HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-03 - Minutes -Council Member Sonia Harvey
Ward 1 Position 1
Council Member D'Andre Jones
Ward 1 Position 2
Council Member Sarah Moore
Ward 2 Position 1
Council Member Mike Wiederkehr
Ward 2 Position 2
Mayor Lioneld Jordan
City Attorney Kit Williams
City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton
City of Fayetteville Arkansas
City Council Meeting
January 03, 2023
City Council Meeting Minutes
January 03, 2023
Page 1 of 35
Council Member Scott Berna
Ward 3 Position 1
Council Member Sarah Bunch
Ward 3 Position 2
Council Member Teresa Turk
Ward 4 Position l
Council Member Holly Hertzberg
Ward 4 Position 2
A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on January 03, 2023 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.
Oaths of Office:
Kit Williams, City Attorney
Sonia Harvey, Council Member Ward 1
Sarah Moore, Council Member Ward 2
Scott Berna, Council Member Ward 3
Teresa Turk, Council Member Ward 4
Judge Casey Jones administered the oaths of office.
PRESENT: Council Members Sonia Harvey, D'Andre Jones, Sarah Moore, Mike
Wiederkehr, Scott Berna, Sarah Bunch, Teresa Turk, Holly Hertzberg, Mayor Lioneld
Jordan, City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan
Norton, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, Staff, Press and Audience.
Pledge of Allegiance
Mayor's Announcements, Proclamations and recognitions: None
City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports, and Discussion Items:
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City Council Meeting Minutes
January 03, 2023
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Election of Vice Mayor
City Attorney Kit Williams gave each Council Member a memo quoting their Rules of Order
and Procedure and explained how the Vice Mayor should be elected.
Council Member Turk nominated Sarah Bunch for Vice Mayor. She believed Council Member
Bunch had done an excellent job over the past year.
Mayor Jordan closed the floor for nominations.
Council Member Turk moved to nominate Council Member Bunch as Vice Mayor. Upon
Roll Call Council Member Bunch was elected as Vice Mayor unanimously.
Council Member Sarah Bunch was elected as Vice Mayor.
2023 City Council Committee Appointments
Mayor Jordan stated Chief of Staff, Susan Norton, had already contacted the Council Members
in regard to their committee assignments. He read the assignments for each committee.
City Attorney Kit Williams: When you called the roll for the Vice Mayor, you did not call
Council Member Hertzberg. She is participating by zoom. Even though the vote has been taken,
she should have a chance to vote.
Mayor Jordan: Absolutely. Excuse me, Council Member Hertzberg, for that error. How would
you care to vote?
Council Member Hertzberg: I would like to vote for Sarah Bunch. Thank you, Mr. Williams.
A copy of the report is attached.
Report of Firemen's and Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Mayor Jordan presented the report on the Firemen's Pension and Policemen's Pension to the City
Council.
A copy of the report is attached.
Monthly Financial Report
Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer gave a summary of the Monthly Financial Report. He stated
that overall, the General Fund revenue was up 12%. He based next year's budget on being up 12%
to 13%. He believed we were on par for revenue for next year. He stated Street Fund was doing
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City Council Meeting Minutes
January 03, 2023
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well and the total revenue was up 15%. He stated parking fees were up 15% and noted we had
been changing out all the parking meters so our expenses were up but the revenue was coming
back well. He stated HMR taxes had been strong and we were up 19% compared to last year. He
pointed out to the new Council Members that HMR taxes were used for the development of parks
and the maintenance on the parks. He stated Water and Sewer billings were up 18% and that the
city had write-offs this year for bad debt but that the revenue itself was up 18%. He stated that
Trash and Recycling was down at the beginning of the year but that it came up and was now flat.
He stated Airport sales were up and that fuel was up roughly 44% compared to last year, so fuel
was doing well. He stated Airport Operations were stable. He stated our revenue expenses through
the month of November had been stable and he expected the city to close out the year well. He
stated the revenue estimates for next year were holding at this point in time.
Amenda Additions: None
Consent:
Approval of December 20, 2022 City Council Meeting Minutes.
Approved
Recognizing Revenue from the Court Automation Fund: A resolution to approve a budget
adjustment in the amount of $20,000.00 recognizing revenue from the Court Automation Fund, to
authorize the purchase of ten court video security cameras, four desktop computers and one printer
for the Court operations in the amount of $13,411.00, with the remaining funds to purchase
equipment as needed.
Resolution 01-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Bid #22-55 Kusser Graniteworks USA, Inc.: A resolution to award bid #22-55 and approve the
purchase of materials for the Civic Plaza Water Feature from Kusser Graniteworks USA, Inc.
DB/A Kusser FountainWorks in the amount of $1,102,434.00 and to approve a budget adjustment.
Resolution 02-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Construction Materials and Bad Debt Expense Accounts: A resolution to approve a budget
adjustment in the amount of $325,000.00 for the Construction Materials and Bad Debt Expense
Accounts within the Water and Sewer Fund.
Resolution 03-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Tomlinson Asphalt Co.: A resolution to award Bid 422-27 and authorize a contract with
Tomlinson Asphalt Co. in the amount of $2,178,659.65 for construction of the Industrial Drive
Extension Project, to approve a project contingency in the amount of $218,000.00, and to approve
a budget adjustment.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
January 03, 2023
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Resolution 04-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc.: A resolution to approve Amendment No. 2 to the
Engineering Services Agreement with McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. in the amount of
$132,690.00 for bidding services, construction phase services and materials testing associated with
the Industrial Drive Extension Project, and to approve a budget adjustment.
Resolution 05-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Structural Preservation Systems, LLC: A resolution to waive competitive bidding and authorize
a Design -Build Contract with Structural Preservation Systems, LLC. in an amount not to exceed
$2,477,644.00 for engineering and construction services related to emergency trenchless repair of
a 48-inch diameter sanitary sewer under Interstate 49, and to approve a project contingency in the
amount of $375,000.00.
Resolution 06-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Recycling Grant Program Application: A resolution to authorize an EPA Solid Waste
Infrastructure for Recycling Grant Program application in the total amount of up to $4,000,000.00
for improvements to the City's Recycling Processing Facility.
Resolution 07-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Krapff Reynolds Construction Co.: A resolution to approve a one year extension to the contract
with Krapff Reynolds Construction Company in the amount of $590,789.00 for rehabilitation of
sanitary sewer manholes throughout Fayetteville.
Resolution 08-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Ozark Regional Transit, Inc.: A resolution to waive competitive bidding and authorize a one
year contract between the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas and Ozark Regional Transit, Inc. in the
amount of $698,830.00 to provide public transit services for Fayetteville residents, with automatic
renewals for up to four additional one year terms.
Resolution 09-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Seven Hills Homeless Center: A resolution to approve a contract with Seven Hills Homeless
Center to provide funding assistance in the amount of $40,000.00 for maintenance and repairs at
the Walker Family Residential Community Complex in 2023.
Resolution 10-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
E.W.I. Inc.: A resolution to award Bid 422-54 and authorize a contract with E.W.I. Inc. in the
amount of $1,536,980.00 for construction of the Wilson Park Pavilion Restroom Facilities, to
approve a project contingency in the amount of $139,725.00, and to approve a budget adjustment.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
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Resolution 11-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Seven Hills Homeless Center: A resolution 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 2023.
Resolution 12-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Lease Agreement with the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas: A resolution to
approve a lease agreement with the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas for the
unoccupied banquet area in the Airport Terminal Building to be used by the Osher Lifelong
Learning Institute to conduct classes from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023, in the
amount of $45.00 for each day the space is used.
Resolution 13-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Council Member Harvey moved to accept the Consent Agenda as read. Council Member
Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
Unfinished Business:
Amend 130.39 Graffiti: An ordinance to amend § 130.39 Graffiti in the Fayetteville Code to create
a Graffiti Abatement Program. At the December 6, 2022 City Council Meeting, this Ordinance
was amended to add Exhibit A and omit leasehold tenant. This Ordinance was left on the second
reading and tabled to the January 3, 2023 City Council Meeting.
Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. This
motion died due to lack of a second.
Mayor Jordan: There's not a second so do we read the Graffiti ordinance again?
City Attorney Kit Williams: The City Council has a couple of options here, one I think might be
appropriate is tabling it. Council Member Harvey's committee was going to look at this.
Council Member Harvey stated she planned to table the item and talk about it at the next Arts
Council meeting.
Council Member Turk: That would be fine to table. When is your next meeting?
Council Member Harvey: Our next meeting is the 18`h of January. I have asked Joanna Bell, our
staff member, to make sure you receive an invitation and the zoom link. Hopefully you can be
there, we'd love to have you. If you're not able to attend we will report back.
Council Member Turk questioned when they would hear the item at the next Council Meeting.
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City Council Meeting Minutes
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Council Member Harvey: Any time after that.
City Attorney Kit Williams: The next City Council Meeting would be on the 171" and your
meeting is on the 18t". You could not have a meeting after that until February.
