The Little Rock Board of Directors rejected a developer's plans to build an apartment complex on South Bowman Road, earning cheers from dozens of opponents who said they were fighting against the "over-saturation" of apartments in the west Little Rock community.
For about a year since the Herrick Heights request first surfaced, the issue roiled potential neighbors and prompted the Board of Directors to impose a one-year ban on apartment complexes in the area. Scheduled votes on this specific proposal were delayed three previous times.
Directors ended this chapter Tuesday night after 1 hour and 40 minutes of discussion, though more decisions loom on how the 74-acre tract of woods will ultimately be used.
"This area is going to be developed," said Grant Cox, an attorney representing developer Keith Richardson. "Currently the applicant owns the property, and he has to find a way to recoup his investment in it."
Richardson said after the vote he has an alternate proposal for using the 74-acre tract that, after the decision, remains zoned only for single-family development, but he declined to immediately explain it.
"Call me tomorrow," Richardson said.
The proposal's opponents, mostly wearing red, with "Stop Rezoning" stickers on their chests, applauded the board's 6-4 vote against rezoning. Seven of the opponents went up one-by-one to address the board.
They criticized directors for "piecemeal" approvals of zoning changes, which have allowed more than 1,000 apartment units to be built in the area, and requested that the city complete a study on traffic patterns in the area and develop a comprehensive development plan before approving more.
They said the concentration of apartments has choked South Bowman Road and that they feared crime would increase and property values would decrease.
City Directors Doris Wright, B.J. Wyrick, Gene Fortson, Joan Adcock, Kathy Webb and Brad Cazort voted against the ordinance, which would have rezoned Richardson's property to allow an apartment complex and office space to be built on a site already zoned for single-family homes.
Previously scheduled votes to rezone the 74-acre tract were postponed three times -- once at Richardson's request, once to send an amended proposal to the Little Rock Planning Commission and once because two directors were absent. The Planning Commission approved each version of the proposal by a 7-4 vote.
The site is located about 2.5 miles south of Chenal Parkway on Bowman Road. It's between Brodie Creek and The Pointe at Brodie Creek Apartments, a 504-unit complex that Richardson also developed. Another 750 apartment units have already been approved for construction elsewhere on Bowman Road.
The board in February imposed a yearlong moratorium on apartment construction along the street residents described as inadequate to handle more traffic. An amendment to the ban exempted Herrick Heights because developers had already started the application process.
In the seven-plus months since the first postponement, Richardson offered several concessions, including the installation of a traffic circle or signal at the intersection of South Bowman Road and Brodie Creek Trail and maintaining a 50-foot buffer between the development and a nearby subdivision.
Tim Daters, an engineer consulting with Richardson, said Tuesday the developer would pay $2.7 million to cover a road-widening project. Cox, the attorney, said Richardson had scaled back the size of the apartment complex from 408 units to 312 at the request of a property owners' association.
After the meeting, 53-year-old David Shipley, who lives in one of the neighboring subdivisions, said residents did not trust Richardson to stick to the compromises he put forth, but that they would likely work more closely with him going forward.
"I think at some point we'll have to work with [Richardson]," Shipley said. "We all have property in the area. We want to make South Bowman the best it can be for everybody. The best for him. The best for us. And that's finding that compromise."
Metro on 09/21/2016