A decision on a planned west Little Rock subdivision will go before the city's Planning Commission again, after a judge's order on Tuesday said the panel unlawfully approved the developer's plat submission without a preliminary analysis.
Lawyer Robert Cortinez II filed a complaint on behalf of two neighborhoods adjacent to the planned residential development, which would be called Mergeron Court, in Pulaski County Circuit Court about three weeks after the Nov. 1 decision.
The order from Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen stated that the area where the subdivision would be constructed is "suspected to be" flood-prone, putting property owners at risk of irreparable harm if the development was constructed without an engineering analysis. The developer's submission did not include that analysis, the order states.
Cortinez said residents of the Wingate and Kaylin Hills neighborhoods were concerned that the city did not follow Ordinance No. 31-90, which states that "where a portion of a plat is suspected to be floodprone" and the area is not covered by federal flood insurance study or information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, an analysis shall be submitted as part of the preliminary plat filing.
"They just want to see that the city complies with its own ordinance," Cortinez said of the Wingate and Kaylin Hills residents. "We don't know for a fact what that development would have done from a flooding standpoint."
A preliminary analysis would have informed residents whether there was any risk for flooding, and concerned residents were happy to hear the court's decision, Cortinez said Tuesday.
Griffen issued his opinion from the bench after a daylong trial on March 15 and in a written order on Tuesday.
Little Rock Planning Director Jamie Collins said Tuesday that it's not unusual for the commission to approve a plat submission before a preliminary analysis. At the time of the vote, planning commissioners knew that a more comprehensive drainage analysis would have taken place, and still will, in addition to a separate analysis ordered by Griffen, Collins said.
Collins noted that though the preliminary plat submission was approved by the commission, a building permit has not yet been approved by the Planning Department staff.
He said if it comes before the board again, commissioners will be provided with the results of the court-ordered analysis.
“Just because somebody gets a plat approved doesn’t mean there will be a building permit,” Collins said, adding that the developer didn’t “bypass the system.”
The planned subdivision includes a 12-house development with a private drive, traffic circle, detention pond and other associated construction over about 2 acres of land. It would be accessed off West Markham Street, Collins said. The developer is Rodney Chandler, owner of the Little Rock-based Icon Homes.
Metro on 04/10/2019
CORRECTION: Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen’s written order issued Tuesday stated that the Little Rock Planning Commission’s Nov. 1 decision to approve a preliminary plat submission for a subdivision off Markham Street is reversed and remanded. According to the city’s Planning Department, the judge’s order does not negate the plat for that area in its entirety. An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the order’s impact.