, 122 West Meadow Street. He stated he has a business at 1722 North College and is representing the Arkansas Short -Term Rental Alliance. He spoke about owning a local short- term rental management company. He spoke about advocating for responsible renting from hosts to professionalize the industry, along with fair regulations. He stated he has some problems with the ordinance and has been involved with the process. He stated short-term rentals are executive fully furnished all utilities included properties that have been widely used in real estate for many years. He stated we are in favor of an ordinance being passed by the city to legalize properties. He stated there are some problems he sees with the ordinance. He briefly spoke about his concerns with the eight -person occupancy cap. He spoke about parties and parking. Greg Brown, Fayetteville Resident stated he is representing the Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors. He stated the Board of Realtors have concerns, but it appears from this reading that a lot of those concerns have been addressed. He stated there are serious constitutional concerns involved whenever dealing with property rights. He stated the Arkansas constitution states that the right of property is before and higher than any constitutional sanction. He spoke about an ordinance having similar language in Austin, Texas that led to litigation. He spoke about Freedom of Assembly. He stated the proposed ordinance language needs polishing. Patti Kymer, Little Rock resident stated she owns a home in Fayetteville. She voiced her support for the short-term rentals. She stated her short-term rental is kept in good shape and hosted by her management team that takes care of everything. She stated having a place to stay in a local home in a residential area gives a good feel for Fayetteville to a renter She stated having her home as a short-term rental has been a win -win situation for her, as well as Fayetteville. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 34 of 39 Don McNaughton, 3689 West Bowling Green stated he is President of the Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors. He believes this is an overreach of private property rights the way it's written. He stated it's unreasonable that they have to physically be present in one hour and being available 24 hours a day. He stated having an untrained civilian to respond on short notice to confront bad behaving tenants is a potential situation and law enforcement should be called. He spoke about his concerns with the way the ordinance is written on many issues. He stated the density cap is unfair. Pablo Pagliani, Fayetteville resident stated he is disappointed in the timing of this ordinance, specifically due to the COVID pandemic. He requested for a pause on this ordinance for people to voice their opinions. He stated his Airbnb is a matter of his livelihood. He stated he made a choice to do short-term rentals, but also has long-term rentals. He stated it provides a source of income while allowing him to have full control of his property, unlike the long-term rentals. He stated Airbnb's have to be kept in top notch condition and if it receives poor guest's reviews it will be removed from the platform. He requested for the item to be tabled. Melanie Chambers, Executive Broker at Re/Max Associates stated she has owned Airbnb's since 2008. She stated as a real estate professional that has sold numerous properties in Fayetteville for Airbnb's this extreme ordinance will severely hinder the sale of properties and also hinder customers with keeping their Airbnb's. She stated this ordinance will hurt Fayetteville. She stated people will shut down their Airbnb's and go to other towns, visit those restaurants, boutiques and spend their money. She spoke about sanitary and density cap regulations. She stated if you start passing stuff like this, you're going to keep people from buying investment property in Fayetteville. She stated what the city is requesting is very overreaching. She stated it is hard enough to sell Fayetteville because the city is not known as being business friendly. Fernando Guevara stated he lives in Fayetteville most of the time. He stated he owns long-term rentals and short-term rentals. He stated he is having a hard time understanding why we need the gaps in the number of short-term rentals. He spoke about the market regulating itself and the amount of work to keep things in great shape with his business. He stated a short-term rental is generally good for the neighborhood or the street it's located at. He stated if there is a short-term rental in the city that has repeat complaints about noise or parties, focus on those people. Kathleen Everitt, Adobe Street stated she's the Director of a group of real estate investors in Northwest Arkansas and the members on long and short-term rentals in Fayetteville. She supports efforts to make short-term rentals legal in the community. She stated she doesn't see that the city has a problem with short-term rentals. She stated perhaps a business registry would make more sense. She stated short-term rentals are better maintained than most of the housing in Northwest Arkansas. She stated she has had no parking and noise issues. She stated limiting the permanent structure takes away the fun. She requested for the ordinance to be tabled and to get more public input. Mayor Jordan: This is not going to be passed tonight. This is going to be held for at least two weeks, so people will still get more time to speak on it. Lisa Pagliani stated she agrees with a lot of things that had been said this evening from the public. She stated the ordinance should be tabled longer than two weeks for more work to be put into it 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www,fayetteville-ar,gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 35 of 39 and the public to weigh in. She stated the ordinance is overreaching and overbearing. She stated if there is any time to be extremely mindful and thoughtful about passing regulations that will impact income of local Fayetteville residents, it's right now in 2020 and 2021. She stated the worldwide pandemic has already financially hurt many. She stated to lose the ability to use property as an Airbnb would negatively impact her family, the Airbnb cleaner, and the person who manages the property. She spoke about inspection concerns. She spoke about Airbnb reviews. Mayor Jordan: This is the first reading of the ordinance. We're going to go two weeks and then go to the second reading of