Fayetteville City Council recap: Oct. 6, 2020

The project is similar to the previous item, in that it will extend access into the undeveloped property west of Gregg Avenue.

The partnership with the railroad also includes the closing of another crossing in town. The proposal calls for closing the crossing south of Township Street. Staff said it’s another low-use crossing that provides a second option for accessing Ridout Lumber and Arkansas Self Storage, but both businesses could still be accessed from the improved railroad crossing to the north at Township Street.

Funding will come from the 2019 Transportation Bond Program.

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June 4 Discussion:
City staff suggested tabling this item as well after some council members questioned the economic benefit of this new crossing. The council voted unanimously to table the item.

Aug. 4 Discussion:
Staff said the developer of the property has shared conceptual plans for the remainder of the land that includes over $150 million in construction for Phase 1 of a development that includes a mixture of residential, restaurant/retail, and an anchor business that could all potentially employ almost 1,000 people. Staff said if those plans are developed to completion as proposed, the cost of the railroad crossing would be recovered by tax receipts from the construction alone, resulting in a net profit to the city’s tax base beginning in the first year after construction.

City Engineer Chris Brown offered an amendment requiring approval of a large-scale development for the first phase of development of 100,000 square feet of “commercial employment space” before the project could begin.

Economic Vitality Director Devin Howland gave a presentation on the project about what the new crossing would allow for. Howland said Washington Regional is planning a 100,000-square-foot medical facility that would also come with some apartments, and likely restaurants and retail development. The two phases would cost more than $150 million. Howland said he estimated the project would pay for itself in the first year after the development is complete.

The council agreed to table the item for two weeks. The discussion will continue on Aug. 18.

Aug. 18 Discussion:
Mayor Jordan said after meeting with AMR, there are still some issues with the removal of the crossing in front of Ridout Lumber. He said more time is needed to work out an agreement.

City staff said businesses in the area don’t want to see the crossing closed. Alternatives could include creating a connection south to Poplar Street, improving the current crossing or looking at other crossings in town that could be closed.

The council voted to table the item. The discussion will continue on Sept. 1.

Sept. 1 Discussion:
Staff said several options were presented to the Transportation Committee, including building an alternate connection to Poplar Street, paying for improvements at the crossing by Ridout to limit the railroad’s liability and see if that appeases the railroad, or closing another crossing in town at Frisco Avenue since the railroad really wants to close a crossing if a new one is added.

The Transportation Committee voted 3-0 to close the Frisco closing, but the Active Transportation Advisory Committee didn’t like that idea and voted 7-0 to recommend keeping that closing open to all traffic. The ATAC preferred that the council improve the Frisco crossing instead of just closing it.

Since then, city planners have come up with some preliminary drawings for three options to extend the existing road in front of Ridout to the south at Poplar Street.

Here are those drawings:

Some council members said they’d first like to get some input from the area businesses about the options before making a decision.

Council Member Marsh suggested closing the crossing at Jocelyn Lane or Quality Lane. Staff said Jocelyn has a home on it and sees trail traffic and Quality Lane has an apartment complex on it, but if the council wants to pursue closing those crossings, they will see what the railroad company thinks about it. Marsh also suggested closing both the Ridout crossing and the Jocelyn or Quality crossing to possibly allow the University Avenue crossing to stay open (a decision to close that crossing came at the previous meeting).

During public comment, Ross Ridout said the crossing in front of his business is absolutely necessary for his delivery trucks. He said those trucks can’t use the existing roadway that leads to the Township Street crossing because the road isn’t wide enough for two-way traffic, especially when railroad cars are unloaded there. He said the reason he chose the location for his business was because of the crossing access. He said he’s a good customer of the railroad and he thinks if the city pushes back hard enough, the railroad might agree to drop the issue and allow the crossing to stay open even with the addition of a new crossing for the planned development to the north. He said two of the options for an alternate route would require 18-wheeler trucks to have to turn around which isn’t safe. His preference, if something must happen, is for the city to pay for improvements to the existing crossing and see if the railroad would agree to that.

The council agreed to table the item until Sept. 15 to allow more time to discuss the issue with the railroad.

Sept. 15 Discussion:
City engineer Chris Brown said the city and the railroad are at a bit of an impasse at the moment in their discussions on some of the previously proposed crossings.

He said that closing a crossing at Jocelyn across from Stone Mill Bread is a possibility currently being discussed, but more work and discussion is needed.

Brown said staff needs at least a couple more weeks before making a recommendation.

The council voted unanimously to table the discussion until the Oct. 6 meeting.

Oct. 6 Discussion:
City Engineer Chris Brown said discussions with the railroad are ongoing, and requested this item be tabled.

The council tabled the item indefinitely to allow for the discussions to continue.