Council Member Moore thanked the Fayetteville Arts Council. She asked that the City Council
allow the Fayetteville Arts Council enough time to look at best practices across the nation and
come back with their proposals so they could do their due diligence on the item.
Council Member Harvey moved to table the item to the February 7, 2023 City Council
meeting. Council Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed
unanimously.
This ordinance was tabled to the February 7, 2023 City Council meeting.
New Business:
Adopt the Rules of Order and Procedure: A resolution to adopt the Rules of Order and
Procedure of the Fayetteville City Council for 2023.
City Attorney Kit Williams stated this was to adopt the current Rules of Order and Procedure as
they had last been amended.
Council Member Harvey: Did I miss a memo about if the Consent agenda is required to be read
at our meetings?
City Attorney Kit Williams: It is required by our rules to be read. There are two rules that are in
effect, one is a rule talking about the Consent agenda itself and the other is the rule where the city
says you're going to be open and transparent as much as possible. It is more open and transparent
to read what's going on. If you listen to the Consent agenda tonight, there was more than
$10,000,000 authorized so it's important, even if it's non -controversial. Those two rules would
have to be amended. State law does not speak to this, about how you have to pass a resolution, it
speaks like an ordinance must be read. It doesn't say that about resolutions. Under state law, you
probably could dispense with reading the resolutions but not according to your own rules.
Council Member Turk moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Harvey seconded
the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed unanimously.
Resolution 14-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Amend 51.136 Monthly Water Rates & 51.137 Monthly Sewer Rates: An ordinance to amend
§ 51.136(A)(2), § 51.136(B)(2), § 51.136(C)(2), § 51.137(A)(2), § 51.137(B)(2), and §
51.137(E)(3) of the Fayetteville City Code to defer water and sewer rate increases for 2023 until
after the adoption of a new rate study, and to declare an emergency.
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City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer stated there was a 3% accelerator in the Water and Sewer
rates that annually go into effect the first of January. He noted the city was in the midst of a Water
and Sewer Rate Study and renegotiating a contract with the City of Farmington. He stated Black
and Veatch would bring new rate suggestions with the rate study to the Water and Sewer
Committee and requested the increases be waived until the city implemented the new rates.
Council Member Turk spoke of how the Water and Sewer Committee discussed the item and
believed it would be prudent to suspend the 3% rate increase for the year.
Council Member Harvey moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council
Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Council Member Harvey moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading.
Council Member Jones 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.
Council Member Harvey moved to approve an Emergency Clause. Council Member Turk
seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
Ordinance 6633 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Repeal Ordinance No. 3696: An ordinance to repeal Ordinance No. 3696 and to authorize the
city to waive any requirement for competitive bidding or more than one quote to purchase
plumbing pipes, fittings, water meters, fire hydrants, manholes and their covers, coatings, and
hardware needed by the Water and Sewer Department through 2026.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Tim Nyander, Utilities Director stated we had been operating under Ordinance 3696 since 1993
and that it did not cover all the materials used today. He briefly explained how enacting the new
ordinance would help get items quicker and keep the warehouse stocked. He noted that the Water
and Sewer Committee forwarded the item to Council with a vote of 3-0 with recommendation for
approval at their August 9, 2022 meeting.
Council Member Harvey moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council
Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
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City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Council Member Harvey 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 6634 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Subrecipient Agreement with WelcomeHealth: A resolution to authorize Mayor Jordan to sign
a Subrecipient Agreement with WelcomeHealth to provide no -cost medical and dental care to low
income Fayetteville residents utilizing American Rescue Plan Act Funds in the amount of
$75,000.00, and to approve a budget adjustment.
Council Member Jones briefly spoke of the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau Report. He was glad to
bring the item forward. He continued on to read the ordinance.
The City Council received 3 public comments regarding this resolution.
Council Member Jones believed the Council should move forward on the item. He did not believe
the Council should table the item. He briefly spoke of the work WelcomeHealth had done.
Council Member Bunch: If we vote on this tonight, when does the entity get its funding?
Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer: That's one thing I did want to make clear to the Council
when I was listening to the comments. Once we vote on this we have to get back together with the
organization and they have to agree and sign a subgrantee agreement with us and proceed from
there. It will take a little while for them to pass through and sign the subgrantee agreement. Once
that is done and we have all the signatures, we will proceed but it will take a little while to get that
done. The longer we delay a vote, if you're interested in it, the longer time that will take.
Council Member Bunch: Yeah, but are we talking a month or six weeks? What would be
reasonable?
Paul Becker: That would be dependent on the organization. If the organization feels they can sign
that and our assessment passes, it shouldn't take that long. We should have it underway, I would
say, three weeks to a month. It shouldn't take months, we should have it done within a month.
Hopefully, we'll get it done earlier than that when we complete all of the parts.
Council Member Berna: Just for clarification, the remaining money that's in the American
Rescue Plan Act Funds bucket is what?
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Paul Becker: I'll give you the number, if in fact we pass the ones on the Council tonight, all of
them at the amounts that are proposed and the one we have for Council Member Hertzberg at the
next meeting; that would leave roughly $354,000 remaining in the funding.
Council Member Berna believed the item spoke to exactly what the funds were supposed to be
used for and stated he would be in support.
Council Member Turk briefly spoke of how WelcomeHealth had gone through the process and
that the funding amount was relatively small and going to the low income. She believed the item
should pass without delay.
Council Member Jones appreciated WelcomeHealth for the work they had done.
Council Member Harvey thanked Council Member Jones for bringing the item forward.
Paul Becker stated he wanted to make it clear this was not a check, this was a reimbursement
since it was a grant. He stated that for the item to get started would be even more critical at this
point in time for this particular program.
Council Member Harvey: I see a little bit of maybe a question on Council Member Berna's face
about what that means. Just being new, I want to make sure you understand we have two types of
nonprofit application buckets. That's why they're getting the reimbursements.
Council Member Berna thanked Council Member Harvey.
Council Member Harvey moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Turk seconded
the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed unanimously.
Resolution 15-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
Magdalene Serenity House, Inc.: A resolution to authorize Mayor Jordan to sign a Subrecipient
Agreement with Magdalene Serenity House, Inc. to provide supportive recovery housing for
formerly incarcerated women utilizing American Rescue Plan Act Funds in the amount of
$128,789.00, and to approve a budget adjustment.
Council Member Wiederkehr gave a brief explanation of why the Council should support the
item. He believed the Magdalene Serenity House served a special population that was in need of
assistance. He was pleased to bring the item forward and asked that the Council be supportive.
The City Council received 1 public comment regarding this resolution.
Council Member Jones thanked Council Member Wiederkehr for bringing the item forward. He
stated he had visited Magdalene Serenity House and that it was dear to him. He appreciated the
city for helping as best and as much as they could.
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Mayor Jordan thanked Council Member Wiederkehr.
Council Member Harvey moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Turk seconded
the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed unanimously.
Resolution 16-23 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk
American Rescue Plan Act Funds for Arts and Culture: A resolution to allocate three million
dollars in American Rescue Plan Act Funds for arts and culture nonprofit organizations operating
in Fayetteville and to approve a budget adjustment in the amount of $3,000,000.00.
Council Member Harvey briefly explained her reasoning for bringing the item forward. She
stated that from 2019 to 2020, they saw the difference of a 72% decrease in income for performing
arts in Fayetteville. She stated the financial team recommended the current option and she took it
back to the Arts Council and they came forward with the amount requested. She spoke of how they
would have a tiered application process to be able to hit a large, medium and small nonprofit and
that if any funds were left over they would not keep the extra funds; they would want them to be
used for other American Rescue Plan Act projects. She briefly explained more about the item. She
stated the City Council would have final approval on all the funds and that they were looking at a
maximum of three people due to the amount of paperwork and guidelines that it would take to
review the applications as a federally funded grant.
Council Member Jones: Would that include TheatreSquared?
Council Member Harvey: Yes, I would say that TheatreSquared would count as a Arts and
Culture nonprofit within Fayetteville.
Council Member Turk: In your resolution there is a discussion about the reimbursement versus
subrecipient, how would you allocate, discuss or recommend between those different programs?
Council Member Harvey: In the first go around, we had both of the portals available. We would
just allow them to choose which grant process worked better for them. Do they fit better as a
reimbursement grant application or a project grant? We're calling it a project grant because we're
trying to make the language understandable to the Arts and Cultural organizations but the
subrecipient grant. They choose which one better fits with their needs.
Council Member Turk: One other detail would be the time period, because the next resolution is
discussing the time period of application. In your resolution, would you specify the time period
for the reimbursement? Because, right now, there was only one time period; 2021 to 2022.
Council Member Harvey: I am glad you mentioned that because I would like to have that go
back to 2020. I don't know if I would need to amend that because it doesn't state it or if we could
just do it without? It doesn't state from what time period but I would prefer that we start it when
the pandemic began to match that. I am amenable, and I'm sure the Arts Council is too, to help
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work with any timelines that your proposal would need so that we could have efficiency with the
staff and everything. That's something we could work together on.
Council Member Turk: It would be helpful if we specified that within your resolution.