the ordinance. This ordinance can go another two weeks and then we would have a third reading. Susan Norton: We could possibly have several revisions in between. Mayor Jordan: There's obviously going to be revisions in between. I don't think anybody's trying to push anything through tonight. We have just begun the process. This could go on into January. Taylor Rayburn, Fayetteville citizen stated he owns Stay NWA. He stated he owns four Airbnb's and manages over 40. He stated he is in favor of an ordinance, but it needs to be a reasonable ordinance. He stated the ordinance is overreaching. He spoke about what he provides as a service to guests, which creates a more suitable option than a hotel. He stated when the city passes ordinances with these rules and restrictions, the majority of people you're affecting are not large investors and large development companies, they are Fayetteville residents. Max McAllister stated about 60 days out of the year he lives at 515 North Park Avenue and will retire there probably next year. He stated he is currently doing a short-term rental with the property. He stated short-term rentals are not the same thing as hotels. He stated as you drive down the street, you can usually tell which houses have long-term rentals and which don't. He spoke about density caps, noise sensors, and parking. Mark Haney, Bentonville resident stated he previously lived in Fayetteville. He stated he owns property in Fayetteville that serves both short-term guests and long-term residents. He stated he echoes what other property owners have mentioned already. He requested to know what was the reasoning behind the eight -person occupancy limit, regardless of the home size. He stated it seems counterproductive on the surface if we are allowing larger homes, but insisting they be marketed as smaller homes. Mayor Jordan: Garner, can you answer Mr. Haney's question about why we chose eight? Garner Stoll: It's simple. We have occupancy requirements for long-term rental. They're less than half of eight. The issue was to try to address over occupancy, where there are so many people staying there with lots of cars. We understand the two per bedroom, plus two. That's certainly an option that Council can consider, but it was trying to relay the occupancy we allow in short-term rentals, somewhat to what we allow our long-term rentals, which is very restrictive. Mark Haney stated that makes sense in terms of consistency with city policy. He stated as a long- term property owner, that's one policy that has never made sense to him, particularly in a town 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 36 of 39 with many college students. He stated it's also a policy where it's not enforced unless there are complaints from a neighbor. Council Member Turk: Mayor, could I suggest that we take a month and bring this back in January. It seems like we're going to have a lot of public input and there might be a lot of things that need to be considered a little bit more with this. Mayor Jordan stated Council needed to make a motion of their intentions. City Attorney Kit Williams: It will be heard in two weeks, unless there is a motion to table it longer. Council Member Scroggin: I'm okay with making a motion for that table. We need to look at the legality of this, but we need this. We didn't have any neighborhoods speak and that's a voice missing. I think they would be very upset to find out their neighbor could allow 12 people on a regular returning basis in a neighborhood. Council Member Bunch: Are you suggesting to table it until the first meeting in January? Council Member Scroggin: Yes, I'm fine with that and it seems like Council Member Turk was also interested in that as well. Council Member Kinion: I support waiting until January for the next discussion. Council Member Marsh: I'll no longer be here in January. It's important to remember that one of the primary objectives of this is to preserve housing affordability, options, and rentals. I heard the public comment talking about how they're making so much more money off of short-term rentals than they do long-term rentals and the economic case does support that. This is why we need the regulation to balance that out and make sure we still have long-term rentals available and that not all of our housing stock is bought up by out of town investors looking to turn a profit on short- term rentals, but that the people who want to live here have the opportunity. I think that's really important. I agree with their issues with the occupancy regulations. We need to look at the capacity of each unit. I like the idea of tying it to bedrooms, but we need to have limits on automobiles. I think it's moving in a good direction. Let's keep the priority preserving housing units for people who live here to the greatest extent possible. Council Member Smith: I also won't be here in January. If we're going to serve our purpose in preserving the public interest and pursuing our affordable housing goals that incentivizes taking more of them off the market is counterproductive to that. This was repeatedly called an overreach. Remind us what is the current state regulation for short-term rentals in Fayetteville. Garner Stoll: They are illegal, less than renting by the week or longer. All the daily rentals are illegal. State law requires HMR taxes to be collected and this provides a vehicle for doing that. The goal here was not to make it difficult. In fact, we really we're trying to do the minimal regulations in order to get people in the door, make sure they pay their taxes, and make sure it's safe. They're not inspected to present building code. Many of these are built in different eras. The 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteviIle-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 37 of 39 ordinance asks for a minimal ingress and egress safety inspection. A lot of valid points were made tonight, but I would like for folks to back up a little bit. We try to err on minimal regulations and almost to a fault compared to ordinances we find in other communities. Council Member Smith: Thank you for clarifying that because I heard a lot of calls to not pass this at all. I want to make it real clear that if something doesn't pass, the status quo is that all the people who spoke tonight talking about their history in short-term rentals are currently in violation of our zoning code. What is the fine for operating one of those under our current situation? City Attorney Kit Williams: It's a zoning violation and those are complaint