Whether a proposal by Jeffrey Sand Co. to expand to a site on Maumelle's riverfront is allowable is expected to highlight the Maumelle Planning Commission's meeting at 6:30 p.m. today at City Hall.
The North Little Rock sand distribution business applied last month to locate a satellite operation on 22 acres it owns on Crystal Hill Road along the Arkansas River on Maumelle's border with North Little Rock.
The company's desire to operate on the same property has twice before been rejected by Maumelle city officials, the latest attempt being in 2007.
After originally applying for a conditional-use permit for a "wholesale sales and storage" site for sand dredged from the river, the company has since amended its proposed use for the property as "building supply." The property is zoned as Commercial-3, which allows uses such as a funeral parlor, garages, body shops and carwashes, as well as wholesale sales and storage, and building supply.
Because the property abuts a planned residential district to its west, a conditional-use permit is required under current definitions, city Planning Director Jim Narey said. A permit would also need City Council approval.
But, the commission could decide that the proposed use is allowed "by right" under the zoning classification, Narey said. If so, no further approval would be necessary.
"They will try to determine two things," Narey said of the commission. "Is the use proposed by Jeffrey Sand a permitted use by right or a conditional use in a C-3 under wholesale sales and storage?
"Chairman [Mike] Fisher's idea was to go ahead and define what they really are, what is their use?" Narey said. "The commission will define what they think the Jeffrey Sand and Gravel use constitutes, as far as what use they are."
The proposal has drawn opposition from residents on Crystal Hill Road, inside Maumelle and from Little Rock's Walton Heights neighborhood, which overlooks the site from across the river. Last month, Narey said his office had received more than 100 calls against the proposal.
"We all think it's industrial and not commercial at all," said Janet Watkins, who has opposed the company's previous attempts to locate its business on the site that is about 300 yards from her house. "That's the question before the commission. We're against this and it's not a good move to let them in under our C-3 zoning."
Clay McGeorge, Jeffrey Sand president, didn't return a voice mail left at his office Wednesday afternoon or two requests for an interview made through a marketing firm hired to advertise the project. McGeorge said during a public forum last month that the company would be investing "$3 million to $4 million" in Maumelle and the site would be for a "loading operation" for trucks to haul sand away to contractors.
Jeffrey Sand Co. at 2200 E. Lincoln Ave. in North Little Rock is part of the Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co., which includes Pine Bluff Materials Co., with operations also in Conway and in Tennessee.
The Maumelle City Council in 2007 voted against amending city zoning regulations that would have allowed Jeffrey Sand to locate on the property. In 2003, the city won an appeal to the state Supreme Court, which ruled that the property couldn't be detached from Maumelle and then annexed into North Little Rock to obtain a favorable zoning.
Metro on 08/27/2015