Council Member Harvey: Do you think we need to amend that formally, Mr. Williams? Or can
we just add that to what we have?
City Attorney Kit Williams: I'll let Paul Becker speak first, go ahead Paul.
Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer: If you want to set a specific time period in this resolution,
you need to amend the resolution to do that. We could do it administratively but that would cause
under question. The safest way to do it, if you want to set a time period, is to set it by amending
the resolution. Pertinent to the discussion that you're having with Council Member Turk, I would
also say that any application as a subrecipient or as a reimbursement, if it's an arts group or part
of the arts economy, that would go through this and we'd channel through this one and not through
the one that Council Member Turk had. We can do that administratively, but you're better setting
it specifically by amending the resolution to do that.
Council Member Moore would like to have a spreadsheet to see the total bank account and talk
about what could be possible with the American Rescue Plan Act funds. She proposed the Council
table the item until early February. She expressed concern that Council hadn't fully heard the other
possibilities and she would like to see them all in one place so they could prioritize the spending.
She recognized the arts were a place that had been hit hard and needed help but she also recognized
there was a growing unhoused population.
Council Member Jones appreciated Council Member Moore's statement about prioritizing the
projects. He briefly spoke of how the process had been confusing for many Fayetteville residents
and believed they had an opportunity to prioritize and wait until February so they could get a better
opportunity to make the most of what was left of the funds.
Mayor Jordan stated there was a need for more money for childcare vouchers. He did not know
an amount but stated they had put $500,000 into the childcare vouchers and it wasn't enough.
Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer stated Yolanda Fields had 38 specific applications and that
she had passed out 150 applications to perspective people for the childcare vouchers. He stated
that if the ones she currently had would fully fund the children through the end of the year, we
would be talking about $300,000 to $350,000 being committed right now if the applications were
approved. He stated the program was going to run short of money and that we would need to look
at that. He stated roughly half a million dollars would be needed just to address the basic needs.
Mayor Jordan stated he wanted to put that information out there for everyone.
Council Member Wiederkehr appreciated Council Member Harvey and the Arts Council for
bringing the item forward. He expressed concern for the amount of the request because there were
additional applicants that had yet to have their applications resolved. He felt compelled to bring
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several existing applicants forward for their potential funding consideration. He requested the item
be tabled until the Council could get closer to the final funding available.
Council Member Berna agreed with Council Member Moore in regard to tabling the item. He
disagreed with tabling all of the requests tonight because some of them fell within the emergency
needs and needed funding. He did not see how the current item was an emergency need. He
recognized the arts were affected by COVID and they needed assistance, but he didn't believe they
had to have it without further discussion. He believed $3,000,000 was too large of an amount to
release because childcare was a significant need and he believed the city needed to be prepared to
assist further with childcare.
Council Member Turk noted that the Council had allocated quite a bit of the American Rescue
Plan Act funds to workforce training. She stated that if childcare was a need for people then they
may not be able to take advantage of the workforce training. She believed all the items
interconnected and the Council needed to consider how that process would work.
Council Member Bunch believed it would be okay to take more time to figure out how they
wanted to spend the funds. She agreed that childcare was the foundation of being able to function
in society and have a job. She wanted to recognize the importance of the creative economy in
Fayetteville and that it was valued in the Economic Development Plan for the city. She stated that
they were not just giving money to the arts but giving money to organizations that would help
employ people and give to school programs. She did not feel comfortable voting on the volume of
the request but she did believe it important to consider. She was in favor of tabling the item.
Council Member Harvey thanked everyone for the feedback. She requested the Council think
broadly in terms of art and recognize the item would help people keep their jobs and not become
homeless. She respected that the Council would like to hold off on the item but was concerned
they would get to the end of the funds and give whatever was left from that. She questioned if this
was how the creative economy was valued. She stated she would go with the majority.
Council Member Berna: Could you help educate me on what the Arts Council would envision
the $3,000,000 to be used for specifically? Not necessarily specifically, but in a broad view, what
would you say the best use of those funds would be for?
Council Member Harvey: The best use would be to employ anybody who has a job that is within
one of those organizations. It might employ a musician to get back on the stage that they couldn't
be on the stage for three years, a theatre person who couldn't be on the stage, a stage director, a
stage manager, a dancer and any performer or somebody who works with performers and
organizing performers. It could be any of that. That's just a tiny sliver of the creative economy.
The City Council received 1 1 public comments regarding this resolution.
Council Member Jones stated he had brought forth a resolution on behalf of TheatreSquared
concerning their lease in June and that they were encouraged to apply for American Rescue Plan
Act funding. He stated that tonight they are now hearing that may not be possible and they may
not receive funding. He believed they needed a broader conversation and stated he was a supporter
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of the arts and TheatreSquared. He briefly explained how TheatreSquared was an anchor in the
community. He believed the Council should take a closer look at TheatreSquared and support them
as best as they could. He felt as though the Council needed to be intentional and deliberate as it
related to helping the nonprofits.
Council Member Moore appreciated the comments from the public. She spoke of her work in the
community. She respected what Council Member Harvey brought forward and how the creative
economy was integral to Fayetteville. She stated the conversation would not end and asked for an
additional timeframe so they could outline the subjects brought up at the meeting. She believed
there were a lot of well-meaning Council Members present that wanted to ensure they invested the
money in a way that was able to assist the most organizations and individuals in Fayetteville. She
agreed that the arts were special and that alongside that were all the other basic services that were
important as well. She noted how the constraints of the money was limited and requested they take
the feedback from the community and get together again to make decisions about the perimeters
that were asked for so they could take care of as many Fayetteville residents as possible.
Council Member Berna: In listening to the comments, a couple early on said they felt like their
request, Legal Aide I think was one, that had been on the table for a while and still had no
resolution. They gave the impression they felt like the arts was jumping to the front of the line
ahead of them, even though their proposal was on the table for a while. Can someone explain to
us why that scenario might be happening in their eyes? I'm a little confused in that regard.
Paul Becker: What we're looking at are the organizations that are talking about they made a
proposal. These are not organizations that made a proposal for a reimbursement or a loss of
revenue, they applied as a subgrantee to offer additional services if the City Council felt that they
were necessary. It is not like those were organizations that said they lost money and they had a
provable method of saying they lost money. They were proposing a grant agreement to do some
additional services for the city, they're kind of in a different proposal.
Council Member Berna: So, it's an apples to oranges comparison?
Paul Becker: It kind of is when you're talking about losses and revenue losses and a proposal to
do a new function. For example, since we're on the topic of TheatreSquared, TheatreSquared we
discussed they did not have revenue losses but they proposed to do tickets to lower income
individuals in the city. That was the proposal. You have to look at these and then evaluate the use
of those proposals of what they intend to do to serve the citizens and then evaluate what you feel
is most important. The one thing we have to get clear is there is a method for organizations who
lost money that's expenses were greatly increased because of the pandemic, and all of this should
be tied somehow to the pandemic, and what additional services could they provide to address what
happened to individuals through the pandemic. I hope that explains a little bit.
Council Member Harvey: Paul, I have a quick question for you. Did I hear somewhere, I don't
remember where it was because we were listening intently, that maybe Council Members were
supposed to bring forward individual applications?
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Paul Becker: We talked about this many months ago. We talked about the proposals and the
subrecipient applications, which there were roughly 33 of them. We looked at those applications,
we discussed it and there was a review group in the administration that ranked how they felt those
particular requests or proposals to meet the needs of the public were ranked according to the
administration. From that, we discussed what the administration intended to bring forward and we
brought those forward. Those were the things such as the Ambulance Authority and the Childcare
Vouchers. It was up to the Council to review the rest, because the Council wanted to see all those
proposals and review the rest and bring those proposals they felt most important or ranked high
enough to meet the needs of the citizens. That was done and discussed months ago.
Council Member Harvey: I failed to understand that completely because I might have possibly
gone back and looked at some of those and happily sponsored those. My understanding was that
we were bringing them in batches from the staff perspective in the capacity that the staff could
handle. That is totally my misunderstanding, because I thought the ones that ranked highly were
all going to eventually be brought forward to us. I hate that was a misunderstanding and that is
completely my misunderstanding, unless someone else thought differently?
Council Member Jones: I thought the same thing.
Paul Becker: I did the best of my time to make that perfectly clear. I don't know what to say. We
felt it was up to the Council to make the decision on what was the most important. We brought
forward to the Council what the administration thought were the most relevant subgrant
applications and waited for the Council to bring forward those that they felt they wanted to support,
which the Council has in fact done subsequent to that. That's where we are.
Council Member Harvey: I would like to go back and see those applications that are ranked the
highest and make sure that we are in agreement that they're something we absolutely need, which
we do, because they were basically food, shelter, childcare and some basic needs. I completely
agreed that we need to fund them. Go back to those organizations or go back to you and bring that
amount forward to the Council as a resolution?
