Planning and Zoning commissioners voted Tuesday to recommend denial of a controversial housing development on the edge of city limits Tuesday. The proposal, which prompted 31 minutes of public comments, was for a preliminary plat development permit for the Chavez, Stubbs Mobile Home Park at 2603 South Lincoln Street, south of the Southpointe Addition.
Bob Michael led off the public comments section of the meeting, asking whether they would have police protection from Siloam Springs, as he said response times from the county were too high. Commission chairman Carl Mounger responded that because a condition of approval was annexation, the area would be policed by the city.
Brad Green, who owns property in the area, raised three concerns that were reiterated by several later speakers. The first concern Green raised was that of drainage. Green said the area already reaches near-flood levels, and he expressed concern over the addition of more homes in the area without sufficient drainage.
Green also said he did not want a trailer park to be the first thing visitors to the city saw if they were driving up Arkansas Highway 59 into town. Finally, Green said the project would adversely affect the values of the buildings he and others owned nearby.
Other concerns raised by speakers included the addition of more traffic onto what nearby church pastor Mike Horton said was already a dangerous area, a concern raised by a Siloam Springs School District bus driver about the feasibility of driving a bus into a stub-out street, and the opposition of several speakers to the introduction of low-cost housing to the area.
"All of their points, I don't see one point valid," said Javier Chavez, the applicant, after the meeting. "If they don't want a mobile home trailer park, they need to work with the county and the state and remove that option."
"They don't want to have low income housing, that's not right. Everybody deserves the chance to have a decent place to live. People can't afford a house, they can afford a trailer," said Chavez.
Chavez said if the preliminary plat permit is denied, he would return with a proposal for an apartment building on the property.
The city's staff report noted that staff had received multiple complaints on the proposal. However, the report notes that the reason staff recommended denial was because the design for the proposed street does not comply with city standards. The recommendation for denial is not because of the proposed land use, the report stated.
The street in question, Emelyn Lane, is a "no outlet" street that is longer than 500 feet, which is prohibited under city code, according to the city staff report.
Ron Homeyer, the project's civil engineer, spoke in defense of the proposal. Homeyer said the proposed project could not be laid out differently to meet the city's standards because of the city's lot size requirements and a pond on the property that would get in the way of efforts to turn the road for an outlet.
Homeyer also said the applicants are working with the school district to ensure safe passage for buses, which could result in a cul-de-sac being added to the plans.
Commissioner Kolin Blakely said he would be voting against the proposal because of staff's recommendation. Blakely said the job of the commission was to rule on whether a proposal met city code, not whether a proposed land use sounds like a good idea.
A motion was made to deny the permit, and it passed unanimously. Mounger was the only commissioner to give a reason for their vote, which he said was cast because of traffic concerns. The vote elicited applause from the crowd assembled in the board room. The vote was 5-0 with no abstentions. Commissioners John Engle and J.W. Smith were absent.
Because the Planning and Zoning Commission only makes recommendations on permits, instead of being the final authority on permits, the permit will still be heard by the Board of Directors on June 6.
The proposed mobile home park would consist of 40 leased spaces on 8.64 acres of land. The project would also include three commercially-zoned lots, including one lot for a detention basin for drainage of the entire 10 acres, according to the city staff report on the proposal.
Currently, the land on which the park would stand is outside city limits, in Benton County. As a condition of the proposal, the land would then be annexed into the city, which would then provide utilities to the park.
The commission also:
• approved a rezone permit for 2277 Dawn Hill Road from A-1 to R-2.
• approved a related lot split permit for the same property as the above rezone permit.
The Board of Adjustments met shortly before the Planning and Zoning Commission. The Board approved a single variance for a driveway at Fire Station 3. The Fire Department requested a variance permit to widen a driveway past the width allowed under code. The extra space was needed to allow trucks to back straight into a bay without having to turn while backing up. There was no discussion on the permit, which was approved unanimously.
General News on 05/14/2017