Downtown Master Plan Approved
One Neighborhood Pulled from Map
Last updated Tuesday, October 3, 2006 10:29 PM CDT in News
By Dan Craft
The Morning News
FAYETTEVILLE -- Three years of planning culminated Tuesday night in the passage of a new downtown master plan.
The proposal was unanimously approved by the Fayetteville City Council after four of five proposed amendments were accepted.
The biggest change was the removal of a neighborhood near the University of Arkansas campus from the overall plan.
Portions of the West Lafayette Historic District were pulled from the downtown zoning map. The area, bounded on the east and west by Gregg and Arkansas avenues, on the north by Maple Street and on the south by the Sigma Nu fraternity house property, will remain outside the plan. That area will be governed by regular city zoning standards.
Some property owners in the area had objected to inclusion in the plan, saying the area is a neighborhood and not part of commercial downtown areas.
Some residents asked that a vote on the master plan be delayed until after the Nov. 7 election because of a vacant Ward 2 seat on the council.
"The conflict is fair and equal representation. Without full representation of Ward 2, there will be questions of validity from some people," said resident Mark Kinyon. "There's an appearance of impropriety."
Former alderman Don Marr had input throughout the process, and the protections offered by the plan are needed, said Ward 2 alderman Kyle Cook.
"We've struggled to get to this point, and we need to move forward," Cook said. "There will be changes to this plan, because there can be no perfect plan, but this is a snapshot in time, and it's a snapshot we need to take."
Most of the area covered in the master plan sits within the boundaries of Ward 2. Cook has been the only ward representative since Marr resigned in August.
Downtown zoning changes were first considered in 2003, when the city asked consulting firm Dover Kohl to produce a draft master plan for the area.
"This has been a long time coming," Mayor Dan Coody said.
The plan utilizes four different zoning designations, each with different allowable uses, densities and height restrictions. Amendments directing any height variance requests to the Planning Commission and directing height measurements to follow the contours of a lot were approved Tuesday.
A proposal to change parts of two blocks along Rock Street to a higher-density designation was denied by the council.
Richard Alexander, owner of one of the parcels along the street, argued that being across the street from the Fayetteville Town Center made a higher-density zoning appropriate.
Council members, however, objected to the change, which would have allowed a six-story building on the property and could have blocked the southern view from the Town Center.
"We will work with you to do as much as you can with that property without compromising that view," Coody told Alexander.
The plan has been debated, modified and reviewed so much that further changes were pointless, Cook said.
"We've struggled to get to this point," he said. "We could debate about every single property in the downtown area, but we'd never get anywhere. This plan will change over time, there's no doubt about that, but it's time to get this done."
By the Numbers
Fayetteville 2006 City Millage Levy
1.3 mills -- General Fund Operations
1.0 mill -- City Library
0.4 mill -- Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund
0.4 mill -- Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Source: City of Fayetteville
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