Paul Becker: All of those proposals are still out there. They're on the website to be reviewed for
which we rank what the administration felt the highest rankings were. Some of those were brought
forward but there weren't all of the top ten. The one thing about the subgrantee is you're having a
contract with a subgrantee that then has to meet the terms and conditions of the American Rescue
Plan Act funding. We have to review them and make sure we have every reasonable belief through
audit that they can apply with the terms and conditions of American Rescue Plan Act funding and
bring them forward. So, those are on the website and they're out there at this point in time.
Council Member Harvey stated she would review the items and she looked forward to bringing
something forward.
Paul Becker stated that the other ones who had revenue losses came forward in three different
bundled groups for suggested reimbursement based on their documentation.
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Susan Norton, Chief of Staff stated that what was originally brought to Council was the ranking
of staff s suggestions and that they believed they could handle ten or eleven subrecipients.
Paul Becker: We suggested we could handle 10 subrecipients, that's because there's a lot of
ongoing reporting to the Federal Government. We also have to audit them to make sure they're
complying with the grant.
Susan Norton: Some of them you all already approved and some of them sat over to the side while
you worked on other things. Legal Aid of Arkansas was in staff reviews top five. I encourage you
to go back and look at rankings that staff gave, we'll send that back and make sure you have it.
Paul Becker stated staff sent the Council the 33 proposals with the rankings and the status of
whether they were approved or not in a spreadsheet. He stated that if the Council was interested,
they should go back and review to see if any of the items ranked higher. He explained that was the
ranking of the administration and that the decision making was up to the Council. He stated they
had expected the Council would come forward with what they felt were most necessary proposals.
Council Member Wiederkehr assured Council Member Harvey she was not alone in
misunderstanding. He commented that none of the Council spoke in opposition to the arts, he just
believed it was the surprise of the dollar amount of the proposal. He believed the Council wanted
to show discretion and sensitivity to those who had applied originally. He believed the resolution
was appropriate in identifying an industry that had been significantly impacted. He stated that no
discussion tonight was in anyway undervaluing the contribution of the industry to the community.
He briefly spoke of reading the American Rescue Plan Act fund applications and sending staff
questions. He hoped the conversation had clued the Council in on the fact that staff were waiting
for them to bring items forward and he believed they intended to do so.
Paul Becker: I did want to point out that we did fund some of the creative economy; the Symphony
of Northwest Arkansas we did a reimbursement for and Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society. We put
the amount the Sequoia Center incorporated into the creative community too so as those
applications did come in from that sector we did evaluate them.
Council Member Jones felt as though it was difficult to advocate because the Council was not
involved enough in the application process from the beginning. He believed a lot of details were
unclear and from what he understood, that was the same case for the nonprofits as well. He hoped
we could be more transparent and have more communication moving forward.
Paul Becker stated that per the Councils request, we had all of the information posted to the
website. He stated there was a lot of information and data there to view.
Council Member Jones: Yes, I appreciate that. My initial comment was the Council Member's
being involved from the very get go. We can't change that but that is something I wish we could've.
Paul Becker: Always remember, these 33 applications alone were over $20,000,000. We could've
never funded fully all of them so it's a case where we have to make a decision of what the council
feels would be the best use of that money. Administration did make certain recommendations to
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the Council, which we appreciate that you approved, but the Council is going to have to decide
what of these remaining they feel is the most important to the community.
Council Member Jones: Absolutely. I will say this, I do regret the Council Members were not
involved in the very initial discussion of how this process should be played out.
Council Member Harvey was concerned about the outstanding nonprofits. She explained how
she was leaning on staff to bring forward the nonprofits in batches. She questioned which of the
33 nonprofits qualified under the American Rescue Plan Act guidelines and stated that if any didn't
qualify then they needed to be pulled out. She would love to bring all of the applications forward
but she didn't believe we could do the full amount, she questioned if we could do a partial funding
on most of the applications. She stated she could meet with Paul Becker for further discussion. She
believed it to be fair to fund the people who had already applied.
Paul Becker stated we had already sent the Council the rankings and some of them were not
qualified. He stated there would need to be further discussion on partial funding.
Council Member Moore stated a pending application did not mean approved. She believed there
was a lot of misunderstanding and chaos around the program. She stated they could wipe the slate
clean moving forward by deciding what their process would be. She requested they look at
outstanding applications, consider the creative economy and where they could be funded and look
at any additional things that may have come up recently. She stated there was housing, food
insecurity and childcare. She believed specifically talking about those items would be a great way
to move forward. She cautioned against peace milling anymore of the discussion because she
believed it added to the confusion. She urged the Council to address the money in one conversation
when moving forward.
Council Member Turk stated Council had a productive workshop several months back and asked
if now would be the time to have another one. She noted there were new Council Member's and
believed putting a hold on the items to have a workshop would help clear up confusion.
Council Member Harvey agreed.
Council Member Berna believed the arts was an economic driver. He believed it would be
important to table the item so they could get more discussion on moving forward.
Council Member Harvey: I believe there was a tabling motion, is that correct?
City Attorney Kit Williams: Yes, you'd need to have a motion to table. It sounds like you're
going to have more meetings so you might want to table it indefinitely, which is not necessarily a
killing motion, it's just when you're not sure you'll be ready to take it off the table and consider it
again. That might be the best thing to do in this case because there is more work to do, especially
if you have another meeting like you had before where you work with Paul Becker about which
one of the groups would qualify and which ones you want to go forward with. That's what I would
recommend; a motion to table indefinitely so you have enough time to do what you need to.
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Council Member Harvey moved to table the resolution indefinitely. Council Member Turk
seconded. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
Paul Becker stated he would send out recommended times to the Council Members on setting up
a workshop to review the items. He suggested they look at the item as soon in February as they
could to give the new Council Members time to review. He noted all the information was on the
website if the Council Members would like to see what had been proposed.
Council Member Harvey: Yes, that would be helpful.
This resolution was tabled indefinitely.
American Rescue Plan Act Reimbursement of Loss Revenue: A resolution to allow nonprofit
organizations operating in Fayetteville to submit an application for reimbursement of loss revenue
from American Rescue Plan Act Funds from March 15, 2020 to March 2, 2021, and to approve a
budget amendment of one million dollars for these qualified applications.
Council Member Turk stated the resolution would need to be tabled given the conversation about
the previous agenda item. She stated her intent with the item was to fill in the gap for businesses
and organizations who suffered losses when the COVID pandemic hit for potential
reimbursements for their losses.
City Attorney Kit Williams: Is that tabling it indefinitely?
Council Member Turk: Thank you Mr. Williams, it's tabling indefinitely.
Mayor Jordan reminded the Council that Paul Becker took the time to have a workshop and that
the Council was present. He believed it was clear on how they needed to move forward. He noted
that staff worked hard on what they thought the Council would want. He was sorry for any
confusion. He stated staff was trying to give Council some direction because staff felt as though
they were given direction to come up with some of the items to bring forward. He stated the
material was there and available and thanked Paul Becker and staff for their work.
There was brief discussion of whether public comment would be needed when tabling an item.
There was no public comment taken.
Council Member Turk moved to table the resolution indefinitely. Council Member Harvey
seconded. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously.
City Attorney Kit Williams stated tabling the items would not affect approval of the other specific
grants nor should it affect the one that Council Member Hertzberg would bring forward at the next
meeting. He wanted to make sure everyone was aware that the items that were approved tonight
would remain approved and Council Member Hertzberg could still bring her item forward.
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Mayor Jordan: Okay, and what I'm hearing right now is that we need to establish a workshop
again, right?
Susan Norton, Chief of Staff: Paul Becker said he has that covered.
Paul Becker, Chief Financial Officer: The ones you approved tonight, we're going forward with
them. We're going to schedule a workshop and i will send out some preliminary dates for
everybody, I'll schedule about three hours and we'll see how long it goes. If we can supply any
documentation that you may want that we haven't supplied already please let us know and we'll
be happy to do that.
Mayor Jordan: We've got about $5,000,000 left I believe.
Paul Becker: Pretty close to $5,000,000.
This resolution was tabled indefinitely.
VAC (Mitchell St.): A resolution to approve the vacation of a 16,552.8 square foot portion of a
tree preservation easement located along West Mitchell Street contingent on the dedication of two
replacement tree preservation easements totaling approximately 37,519 square feet.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director noted that Melissa Evans and John Scott were
present as the Urban Foresters presenting the item.
Melissa Evans, Urban Forester gave a brief description of the resolution and the easements
history. She stated Planning and Urban Forestry staff received inquiries about the property from a
realtor and the perspective buyers and informed them of the tree preservation easement. She stated
the applicant wanted to vacate the Mitchell St. tree preservation easement and place two parcels
totaling .8 acres into tree preservation easements. She explained the two parcels were not near the
current tree preservation easement and that they were on opposite sides of the city from each other.