Background:
This item was left on the first reading at the Sept. 15 meeting.

The property is at the northeast corner of West Mount Comfort Road and North Rupple Road. The request is to rezone the property from R-A, Residential-Agricultural, to CS, Community Services. The applicant intends to construct a gas station with associated convenience store on the site.

Both city planning staff and the Planning Commission recommend approval of the request.Both city planning staff and the Planning Commission recommend approval of the request.

City staff said they have received public comments from people who are opposed to the rezoning and from those who are in favor of it. Most of the opposition cited concerns about increased traffic, noise and light pollution from the proposed use, proximity of the site to existing uses such as a church and school, and disruption to the rural character of the area. Those in support of the request are from the surrounding neighbors who would like to see additional commercial services in the area.

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Sept. 15 Discussion:
Three residents spoke against the rezoning.

Council Member Teresa Turk requested the council leave the ordinance on the first reading to allow for more time for public comment.

Council Member Smith moved to advance the ordinance to the second reading, and the motion failed 4-4 with Turk, Gutierrez, Kinion and Marsh voting against.

The discussion will continue on Oct. 6.

Oct. 6 Discussion:
Garner Stoll, the city’s development services director, said the applicant is no longer planning to move forward with the project at this time.

The council voted to table the item indefinitely.

Background:
City law requires a public hearing to determine if there exists a need for new taxicab services whenever a company applies to operate in the city limits. Fayetteville currently has three taxi companies: Fayetteville Taxi (one vehicle, one driver), Payless Taxi (two vehicles, one driver) and Dynasty Taxi (no current vehicles or drivers).

Ambassador Taxi currently operates in Rogers, Springdale, Siloam Springs and Bentonville. The company has six total vehicles.

Discussion:
Council Member Sloan Scroggin asked if we knew how many Uber and Lyft drivers were operating in the state, and Chief Reynolds said he did not. Those companies are under the state’s jurisdiction, he said.

Scroggin said he did not feel the need to limit competition in the city, and would support the application. Petty agreed.

The council voted to approve the resolution.

Background:
Horseshoe Construction, Inc. submitted the lowest bid for construction related to the upsizing of approximately 5,370 linear feet of existing 10-inch diameter clay sewer pipe. Horseshoe’s bid was $224,000 less than the next-highest bid.

There were four total bids:

Horseshoe Construction, Inc. – $2,197,855
Nowak Construction, Inc. – $2,422,689
Goodwin & Goodwin, Inc. – $2,749,705
Heller Construction, Inc. – $2,957,149

Discussion:

There was no public comment. The council voted unanimously to approve the resolution.

Background:
Council Members Turk and Smith asked City Attorney Kit Williams to draft a resolution requesting landlords to be accommodating and to work with tenants to avoid late fees and evictions if the tenants are having trouble paying their rent on time due to hardships incurred from the COVID-19 pandemic. Williams said the council cannot legally prohibit landlords from evicting tenants or collecting late fees, but it can ask them to please be patient with tenants and realize that the pandemic is making it difficult for some people to find good jobs.

Discussion:

There was no public comment. The council voted unanimously to approve the resolution.

Background:
When the pandemic first began, the city’s administration made a decision to suspend utility service cut-offs for customers who couldn’t pay their bills. The mayor’s emergency powers have terminated, so this ordinance will continue the process of not cutting off anyone’s utility services through the remainder of the governor’s emergency declaration.

Discussion:

Finance Director Paul Becker said this would continue the practices outlined above until the governor ends his disaster declaration on the state level.

There was no public comment.

The council advanced the ordinance to the third and final reading, and passed it unanimously.

Background:
The council in July a development that includes a new, 65-acre park park on the land formerly home to Razorback Golf Course. The Underwood family owns the land, and has agreed to donate 38 acres of land to the city for the new park. City staff said the donation equates to about $1.8 million. This resolution would formally name the park Underwood Park.

Discussion:
There was no public comment.

Council Member Smith thanked city staff for the presentation, and the Underwoods for the donation that made the park possible.

Council Member Turk also thanked the Underwoods, and all others involved in the project.

The council voted unanimously to pass the resolution.

Background:
The property was rezoned from RSF-4 to RSF-8 in December 2019. A subsequent request sought to rezone the property to RI-U, Residential Intermediate-Urban in May 2020. That request was denied by the City Council. City staff agreed with the council’s decision and suggested the applicant now pursue rezoning the property to RSF-18, and the Planning Commission recently voted 8-1 to recommend approval. Commissioner Garlock was the dissenting vote, citing concerns with additional density at the location given the existing lack of improved vehicular and pedestrian infrastructure.

Location:

Discussion:

There was no public comment. The council agreed to leave the item on the first reading.

