Two picked to join senior citizens hall
Alderman Murry Witcher and Senior Citizens Outreach Activity Director Artis Boykin are the newest selections to join the North Little Rock Senior Citizens Hall of Fame next month.
The pair will be inducted at the Hall of Fame luncheon April 2 at the Patrick Hays Senior Citizens Center. Tickets are $10 each and are available at the center, 401 W. Pershing Blvd.
Witcher was elected in November to a seventh term as Ward 4 alderman. He is a longtime member of the North Little Rock Senior Citizens Commission and was on the task force that oversaw the senior center's construction and later its expansion.
Boykin has led the S.A. Jones High School Alumni Association and was chosen in 2003 as Grandparent of the Year in Arkansas. She is a longtime volunteer at the Hays Center and is credited with encouraging more members to be involved in card games and other activities at the center, said Executive Director Charley Baxter.
The Senior Citizens Hall of Fame began in 1990. Nominees are now chosen every two years. Nominees must be North Little Rock residents age 55 or older. Selections are recommended by a committee.
Waivers granted for restaurant sign
Legislation granting waivers for a sign outside a new restaurant on Maumelle Boulevard won 7-0 approval from the North Little Rock City Council on Monday. Alderman Linda Robinson was absent.
The waivers had previously been granted by the City Council but were vetoed by Mayor Joe Smith because notifications for a public hearing on the issue had listed an incorrect date for the City Council meeting.
The waivers allow a 22-foot, 8-inch-tall, 100-square-foot, free-standing pole LED sign at The Boulevard retail center, 10840 Maumelle Blvd., for the planned Nashville Rockin Grill restaurant. The council's approval waived the requirement for a ground-mounted, monument-style sign, as well as rules limiting maximum height to 10 feet and maximum size to 64 square feet.
Deadline extended in sale of city land
The closing date for the city's sale of property proposed for an apartment complex along Young Road near Cooks Landing has been extended to June 8, a date approved by the North Little Rock City Council on Monday.
The City Council approved in August the sale of 18.85 acres southwest of Crystal Hill Road and Interstate 430 for $754,000 to JEL Land Acquisitions, a company managed by James Earl Lindsey and part of Jim Lindsey's real estate companies.
The city acquired the parcel at 7501 Young Road in September 2009 for $912,000 as a settlement to a federal lawsuit filed in 2005 by then-state Rep. Keith Ingram and his brother, former state Sen. Kent Ingram, both of West Memphis. Keith Ingram is now a state senator.
The lawsuit was over a mistake in city zoning maps that had improperly listed the site as zoned for light industrial use instead of residential use when the Ingrams bought the land in early 2005. After residents from an adjoining neighborhood challenged allowing an industrial use on the property, the City Council voted in November 2005 to leave the property as residential.
Metro on 03/08/2015