A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held at 6 p.m. April 3 in room 219 of City Hall, 113 W. Mountain St.
Below is a brief overview of action taken at the meeting including links to PDF documents for each item.
Roll Call
Present: Adella Gray, Brenda Boudreaux, Mark Kinion, Matthew Petty, Mayor Lioneld Jordan, Justin Tennant, Bobby Ferrell, Rhonda Adams, Sarah Lewis
Absent: None
Presentations, Reports and Discussion Items
Nominating Committee member Adella Gray presented the group’s recommended nominees for two open seats that were not included in the committee’s report on March 20. The following individuals were approved:
Michael Ferguson – Civil Service Commission
Jon Edwards – Housing Authority Board of Adjustments
The following individuals were approved on March 20.
William Lyle – Advertising and Promotion Commission
Brian Hogue – Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals
Joe Kieklak – Environmental Action Committee
Brenda Boudreaux – Fayetteville Public Library Board of Trustees
Susan Graham – Fayetteville Public Library Board of Trustees
David Proffitt – Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
Craig Honchell – Planning Commission
Porter Winston – Planning Commission
Ryan Noble – Planning Commission
Blake Pennington – Planning Commission
Consent
All items on the Consent portion of the agenda passed unanimously. It should be noted that the Keeling Company item was pulled and amended to include the sales tax before being approved.
Consent items
| Item | Description | Action | |
|---|---|---|---|
| McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. Amendment No. 1 |  |
A resolution approving Amendment No. 1 to the agreement with the McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. for airport engineering services. | Pass 8-0 |
| Keeling Company | |
A resolution authorizing purchase of an additional two irrigation wheels from Keeling Company in the amount of $77,333.34, pursuant to Bid #11-71, for effluent irrigation to hay fields. | Pass 8-0 |
| Crafton Tull & Associates | |
A resolution approving a contract with Crafton Tull & Associates in an amount not to exceed $120,000 for engineering services to design water and sewer creek crossing repairs related to Spring 2011 floods, approving a project contingency of $6,000, and approving a budget adjustment. | Pass 8-0 |
| Bid #12-14 Heckathorn Construction Company | |
A resolution awarding Bid #12-14 and approving a contract with Heckathorn Construction Company in the amount of $42,421 for the structural repair of three storm damaged structures at the biosolids management site. | Pass 8-0 |
| Environmental Consulting Operations, Inc. Amendment No. 6 | |
A resolution approving Amendment No. 6 to the Engineering Contract with Environmental Consulting Operations, Inc. in the amount of $42,660 for pipeline stormwater, wetlands, and environmental issues and 2012 wetland site maintenance and reporting. | Pass 8-0 |
| IES Interactive Training USA | |
A resolution approving an agreement with IES Interactive Training USA in the amount of $28,462.90, pursuant to a federal procurement agreement with the General Services Administration, for the purchase of a Use of Force Simulator for the Police Department. | Pass 8-0 |
Unfinished Business
All three items on the Unfinished Business portion of the agenda passed including an ordinance to allow the City Council to authorize up to five unrelated persons to live in some units of a planned zoning district.
Unfinished Business items
| Item | Description | Action | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amend Chapter 151 Definition of “Family” | |
An ordinance to allow the City Council to authorize up to five unrelated persons in some units of a planned zoning district. This item was removed from the table on March 20. | Pass 6-2* |
| RZN 12-4028 | |
An ordinance rezoning 2.18 acres on Abshier Heights from Residential PZD to Residential Single-Family, 8 units per acre. This ordinance was left on the first reading on March 20. | Pass 8-0 |
| ADM 12-4029 | |
An ordinance amending a 4.11-acre residential PZD on Abshier Drive. This ordinance was left on the first reading on March 20. | Pass 8-0 |
* Council members Kinion and Lewis voted no.
New Business
Two New Business items were left on the second reading while two items passed including a resolution to grant the appeal of Kum & Go and to amend and approve its large-scale development plans on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
New Business items
| Item | Description | Action | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Urban Stormwater Education Program | |
An ordinance to waive formal competitive bidding and to approve a memorandum of understanding with the MS4 Jurisdictions and the NWA Regional Planning Commission in the amount of $45,969 for the Regional Urban Stormwater Education Program. | Pass 8-0 |
| RZN 12-4042 | |
An ordinance rezoning 4.9 acres at 1700 Old Wire Rd. from RSF-4, Residential Single Family, 4 units per acre to NC, Neighborhood Conservation, subject to a Bill of Assurance. | Left on 2nd reading |
| Amend Chapter 161 | |
An ordinance to Amend section 161.14 of the city code by repealing the separate setbacks for multi-family structures built within the Hillside/Hilltop Overlay District. | Left on 2nd reading |
| Kum & Go, L.C. | |
A resolution to grant the appeal of Kum & Go, L.C. and to amend and approve its large scale development to agree with the plat submitted with its appeal letter. | Pass 5-3** |