The discussion will continue on Oct. 20.

Background:
The property is currently undeveloped. In June 2020, the Planning Commission approved a large-scale development for a car dealership on the site. The applicant proposes vacation of two easements to facilitate construction of the approved car dealership on the site as approved.

Both city staff and the Planning Commission recommend approval of the request.

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Discussion:
There was no public comment. The council advanced the ordinance to the third and final reading and passed it unanimously.

Background:
Staff said there is a recently constructed sidewalk along the south side of Markham Road separated by 5 feet of green space. The sidewalk was constructed prior to the 2019 adoption of the Active Transportation Plan which included a shift of the trail alignment to Markham Road instead of Halsell Road. To minimize the impact on the trees south of Markham Road, the plans include removal of that sidewalk to place utilities under. Staff said that decision provided an opportunity to replace the sidewalk with a 10-foot-wide concrete trail through the cost share proposed.

The project is moving forward to construction and the developer has agreed to construct the section of 10-foot-wide concrete trail along the south side of Markham from the east property line to Sang Avenue. The developer has provided the trail construction cost from the contractor, A-CO-Pavement Services in the amount of $127,157. The fee in-lieu amount of $58,898 will be applied to the overall cost of the trail, leaving $68,289 remaining to be paid by the city through the cost share.

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Discussion:
There was no public comment. The council advanced the ordinance to the third and final reading, and passed it unanimously.

Background:
This ordinance would add a hate crime component to city prosecutions when someone commits a criminal act with the intention or purpose to hurt, intimidate or terrorize a victim because of their actual or perceived race, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation or disability.

Discussion:

A handful of members of the public spoke about the ordinance. Sarah Moore, a resident who works in criminal justice said she’d like to see the city slow down on this ordinance. She said we over incarcerate, and giving prosecutors additional enhancements could make that problem worse. Moore said she’d like to see the council table the item to bring more stakeholders to the discussion.

Council Member Scroggin requested the Ordinance Review Committee take a look at the ordinance before moving forward. Bunch agreed.

Council Member Smith said he supports the intent of the ordinance, but has some concerns over how effective it could be.

Council Member Gutierrez said she’d like to see the ordinance held on the first reading. The council agreed.

The discussion will continue on Oct. 20.

Background:
City Attorney Kit Williams said the Off-Street Parking Development District’s board of commissioners recently completed renovations to two of its remaining public parking lots, which concludes the district’s longterm plans and objectives. The district is set to be dissolved and the commissioners discharged from any further duties. With the dissolution of the district, the three existing parking lots will be conveyed to the city along with any remaining revenues.

Discussion:

There was no public comment. The council advanced the ordinance to the third and final reading, and passed it unanimously.

Background:
This rezoning is needed to build the new police headquarters facility at Deane Street and Porter Road.

Both the Planning Commission and city staff recommend approval of the request.

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Discussion:

Police Chief Mike Reynolds spoke briefly about the project, which he said will include safety improvements that will help keep his staff safe.

Fire Chief Brad Hardin also spoke briefly, and said the P-1 zoning was chosen to help accommodate the length of the fire trucks that will operate out of the station.

A handful of people spoke both for and against the rezoning. Several of those speaking for the rezoning said it has already been approved by the voters, and it is time to get the project started.

Several of those who spoke against the rezoning said they’d like to have more input on the project.

Council Member Petty said he would vote to support the rezoning, but was critical of some of the processes related to the project, and feels the council has been unfairly blamed for some of the issues with the project timeline. Petty also during his remarks suggested creating a community master plan for public safety, similar to those in place for neighborhoods, trails, recycling and trash, and other aspects of the city.

Council Member Bunch also said she will support the rezoning. Bunch said the center of Fayetteville has moved somewhat recently, and with the growth in west Fayetteville, the location is a good place for the new police station.

Council Member Smith said he agreed with both Bunch and Petty. He also said he will support the rezoning, but he expressed frustration with the process, and the need to approve the rezoning quickly in order to stay on the schedule outlined by the bond issue.

Council Member Kinion said step one is to rezone the property, and he said the zoning proposed is appropriate for the property in consideration.

Council Member Marsh said she wanted city staff to provide a date for a public input session before moving forward with a final vote. Scroggin agreed.

Chief of Staff Susan Norton said she was unsure on what type of meeting the council was requesting. Council members suggested an open mic, town hall-style meeting to hear concerns from residents after an upcoming agenda session. Scroggin suggested hosting a forum after next week’s agenda session on Oct. 13, with a second meeting to review some site concepts on Oct. 27.

Mayor Jordan said his staff would put those meetings together.

After the discussion on the meetings, the council advanced the ordinance to the third and final reading.

The rezoning passed unanimously.