She stated staff recommended the denial of the vacation request because it could create a loophole
in the tree preservation code and that the canopy that was offered was not the same as the canopy
that was proposed to be vacated. She believed it would not benefit the city to have the two offered
parcels in tree preservation easements because they were already in protected streamside and flood
zones and she explained how the new development proposal for the Mitchell site may not preserve
the required canopy percentage amount. She spoke of how the area in the proposal had lost
significant canopy in the last 12 years and that it increased urban heat island impacts. She stated
Urban Forestry did not believe the vacation would be in the best interest of the city or its residents
She watched the Agenda Session last week and heard Council Member Turk's question about what
kind of trees were on the sites and how they compared, she stated that the trees were not
comparable. She explained how the trees that were on the two pieces of property being offered
were more water loving species and the trees that were on the Mitchell property were
predominantly good quality Oaks, Hickory's and Persimmon. She did not know how to quantify
carbon sequestration between the sites and stated that would need to be researched more. She
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recommended the item be denied and that they continue to protect tree canopy. She noted the
applicant, Payton Sims, was present.
Payton Sims, Applicant handed out papers to the Council. He believed removing the tree
preservation would serve better justice for the city. He stated the tree preservation would add three
times the amount of canopy and also add the water source the trees would need. He noted the trees
were not in good shape where they were currently at. He stated they would like to pledge 20% of
the project to affordable housing. He appreciated the Council and was available for questions.
Council Member Turk: Thank you for coming forward, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet
with you earlier. I'm not great at reading diagram, so I just want to make sure I understand this.
Are there ten units on here that you're proposing?
Payton Sims: Yea, ma'am. I want to make sure everybody understands this is not 100% set in
stone, there is still the Fire Marshall to take into account and green spaces to take into account.
This was a rough drawing we laid out and this is what we would like. Per the zoning, if vacated,
we are allowed to have 16 units. We're not trying to fit everything in at once, there's still going to
be greenspace for dogs and places where they can use the bathroom and where the residents can
park themselves. This is not set in stone, but this is something that we thought of last minute that
for the affordable housing to go in the back for 20% of the project to be that way.
Council Member Turk: The four units to the south would be the affordable housing?
Payton Sims: Well, 20% of the project. If we got more, obviously as developers we would love
to have more to try to make it more feasible, but as it sits right now with ten units would be two of
them as affordable housing. The two in the back would be ideal but I don't know exactly how we
would show which ones it would be but that's our goal as of now.
Council Member Jones appreciated the applicants presentation and his commitment to affordable
housing. He noted he had the opportunity to visit the property with the applicant.
Council Member Moore: I had the opportunity to meet with you on the property and I appreciate
that you let me ask questions and we really got in some interesting discussions. 20% of affordable
housing is a start, however we are talking about doing something that is very countered to what
Fayetteville would do by lifting a tree preservation. It's not incumbent upon the Council or city
staff to make sure that you as a developer prosper or make profit. One of the discussions that we
did have was about making sure there's a win -win situation, because we want local developers to
continue to look at projects like this in the future because we have a crisis on our hands for
affordable housing. 20% is a start but what I want to understand is how open are you on the
possibility that more of these units would potentially be more of a rent controlled environment and
tied in with one of our city programs that assists some of our very vulnerable community members?
Payton Sims: I'm very interested. One thing I would like to add is that a good deal is where
everybody wins in the situation, as my father always says. If I win and you guys don't win it's not
a good deal. The citizens have to win, Fayetteville has to win, we've got to win and affordable
housing has to win. We looked back and as we studied and went through the process, there's some
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stuff that, Council Member Jones, we talked about. It came back to if we could shave a little bit of
the layout, the fire code and work together there's a possibility to fit 16 units which would also get
more than what we are presenting today. It's something we're interested in talking about.
Council Member Moore: I am new to having to interpret the drawing that's placed in front of me
right as we start the conversation, so bear with me. When we were on the property, and I know
these specifics can change, but there was conversation about the addition of trees which is
important for the Council to consider what types of trees and quality of trees. Is that listed
anywhere on your drawing?
Payton Sims: It's not, we didn't have time. Our goal was, when we met most of you guys out
there, that the trees on the right side of the property as you come up that drive that's where the
majority of the trees are. Especially the majority of the trees that are in good shape. We were trying
to, by doing what we've done here, keep the majority of those. We were able to keep eleven and
then as well as speaking with some of you on the property, behind this property where Cane's is,
we would like to plant a barrier. One of the biggest issues, and I know as we're the property owner,
we're responsible for the trash but it's all of our city at this point. The trash is coming everywhere
and I'm not going to say it's all blowing out of Cane's but I would say a lot of it is. Some of it
comes from people that just walk by and dump their trash, I'd say it comes from some people that
just throw their trash out and that's not necessarily the cities problem or this Council's problem
but I would like to add that it would help if we could plant barrier trees in the back. It would keep
the property cleaner and it would add to the trees.
Council Member Jones: Have you applied for a Bill of Assurance as it relates to affordable
housing?
Payton Sims: We have not.
Council Member Jones: I wrote some things down and the other question, will this be apartments
or would this be home's that individuals could buy?
Payton Sims: We are going to keep these as one large development. It would not be individual
sales. This was one of the goals, and I don't know if you can see very well, if you're looking at the
paper there's a section on the paper that is an L. That was another apartment complex that lies right
beside the property. That was another goal of being able to reach 16 units and our engineers think
that if we'd put that on there, we'd reach 16 units and be able to keep a lot of the trees up front.
That was another goal that we had. Getting more units would also add more to affordable housing
for you guys. In another essence, a win -win for everybody, but we have not talked to anybody
going forward on that.
Council Member Jones: We talked about this but just to make sure, what definition do we have
as it relates to affordable housing?
Payton Sims: Council Member Moore and I talked about that and I had the same questions. There
are certain city organizations that we can put this into that fall in this. The gentlemen that owned
this property did not take care of the trees, he probably came to this Council and promised things
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and it didn't happen and I apologize for that. At the end of the day, that lot is not best used for the
city where it is today and it would be better used if we could have housing there.
Council Member Harvey: The drawing that we received, is that something that's potentially
doable? Or is this very pie in the sky, or can you not answer it? I understand if you can't.
Jonathan Curth: Based on what I see and taking some of the zoning considerations into mind, it
is feasible given the size of the property and the underlying zoning district. It appears they can do,
like the applicant noted, about 16 units on the property. I have concerns similar to the forestry
staff, that they would be unable to meet the underlying zoning district tree preservation
requirements. This is assuming granting of the tree preservation vacation. A lot of the canopy does
appear to be central to the site, along that western property line appears to be the area most clear
of canopy and is the one to be left clearest in this design, if you look along that southern property
line. Otherwise, it's hard to ascertain whether it would be meeting our parking requirements or
detention requirements. It does look like all the necessary elements are there and the applicant has
employed an engineer that works frequently in Fayetteville to draw this concept, which suggests
familiarity with our ordinances.
Council Member Bunch: We got a little bit of the track record of this property from the Urban
Forester, but how many times did this come to the Council? How many times has this shown up
at Council or Planning Commission trying to rework this property?
Jonathan Curth: I'd have to lean on the foresters to correct me if I'm wrong but it's only been to
Council one time, despite the many years of conversations about it. That was in 2019 when it was
brought to Council and tabled indefinitely from the Council requesting additional information from
the applicant which never was forthcoming, so it remained tabled indefinitely. Prior to that, when
it went to the Planning Commission in the early 2000's, would've been the only other time it had
a Public Hearing that's in association with that large scale development for J.D. China.
City Attorney Kit Williams: it also came before the Council for a lot split.
Jonathan Curth: The lot split came to Council?
City Attorney Kit Williams: Yes.
Council Member Bunch believed she saw the item when she was on the Planning Commission.
She briefly spoke of how there had been a lot of discussion about the lot and she knew it had been
to Council a couple of times. She had thought about the item and noted the lot used to have a lot
of trees and the previous owners had went in and cut a bunch of the trees down. She felt the request
was trying to take the tree preservation area off the land and she was not in favor of it because it
was on there when the applicants bought the land so they knew it was a tree preservation area. She
briefly spoke of the trees that were on the property. She stated affordable housing sounded good
but stated what they had to give up in return was not equated. She challenged the Council to look
at what they were giving away. She understood that Fayetteville had a shortage of homes but stated
she was not in favor of the item.
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Council Member Moore: Thank you Council Member Bunch, because you do have the history
and this property has come up before. I'm wrestling with this as well because we have competing
priorities and I agree that it's compelling how the treescape in that particular part of Fayetteville
has continued to diminish over time. We have to understand about pockets of population and we
do have Lewis plaza there that are residents that have limited options about where they live. I
would like to ask a couple of questions to our Urban Foresters about our policies and what would
have to happen with the property to get it back to how it was. This is currently covered under being
tree preservation, but we've all looked at the pictures and some of us have gone in person and it's
obvious it's been incredibly cleared. There aren't that many trees remaining and some of them
have questionable quality. Currently the way things are written and what's agreed upon with this
land, what would have to happen for this to get back to the way it should look?
Melissa Evans: There is a paragraph in 167.04 (L), under the ones that I read previously, I don't
have it in front of me right now, that states if the property owner wants to remove trees they should
work with the Urban Foresters to do that. Trees are naturally growing back up in place and the
trees died from natural reasons, that's fine, but if not then they need to replace trees. There's a
caveat to replant, reforest and get it back to what it should be.