** Council members Petty, Kinion and Lewis voted no.
April 3, 2012 final agenda
Definition of family changed rom three tto five unrelated individuals in a single residence passes 6 to 2 ? Seriously? I am dumbfounded. Are Kinion and Lewis the only Aldermen that have a clue how the folks around town feel about this? Could this issue (in addition to the parking fiasco) be the final blow for Petty and Jordan sealing their defeats in the November election? Perhaps Uncle Walt will get into the Mayoral race to win this time. Who will unseat Petty? Adam Fire Cat are you still in Ward 2? Petty has a legacy of trouble that should make him very vulnerable.
Maybe Kinion should run for Mayor. He could get the support of strong grassroots neighborhood activists in Salem Heights (street issue), Sang Valley, Sunset Woods and other FCON neighborhood activists, all the bar smokers and the Pride Paraders? At least he seems to listen to the diverse voice of the community without the condescending arrogance of Petty or oblivious pandering to the Smith and Marr team which is pulling the strings in the Mayor’s office. Mayor Jordan is a nice man but wake up and smell the coffee Mr. Jordan. Lame ducks like Thiel, Gray and Farrell can afford to turn a deaf ear to public sentiment but Petty and Jordan are going to have some explaining to do between Now and November! I wonder if that parking money could be used to build some five bedroom single family residential student resort housing out on the Marinoni Property where the big Walton Arts Center was NOT located?
The Mayor has nothing to do with this issue. He doesn’t even have a vote unless there is a 4-4 split decision. What do you mean by “wake up and smell the coffee Mr. Jordan”?
Looks like Michael may have a crystal ball. All the people who spoke at the meeting seemed to be ignored by most of the aldermen/women. Ward 1 may as well not have any reps on the council.
I got to see the ordinance review committee meeting a few weeks back and one of the ward 1 reps was bad mouthing citizens for speaking up about something she had made her mind up about.
The council does not represent the people, unless you have millions of dollars worth of property or are a member of the downtown Rotary.
Maybe Michael is referring to the company the mayor keeps as his right hand man. HE NEEDS TO GO before he takes the mayor down.
Mayor Jordan is a nice guy but he is mostly there for photo ops and baby kissin. There is a clique in the city calling all the shots; the mayor’s right hand (and left), Don Marr + Lindsley Smith, and a few others, dictate 90% of what happens in Fayetteville. Pretty sad.
Sounds to me like they approved what will become the ghetto in 15 years time. Density is good in some ways, but the city needs to be smart about it. Nothing about a “student resort” type large neighborhood development sounds appealing. These are not built for long-term use or sustainability. This is not a real neighborhood being built. This is an intentional all-renter community that will deteriorate over time.
This is very short-sighted, and the people living near it should be rightly pissed.
Its amazing to see how some very high quality developments were nit-picked five years back, and now it seems like every single thing brought to the table gets passed. Everything. No matter what it is.
/rant
Just to clarify, the project you are speaking of wasn’t up for a vote last night. When that project does come to Council, I for one won’t vote to approve it if it doesn’t contain some commercial elements along the frontage of Wedington. That corner property is too important for the entire thing to go residential.
Thanks Petty. There is a lot of student housing coming online in the next two years already. I’m happy with what Modus is doing, but my concerns about these other types of developments is in my rant above. It just sounds like creating a duplex fortress. They’re not duplexes! I know, but that kind of “suburban-density” in a street-parked area just sounds like a recipe for killing the property values of existing homeowners over the long run. They may start out “shiny and new” and for students, but as they deteriorate, that will also change.
This is a valid concern and developing this stretch of Wedington in a helpful way is challenging. It needs to have a variety of uses and be friendly to pedestrians. It shouldn’t be high density like a downtown area or central businesses district, but it shouldn’t be low density like a suburb, either. It needs to be somewhere in the middle, so that the transition from the Wedington/540 intersection to the university through the neighborhood is smooth.
Here is a great article on that “missing middle” density and how to create it. This is the concept that led me to cosponsor the change in the definition and that will guide my vote on any proposed project for the land you referenced. http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/dan-parolek/17698/missing-middle-housing-responding-demand-urban-living
Interesting suggestion about Mr. Kinion considering a mayoral run. I can vouch that he was very timely about answering me recently, in fact called me in response to an email, and is tuned-in to the issues because he actually lives in the center of town and is subject himself to all the forces that operate here. Most of the votes that constantly approve obnoxious events and pretentious Dallas style development downtown do not live here and thus really seem to care less. ‘If you don’t like it, move somewhere else’ seems to be the reaction to the quality of life decline home owners are facing in the center of town.