Fayetteville Speaks: Stick to the plan
On Monday, March 9, in a narrow 5-4 vote the Fayetteville Planning Commission, on recommendation of the city’s own planning staff, ignored the sentiments of hundreds of citizens involved with the Walker Park Neighborhood planning charettes of 2008 by re-zoning the corner of South and College from Neighborhood Conservation to Downtown General.
Residents of the Walker Park Neighborhood, as well as the City Council, previously agreed this intersection should be zoned Neighborhood Conservation and that South Street would be the boundary line between the Downtown General and Neighborhood Conservation zones.
Now it appears that the city’s own planning staff and a majority of their commissioners once again support the Downtown General zone, which would allow a 3 story 12 unit apartment complex or a myriad of other things, just a block south of one of Fayetteville’s most dangerous intersection (College, Rock & Archibald Yell). Allowing this will reverse the decade-long effort of residents to revitalize this part of south Fayetteville into the less dense, peaceful, pedestrian-bicycle friendly tree lined neighborhood it was designed to be. Almost more disturbing than this is the city’s own planning staff ignoring the sentiments of the majority of the residents that actually live in and know the complexities of the neighborhood.
If you participated in the Walker Park Neighborhood planning charettes and believe this area should remain free of apartments, please contact Mayor Jordan and your aldermen as soon as possible and let them know how you feel. Hundreds of residents participated in the charette planning process in 2008 and to overturn their vision when the Walker Park Neighborhood Master Plan is not even a year old is simply unacceptable. Please tell your aldermen to stick to the plan and give it a chance to work.
Tony Wappel
Fayetteville
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Comments
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By Total Bastard on March 16th, 2009
Word, Tony.
What is the point of zoning “Neighborhood Conservation” if you will essentially spot-zone for people? Springdale is really good at ignoring its zoning laws. Its not a good way to go for any city.
Walker Park has the chance to be a great little area, and its moving closer to that every day. More apartments are NOT needed down there.
Doesn’t Fayetteville have huge apartment vacancies already? Why more apartments? Not only why more apartments, why more apartments where
By Total Bastard on March 16th, 2009
the zoning has been explicitly catered to encourage single-family development?
By Michael on March 17th, 2009
Where are you getting that the College, Rock & Archibald Yell intersection is Fayetteville’s most dangerous? The last time the state released its data a couple years back the most dangerous intersection not just in Fayetteville, but the entire state was College and Joyce just south of the mall.
The area around Walker Park is looking hugely improved from how it was in the late 80s/90s when I played baseball there.
By Lisa Sharp on March 22nd, 2009
We live just a couple of blocks from that crazy intersection and I have made my children promise to drive out of their way to avoid it. If it’s not the most dangerous intersection in Fayetteville, it can only be because so many of us dread it and drive around it.
I’m generally for mixed use in neighborhoods, but this is a different situation. Why organize all the charettes and community input if it is cast aside so readily? How long will citizens give up their time to participate in these community planning events if they realize that their collective voice means so little much of the time?