Council Member Moore: Do you have a ball park? Is this two trees or two hundred trees?
John Scott, Urban Forester: I don't think it's two hundred trees. If Council denies this we will be
talking with Kit Williams on what to do moving forward, because we have strong feelings about
the reforestation and the degradation this property has experienced over the last few years.
Melissa Evans: There are visible stumps so we can obviously count those. We have aerial
photography and we have a previous tree inventory that John did in 2019, so we have some
information to work from to determine what that number would be. It wouldn't be 200, I don't see
it being that high. But, 20 or 30 maybe, that's just a total guess right now.
Council Member Bunch: While Urban Forestry is up at the podium, I have a question and it
would be beneficial for some of the new Council Members. When we talk about replanting trees
we're talking about taking down a possibly, even if it's some small trees on that lot that were pretty
beat up were 25 years old at least. When we're talking about replanting a tree, what is the caliber
of tree that is required to be replanted or in mediation and how long does the owner of the property
have to maintain that tree to get it started?
John Scott: They have to plant two inch caliber trees, which are not very big. They have to
maintain those for three years and most importantly, those trees take about 20 years to start
providing ecosystem services such as combating the heat island impact, which would be enormous
in this area. It already is. This is one of the last little pockets of woods that's left there, so it would
be crucial for that and there are other ecosystem services that would be provided but it takes 20
years for those trees to start providing those.
Melissa Evans: They provide a bond or in three years we check those trees to make sure that 90%
or more are alive. If they are, they get their bond or surety back for those trees. If it remains a tree
preservation easement that should have trees in it, if we see at some point in the future that the
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trees have died again or there are problems, that's when it is our responsibility to reach out to the
applicant and work with them to get it reforested. A lot of times our issue is we can't be everywhere
all the time in the city, so some of these we just aren't on top of or miss and luckily a lot of our
citizens are watching out for the trees and call use with different issues.
John Scott stated there hadn't been a situation where people had removed trees in a tree
preservation easement without having a discussion with the Urban Foresters.
Council Member Harvey: Is there penalty? We've seen the degradation and it's very visible.
What penalties or recourses, because obviously the new owner didn't do the damage, how does
that potentially get dealt with? Is it the responsibility of the new owner?
City Attorney Kit Williams: We've got difficulties with proof. If the Council decided that
because a tree preservation area has been denuded of its trees, not taken care of and even having
trees cut down and then comes to the City Council and say, `well we don't have very good trees
here so now let me put affordable housing there.' If we fall for that then we're going to endanger
many tree preservation areas all over town where they could be developed with new housing
because then the tree preservation area, for some reason that is difficult for us to prove, no longer
has a lot of good trees in it. Those trees somehow died or fell down or got cut down, so that's one
thing that makes me very concerned about this. This is one of the reasons I was opposed to the lot
split because when we did the lot split we created a lot that was unbuildable. When it was still part
of the other restaurant lot, which it was originally, then it was fine because we had a buildable lot
there. But, when the City Council approved the lot split, I was afraid it was going to lead to a
situation like this because it's right by a street so it's a cheap place to develop. All you have to do
is get rid of the tree preservation easement and then you can put a bunch of houses on it or
apartments. That is the problem we partially created by allowing a lot split to occur, but you still
need to look at it carefully like Council Member Bunch was talking about in this case. This has
been a problem for the city where we cut the original developer a break by not forcing them to
have trees by the road, allowing them to clear that out and not maintain any trees near the front
because they gave us this big tree preservation area in the back. That was good as long as that tree
preservation area remained a safe and secure place for trees and as you see now, it's under danger.
This is the second time a developer has come forward and said, `this is wasted land now let me
develop this and I'll give you some trees on the outlying parts of the town.' The first time it came
back the City Council said no and they tabled it indefinitely to kill it if the developer didn't bring
back the information Council wanted, which they did not. This is a unique situation and it's been
going on for a lot of years and it's a cautionary tale that maybe in the future you better not give
them the first break where you allow them not to have trees up by the road if we got more trees in
the back. Over time the Council changes and nobody remembers so when somebody can bring up
a proposal that is attractive in some ways, like promising affordable housing, which I don't know
what that means. We would have to have a very strict definition, we'd have to have rent control
and the state law doesn't allow us to impose rent control in Arkansas. That's one of the things we
cannot do by regulation. We might be able to do that by contract, I'm not sure if we can, but that
would be the only way we could ensure there would be some rent control and how long would that
last? You can't do it forever. How would you administer that and check on that? That's a difficult
thing to do for the city, just like it's difficult to watch all the tree preservation areas. Generally, we
rely upon the good faith of the property owners and generally they've done that and haven't
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destroyed tree preservation areas. I hope that continues and I think it will because Fayetteville likes
trees, we have many trees that are not in tree preservation areas because trees add value and they're
necessary but every now and then we have a controversy or an issue like this come before the
Council and now it's up for you all to decide what is in the best interest of the city and its citizens.
Council Member Harvey thanked City Attorney Kit Williams.
Council Member Bunch: If they replant trees and they're checked on in three years, what if every
tree dies in year four? We don't ask them to go back and plant anymore, right?
Melissa Evans: We can per that Chapter 167 portion that says that tree preservation easement
shall be maintained. If you need to remove trees you need to work with the Urban Forester and
you need to replant trees as necessary to keep that canopy.
Council Member Bunch: But somebody has to catch it?
Melissa Evans: Correct.
Council Member Bunch stated that maybe Council had made a mistake when they split the lot in
the beginning but she didn't believe they should keep making mistakes. She believed they should
stand by their tree preservation and gave a brief demonstration of what the size of a tree they would
replant would look like. She was not in favor of the item and believed Kit Williams noted some
important ideals and facts about the property. She encouraged the Council to think about if they
had tree preservations in other areas, would they reduce that too by putting apartments in.
Council Member Turk: Kit, I don't think you answered Council Member Harvey's original
question about was there a penalty. The previous property owner probably cut those trees down or
thinned them, most likely. Is there a penalty if somebody caught them? How does that work?
City Attorney Kit Williams: Well, if there was a penalty it would be almost impossible to prove
the facts that would justify giving the penalty. If we haven't seen and don't have evidence that
they actually cut it down besides the fact the old stumps are there then who cut them down? Maybe
it wasn't the owner, maybe it was somebody out looking for fire wood. Even though that might
not be plausible, it's not proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the owner did it. There are some
potential penalties but the enforcement and the proof is extremely difficult in these cases unless
we catch somebody in the act, which is potentially possible. We look when somebody is going to
do development about whether the trees have been cut down, whether it's in a tree preservation
area or not and if they're cut down below the limit of the tree preservation requirements for that
lot, then we can require more planting. But here, it's even worse because it's a tree preservation
area where no one is supposed to cut anything down. Our Urban Foresters could look back and see
that it was fully forested and now it's not and so now we're going to penalize the owner by
requiring they plant more trees than the tree ordinance normally requires. But here they're saying,
and if you listen to Jonathan, they can't even meet the tree preservation ordinance with their
particular design that would be required without this additional penalty so yes, there are some
penalties in here. The criminal penalties are almost impossible to enforce but these other penalties
are not. If we could establish the trees were denuded from that area within the last five years, then
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we could say they would have to have more trees on there than they would have to if it was just a
blank lot. What kind of increase is that? Do you all know?
Melissa Evans: 10% of the land area.
City Attorney Kit Williams: So, there would have to be more trees put on it just because the trees
were removed, but here we have trees disappearing from a tree preservation area. That is illegal
but the difficulty is proof.
John Scott: I would like to add that with the proposal a site would come through, it's a large scale
development which requires a new tree preservation easement as well, or a large scale site
improvement. They would still have to provide a new easement if there are any trees to preserve.
Council Member Harvey: Thank you all for your work and for the visuals, because that was nice.
This is just a general question, not necessarily about this specific project, but do we have a way to
monitor canopy? Can we monitor canopy where we could potentially have it as evidence for Kit?
I don't know if that could be used as evidence, but if we have images going to the future and a
monthly canopy report for example or a quarterly canopy report and we see the trees are gone and
here's a picture from this month and here's a picture from this month and we have it how we do
complaint based. Do we have something like that in place or would that be a new project?
John Scott: We do have something like that in place, we have several things. We were monitoring
all of the development review for how much tree preservation is and we have plans to start that
back up. We had to tweak some information and data that we were collecting on that. Our GIS
Department gets an aerial imagery every two years from this one national program and it gives us
an idea of our city canopy and where that's at. They're very brilliant so they've figured out
formulas and ways to tell us what our canopy percentage is about every two years. We're in the
middle of an Urban Forestry Master Plan that's going to have some information and data for us.
Council Member Harvey believed they may need to start investing in a way to keep up with the
canopy more frequently so it may be used as visual evidence.
Council Member Berna stated he was one that applauded responsible development but that as a
business person he always tried to stay away from precedence and creating precedence. He
questioned what had changed to tell a developer in the past no and to tell someone now yes. He
did not believe they could include conversation of affordable housing because no one could give
a definition of what that actually was. He did not believe this situation was a good thing although
he would love to approve it because he believed a property owner had the right to develop as long
as it was prudent.