driven. This would still be a complaint driven sort of situation. We haven't had to prosecute too many, but we have in the past had to prosecute for over occupancy because of the adverse effects on the neighborhood with too many cars and too many people. The neighbors were complaining. The City Prosecutor worked a long time to try to resolve that. He had to bring people in with a Prosecutor's Subpoena to require them to testify. In that particular case, the fine was $3,000. This was a long-term rental, not a short-term rental. The landlord probably still made plenty of extra money by having too many people in there, which was more money than we fined him. Our fines are very small and it's up to the Judge. Generally, that's not the best way to enforce this. There's other ways to enforce this. I'm going to have some suggestions for some alternatives on what we could look at. I think we can do this legally. Council Member Smith: I appreciate that. I want to implore the folks who are going to be back in January to keep in mind the reality of what they're asking for and to attempt to focus their comments in a way that helps the Council find a reasonable regulation, as opposed to an unknown Judge determined fine for doing what they've been doing all this time. I want to respond to the assertion that this might somehow open the door to long-term rental habitability inspections. While the State of Arkansas currently has made clear that's not an option, but if we could because that is a public safety issue and providing this minimal inspection on this for people who are out of town, we ought to be able to provide at least that for our permanent residence. Currently, folks who receive housing assistance through HUD funding get their rentals inspected and folks who pay their own way, do not, and that's something that needs to change. Council Member Bunch: I appreciate Council Members Smith and Marsh's comments. The City Attorney asserted he was going to come up with some simple solutions. We need to try and keep this as simple as possible if we're going to do this, but I don't like the implication we're going to start slapping fines on people because they're breaking a zoning ordinance. There are a lot of people doing this. It seems like people should be able to do whatever they want as long as they're not creating a problem in the neighborhood. Most people don't think about the zoning that their house is in. I'm not too keen on threatening people. We found out in the focus group that people did not know they were breaking a law. Council Member Smith: That's an excellent point. I sincerely hope that's not the way this ends and it's a productive conversation where everybody's moving towards a goal. Council Member Bunch: We didn't have a whole lot of people from neighborhoods. One of the people that spoke about this was Will Dockery. He said, there are several Airbnb's on his street 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 38 of 39 and I believe he had no problem with them. He's someone who is always very active and engaged in the city. Council Member Turk moved to table the ordinance to the January 5, 2021 City Council meeting. Council Member Scroggin seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, Gutierrez, Marsh and Kinion voting yes. Council Member Petty was absent during the vote. This ordinance was tabled to the January 5, 2021 City Council meeting. Coronavirus Safety Protections and Improvements: An ordinance to clarify that Coronavirus Safety Protections and Improvements may be required before renewing a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, and to approve an Emergency Clause. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. City Attorney Kit Williams: I wrote this ordinance because Mayor Jordan and Susan said, we've got somebody wanting to get the carriage rides going again. Mayor Jordan: I would not sign off on the carriage rides because I felt like it was not safe. City Attorney Kit Williams: I appreciate that. Looking at the code, I felt like we should have it clearly in the code that we can require these emergency Coronavirus safety precautions in order for someone to continue with their Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. Mayor Jordan: I didn't feel comfortable signing off on it. The numbers are going up across the state. I wanted to be sure that if we were going to do carriage rides, it would be done safely. If they weren't going to be done safely, I wasn't go to sign off on it. I'm more comfortable with the safety regulations. City Attorney Kit Williams: I think you did the right thing. Council Member Smith moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, Gutierrez, Marsh and Kinion voting yes. Council Member Petty was absent during the vote. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, Gutierrez, Marsh and Kinion voting yes. Council Member Petty was absent during the vote. City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance. 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar,gov City Council Meeting Minutes December 1, 2020 Page 39 of 39 Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed 7-0. Council Members Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, Gutierrez, Marsh and Kinion voting yes. Council Member Petty was absent during the vote. Council Member Marsh moved to approve an Emergency Clause. Council Member Gutierrez seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members Scroggin, Bunch, Turk, Smith, Gutierrez, Marsh and Kinion voting yes. Council Member Petty was absent during the vote. Emergency Clause Approved Ordinance 6392 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk Announcements: Kara Paxton, City Clerk Treasurer: We've already had one Council Member contact the City Clerk office in order to volunteer to be with us on Friday afternoon to do the records destruction. We need to have one or two more, so that four to five -hour time period can be split up amongst more Council Members. If you have an availability on Friday afternoon from 1:00 p.m. to possibly 5:00 p.m., please get in contact with our office so we can get that scheduled and set up. Thank you so much. Mayor Jordan: Good work tonight, Council. That was a huge agenda and you did really well. City Council Agenda Session Presentations: Sales Tax Report - Paul Becker Energy Report - Peter Nierengarten Adjournment: 11:03 p.m. .•��yGt r: R K'I ��. c,1TY p'•'�s'�. R FAYETTevlLL Kara axton, City Cl k Treasurer= pry .. '.� SON+�D%,►� 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov