BENTONVILLE -- City officials' concerns have put a multifamily residential development on hold.
Planning commissioners tabled 7-0 a zoning request to change about 23 acres along Southwest Ranch Road from planned unit development to high density residential at Tuesday's meeting.
High density residential zoning permits up to 24 units per acre, according to the city's zoning district regulations.
Planned unit developments is used for a commercial, industrial or residential mixed-use developments that are unique but don't comply with the property's current zone and can't through traditional zoning.
Planned unit development is "a combination of zoning designation and a master site plan," the regulation states.
The proposed project is Lime Stone Ranch subdivision. The property is about a half mile south and just east of the municipal airport's runway. It's south of Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard.
Planes fly between 100 and 150 feet above the ground there, Ben Peters, city airport manager, told commissioners. He said he was against the rezoning because of noise and safety reasons and the best use for the property would be commercial development.
There are different zones that come off the end of the airport runway. One is a Zone A, said Beau Thompson, city planner.
Zone A is a part of the municipal airport zoning ordinance map that is part of the city's zoning district regulations.
Zone A is an approach zone at each end of the runway that "expands outward uniformly to a width of 3,500 feet at a horizontal distance of 10,000 feet," according to the district regulations.
"That's where airplanes have accidents, is at the end of the runway," Peters said. "It's either coming in or going out."
The property's western half is in the Zone A, but its eastern half is not.
Jerry Kelso with Crafton Tull explained he met with city planning staff members earlier Tuesday to discuss issues about the site and said changes could be made to accommodate the concerns.
"We want to be able to move this project forward," he said, adding designs can be changed in the large-scale development stage.
Thompson said staff members worked with Kelso to move some apartments to the eastern side of the property. The clubhouse, pool, parking lot and any other nonresidential amenities could be moved to the restrictive west side.
Peters agreed that was a reasonable solution but he wanted assurances the apartment buildings would not be built on the property's west side.
"If Beau is sure we can get what we're asking for in the next stage, then I'm fine with that," he said.
Greg Matteri, planning commissioner, said the commission needed to do due diligence regarding development around the airport because it's poised for growth.
Tuesday's meeting was the first time commissioners heard about the potential conflict with the airport.
Scott Eccleston, planning commissioner, said he was "a little bit uneasy" moving forward with approval Tuesday.
"I would like to better understand just the impact of going within that district from the decibels to fallouts to the impact of residents in that area," he said.
Commissioners asked for a conceptual plan they could review at their technical review meeting March 10.
NW News on 03/05/2015