The City Council received 3 public comments regarding this resolution.
Nan Ginger, 1651 E. Rockwood Trail: I'm not just a member of the public, I'm one of the partners
on this project. I don't think of myself as a developer, it's like one of those mean, horrible people
that come in and cut down everybody's trees. I've lived in this town for 50 years and I like trees,
I live on two acres and have lots of trees up there. Council Member Berna made a mention that
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this proposal had been turned down once or denied, I thought it had been tabled. Had it been denied
or tabled?
Mayor Jordan: Tabled indefinitely.
City Attorney Kit Williams: Sometimes the Council, rather than voting it down, tables it
indefinitely as a polite way to end it.
Nan Ginger: Okay, I didn't think it was turned down I thought that it was tabled. Since we have
owned the property, which really hasn't been that long, we have done nothing to the trees that are
there. On my own property I just had to have a tree taken down because it died and was already
falling over and now there's a stump there. Did I take a tree down on my property trying to build
something else there? No. I did it because the tree was falling over and died so I had to remove it.
I can't speak to the former owner or what he's done or promised or what sort of relationship you've
had with him but for some reason we are getting some of the backlash from prior feelings from his
being here. That's a little unfair. I've lived here for 50 years and I'm not going anywhere, I don't
think I'll be here the next 50 but hopefully another 20 or 30 anyway. I understand the issue about
wanting to keep trees and Urban Forestry, I appreciate what they do but it's like when they present
it it's like, `oh yeah they're trying to give us these trees that are no good.' Well, I don't know who
determines what's a good tree and what's not a good tree and we're not trying to pull the wool
over anyone's eyes and try to give you apples for oranges. We're just trying to develop a piece of
property in an area where housing is still needed and yes, if it was going to be more palatablc to
do something from a standpoint of affordable housing, and Mr. Ginger called the Fayetteville
Housing Authority to ask them what affordable housing was so somewhere in this town there is a
definition of affordable housing. It's not something I get to determine or you all have to determine,
but the housing authority itself has one. Jonathan, did you say that you weren't sure whether we
would have enough? Mr. Williams, you said that he said there wasn't going to be enough room to
even do the canopy or the tree preservation that needed to be done for the project, even without
the preservation. Is that what you said or you said you didn't think that?
Jonathan Curth: Mayor would you like for me to answer?
Mayor Jordan: Yes. You have five minutes, so you're running out of time. Go ahead and answer.
Jonathan Curth: It's difficult to tell based on the drawing we have here, but the underlying zoning
district requires 20% of the canopy on the property to be preserved and based on the layout of what
I'm looking at as was shared, it doesn't appear that could be accommodated.
Council Member Wiederkehr commended the applicants for inviting Council to view the
property. He did not believe the developers were trying to do anything sneaky and commended
them for doing business the way they did by contacting the Council and staff. He stated the
developers bought a parcel and the title revealed there was a tree preservation easement and that
the lot was undevelopable so he assumed they got a good price for purchasing undevelopable land.
He stated the developers took a risk but it did not obligate the Council to participate in the risk. He
believed trees were in Fayetteville's DNA and that they were an important part of the city's
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preservation. He stated he would be siding with the two Urban Foresters who spoke because they
work day in and out to protect trees and the future of Fayetteville. He did not support the request.
Council Member Turk stated she received calls about people wanting more tree preservations,
not less, and to strengthen the tree preservation ordinance. She was not interested in undermining
or creating a precedent for that. She appreciated the applicants for coming forward and thinking
creatively. She noted that in the last year we had lost seven acres of full forest to an apartment
complex to the southeast of the area. She stated the amount of tree canopy and carbon sequestration
we were losing was phenomenal because tree saplings do not take carbon out for at least another
20 years. She hoped that with the new information coming out in regard to climate change we
would take a bigger picture and think about if the planet would be inhabitable in 30 or 40 years.
She was not in support of the item and believed we needed to push for more preservation, not less.
Mayor Jordan: I have a little history with this piece of property myself. I remember back, and
Kit can tell you this and I will be very brief. He remembers this was set up while he was on the
Council; this tree preservation. Isn't that correct Kit?
City Attorney Kit Williams: I thought that was correct but I've been corrected by the foresters. I
was already the City Attorney at the time and you were on the Council.
Mayor Jordan stated he remembered setting up the tree preservation. He noted that Council
Member Turk and Bunch were present on the tour of the property in the past. He remembered that
the previous owners went into the tree preservation and sawed down the trees. He briefly spoke of
a similar situation that happened on a tree preservation on Wedington. He stated the city gave their
word that the lot would be a tree preservation and he stated he held peoples words accountable. He
believed you couldn't take two inch saplings and replace an Oak tree and stated the tree canopy
was beginning to get smaller and smaller. He noted that housing was a need and a crisis but that
we couldn't break our word and sell off the tree canopy with the old growth trees. He stated if the
item ended up a tie he would not support it and that he intended to keep his word if he had to.
Council Member Harvey moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Turk seconded
the motion. Upon roll call the resolution failed 2-6. Council Members Hertzberg and Jones
voted yes. Council Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk and Harvey voted
no.
This resolution failed.
Amend §157.05 Conditional Use Permit: An ordinance to amend subsection (B) of § 157.05
Conditional Use Permit in Chapter 157 Notification and Public Hearings of the Unified
Development Code to require public notification when the denial of a Conditional Use Permit by
the Planning Commission is appealed to the City Council.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
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Britin Bostick, Long Range Planning/Special Projects Manager gave a brief description of the
ordinance. She stated staff noted they were seeing more Conditional Use Permits now that they
were required for Type 2 Short -Term Rentals. She briefly spoke of the current policy for
Conditional Use Permits and public notification. She briefly spoke of the new administrative
process improvements staff made in regard to notification. She stated that staff and the Planning
Commission recommended approval of the item with a vote of 7-0. She stated there had been no
public comment received for the item.
Council Member Turk thanked staff for improving the transparency and communication of the
process. She thanked Britin Bostick for moving the process forward.
Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council
Member Harvey seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
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 Harvey seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
Ordinance 6635 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
RZN 22-051 (1030 S. Hollywood Ave.): An ordinance to rezone that property described in
rezoning petition RZN 22-051 located at 1030 South Hollywood Avenue in Ward 1 for
approximately 0.61 acres from RSF-4, Residential Single -Family, 4 units per acre and P-1,
Institutional to CS, Community Services.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He
stated staff found the request to be compatible with the surrounding area. He stated staff found the
request to be consistent with the city's long range goals and that the area was designated on the
Future Land Use Map as an Urban Center area. He noted the property had an infill rating that was
high and the request would reduce the tree preservation requirement. He stated staff recommended
in favor of the request and the Planning Commission felt similarly, forwarding it to City Council
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unanimously. He stated there was limited comment from the commission and there had been no
comment from the public. He noted Payne Phillips was online as the applicant for the item.
Payne Phillips, Applicant stated he was there for any questions the Council may have.
Mayor Jordan: What questions does the Council have for the staff or the applicant? Have you all
had any public comment?
Council Member Harvey: I have not, no public comment.
Council Member Harvey moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council
Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members
Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council Member
Hertzberg was absent.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Council Member Harvey moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading.
Council Member Wiederkehr seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0.
Council Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes.
Council Member Hertzberg was absent.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
Ordinance 6636 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
VAC 22-026 (4267 West Lierly Lane): An ordinance to approve VAC 22-026 for property
located at 4267 West Lierly Lane in Ward 4 to vacate a portion of a general utility easement.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He
noted to the new Council Members that general utility easements were those that were open to all
franchises. He stated staff found no issues with the request and that all the utility companies had
consented to the proposal. He stated that AT&T wanted to retain any easements for their facilities
in the area, although they had not identified any. He stated staff recommended the item be approved
by Council and that as an easement vacation request the item did not go to Planning Commission
and did not have a public notification element. He stated the applicant was unable to attend the
meeting and asked that if Council was comfortable with their request that it be approved but
otherwise to please leave it on a reading so they could attend a future meeting.
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Mayor Jordan: So, they want to table it?
Jonathan Curth: They don't want it tabled, they feel it is a very straight forward request but if
Council has any heartburn about it they ask that it be left for future consideration.
Mayor Jordan asked what the Council would like to do with the item.
Council Member Bunch stated the item looked straightforward and she would like to vote on it.
Council Member Turk moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council
Member Moore seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members
Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council Member
Hertzberg was absent.
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 Moore seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
Ordinance 6637 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
VAC 22-025 (East of North Storer Ave.): An ordinance to approve VAC 22-025 for property
located east of North Storer Avenue in Ward 2 to vacate a portion of a utility easement.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He
stated the property was currently undeveloped. He noted there was a public city sanitary main that
ran along the east side of the property. He stated two of the conditions described in the packet were
to retain a portion of the existing easement where it currently overlapped with the sewer main and
the other was to have easement dedicated over the line to protect it and allow the city to access it
and maintain it. He stated staff received consent from all of the franchise utilities. He noted that
the applicants request letter stated they wanted to vacate the easement so they could preserve more
trees on the property. He stated staff recommended in favor of the request with the conditions City
Attorney Kit Williams noted, including dedication of the SWEPCO easement, retention of the
easement for the sanitary line and dedication of new easement for part of the sanitary line not in
the easement. He stated Casey Curlee was the applicant of the item.
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Mayor Jordan questioned if the applicant was present.
Jonathan Curth: I don't see them online.
Council Member Turk: Jonathan, could you go back to the slide where you have the easements
overlapping? i want to make sure i understand what's being vacated. So, is it just the orange
portion that's the request for the vacation and then the blue and the green still stand?
Jonathan Curth: That's correct. That portion where the blue and the orange overlap will be
retained so it won't be vacated. The intent is to dedicate enough to give, as the utility department
calls it, coverage so that they can get a backhoe or other vehicles in. It's not currently in an
easement which is the primary concern.
Council Member Turk thanked Jonathan Curth.
Council Member Harvey moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council
Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members
Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council Member
Hertzberg was absent.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan: Council Member Moore, have you or Council Member Wiederkehr heard
anything from anybody?
There was brief conversation that nothing had been heard.
Council Member Harvey 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 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
Ordinance 6638 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
VAC 22-027 (103 N. Plainview): An ordinance to approve VAC 22-027 for property located at
103 North Plainview Avenue in Ward 3 to vacate a portion of a water and sewer easement.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
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Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He
stated that only one franchise needed to sign off on the easement and that was the city's utility
department, they did so without proposing any conditions of approval. He stated staff did not have
any issues with the request and recommended it be approved with a standard condition of approval
that any damage or relocation to any facilities would need to be done at the applicants expense. He
stated Tim McMahon was the applicant for the item.
Mayor Jordan: Would the applicant like to speak for the Council?
Tim McMahon, Applicant stated he was available for questions -
Mayor Jordan: Council Member Bunch have you heard anything? You or Council Member
Berna?
No Council Member's spoke of hearing any comment.
Council Member Harvey moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Council
Member Turk seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council Members
Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council Member
Hertzberg was absent.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Council Member Harvey 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 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Council Member Bunch: I think you were trying to ask me if I had received any comments on
this and I was having trouble with my computer at the time. I have not received any emails,
comments or calls about this.
Mayor Jordan asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the motion passed 7-0. Council
Members Moore, Wiederkehr, Berna, Bunch, Turk, Harvey and Jones voted yes. Council
Member Hertzberg was absent.
Ordinance 6639 as Recorded in the office of the City Clerk
VAC 22-024 (Razorback Rd. Maple St., Etc.): An ordinance to approve VAC 22-024 for
property located along Razorback Road, Maple Street, Garland Avenue, Cleveland Street, Hill
Avenue, Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and Lt. Colonel Leroy Pond Avenue in Wards 1
and 2 to vacate portions of street rights -of -way.
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City Attorney Kit Williams read the ordinance.
Jonathan Curth, Development Services Director gave a brief description of the ordinance. He
briefly spoke of the issue with the request being it was just an initial step in the whole process and
that if the Council approved the vacation it would set into motion drafting of agreements and
easements which would be subject to approvals. He spoke of a concern that Council Member Turk
had on whether they were protecting the franchise utilities and stated that concern was addressed
in the current document. He noted that the applicant had to reaffirm the consents by going back to
all of the utilities to confirm that nothing had changed and that they had received the consents in
all instances. He briefly spoke of how he had discussed the item with the Public Works Director
since Agenda Session. He stated staff recommended approval of the request and noted that the
item was on the agenda for a Town and Gown meeting in the next couple of weeks. He noted Chris
Brown, Public Works Director was present for questions and that Jay Young was present as
representative for the University of Arkansas.
Jay Young, University of Arkansas Representative stated Jonathan Curth had done a good job in
describing the request. He briefly spoke of the request and the history with the property. He stated
the University of Arkansas had always intended to come back at some point and request the right-
of-way be vacated and cleaned up. He spoke of how when the Highway 112 became delisted and
transferred to the city, it became an opportunity for the University to work directly with the City
of Fayetteville to create the current draft proposal for approval. He stated that with the coordination
they had done with the City Engineering Department, City Planning Department and the City Legal
Department, they felt as though they were at a good position now for the Council to review and
approve the item. He was available for questions.
Jonathan Curth stated he was remiss in excluding pieces of information, he stated that as a right-
of-way vacation the item did go to the Planning Commission and they were able to consider it with
the conditions as drafted and they forwarded it to the Council feeling as though it addressed the
concerns from last year. He stated they had received a large amount of public inquiries on the item
but not a single one expressed support or opposition. He stated there were concerns about the item
being a big issue and to make sure it was adequately notified so they posted ten signs.
Council Member Turk: I live close to where that sidewalk is going in, right by Reed Hall. There
is a lot of construction going on right now and I'm getting a lot of complaints and then I see this
vacation coming forward. What consideration is the University having in terms of noise and those
things that may affect the citizens that abut or are adjacent to the University?
Jay Young: I am not a part of the project you are talking about, that was a different consulting
firm. It's a separate project from this one so I can't directly answer your question. I would say, in
all the years I've worked on the University, Facilities Management is very good at keeping the
contractors in good operating procedures. If there is ever a concern by city or a private citizen, if
they would contact FAMA they would be happy to address your concern and answer your question.
Council Member Turk stated she wanted to put that comment out there and that she knew they
would be talking about it at the Town and Gown meeting later in the month. She believed it may
be an ongoing issue and hoped the University would be sensitive to it.
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Council Member Wiederkehr: My only question would be if the city has any conduit under the
land being vacated for fiberoptic or in our negotiations if we would ensure that if the University
does install new sidewalk that we would have the right to install the conduit for our own use. Thank
you and that's not a deal breaker on tonight's vote, maybe just a note to file for the future.
Jonathan Curth: I can do my best to answer that. I don't believe there's any component of this
agreement that includes adding conduit under what would be vacated. If our current GIS maps are
accurate, we do not have any conduit in that area, the nearest is in the Ramble to the east of campus.
Mayor Jordan believed that was a good question and stated they needed to look into that further.
City Attorney Kit Williams questioned if Public Works Director, Chris Brown, had any
comments about the item.
Chris Brown, Public Works Director did not have any comments.
Mayor Jordan: Do you all want to advance it one more reading? What do you want to do?
Council Member Turk: I would like to table it, not advance it tonight. It's been late and Council
Member Wiederkehr brought up a good question that needs to have some further consideration.
Mayor Jordan: You're right. Do you just want to leave it on the first reading?
Council Member Turk: That would be great with me.
City Attorney Kit Williams: We might want to ask the University what their plans are, especially
if I hear construction is already under way. Do you know what the construction time is?
Jay Young did not believe the construction effort had anything to do with the particular item they
were discussing tonight. He stated that with this particular item they were going to do the ordinance
first and then follow that up with all of the conditions that needed to be met. He briefly spoke of
the conditions, agreements and the proposed area. He stated that if the item advanced through all
three readings and was approved it would kick off the rest of what was needed. He stated they had
reached out to individual franchise utilities and discussed where their existing utilities were, where
the existing easements were and what they're going to require when the easements are done. He
stated they had mapping and were preparing to call for meetings with city departments to review
the stormwater, water and sewer and traffic signalizations so they could get the easements drafted
to the requirements. He noted the maintenance agreement was the opportunity for the University
of Arkansas and the City of Fayetteville to outline all of the requirements for the use of the land
that went from the back of the sidewalk to the curb line. He spoke more on their current proposal.
He stated that until all of the conditions of approval were satisfied by all parties, the vacation would
not be executed and would not become legal and valid until all nine conditions were approved. He
asked the Council to approve all three readings and let the item go forward.
City Attorney Kit Williams: Obviously staff and the University have worked on this for a long
time and I was part of the hold up when it came here from the Planning Commission. The City
113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov
City Council Meeting Minutes
January 03, 2023
Page 35 of 35
Council has just seen this, this is seven acres of right-of-way vacation so you don't really need it
approved tonight, right? I know you'd like to get it approved tonight but this is not going to throw
your schedule off if they delay and wait for a later meeting.
Jay Young: No, that is true. The end result is still going to be a few months from now when all of
these conditions have been met, all the documents have been reviewed, commented on, revised,
submitted and final approved. It doesn't delay the end result it would just allow this to move
forward at this point. I do understand.
Council Member Turk thanked Jay Young for his explanation. She would like to hold the item
for two weeks.
Mayor Jordan: When is the next Town and Gown meeting?
Susan Norton, Chief of Staff: January 23r6
This ordinance was left on the First Reading.
Announcements: None
City Council Ap_enda Session Presentations:
Agenda Session Presentation - Sales Tax Report, Paul Becker.
Energy Report, Peter Nierengarten.
City Council Tour: None
Adiournment: 10:17 p.m.
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113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov