SPRINGDALE -- The Planning Commission on Tuesday approved plans for 340 possible new housing units in the city. Seven subdivisions, in various stages of planning, and one multi-family project each received 6-0 unanimous votes.
"The need for housing in Northwest Arkansas has reached critical levels -- whether you're buying or renting," said Peyton Parker, a member of the Planning Commission. "The traditional home on a quarter-acre lot is not going to meet our needs for housing."
Parker addressed residents who came to the Commission meeting to voice their opposition to rezoning for a high-density, single-family development along Larkspur Street. The Parsons Family Trust owns the 19 acres.
Residents living adjacent to the subdivision, Carolyn McPherson and Charlene Bowen, spoke against the rezoning and said they felt they were being tricked.
The trust came before the commission on May 4 asking for rezoning to single-family and multi-family development, which the commission denied. Patsy Christie, director of the Springdale Planning Department, noted in May that a developer could not make the same rezoning request for a year.
But this was a different request, Christie said. The developer, Riggins Custom Homes, requested the same single-family zoning -- of six units an acre -- on just a portion of that property.
The commission approved that request. The McPherson and Bowen homes lie in a zoning district that allows four units per acre.
Parker explained to the residents that he considers each property individually as it comes across.
"I have to consider what is the highest and best use of this property," he said. "I think the best use of this property is as residential."
The commission also approved rezoning to multi-family residential two adjacent properties at the southwest corner of Oak Grove Road and Elm Springs Road. The project could include as many as 57 homes. The land owned by Riggins and Thang Van Nyugen and Xuan Thi Huynh previously held single-family and commercial zoning designations.
The commission approved a minor change to the Planned Unit Development agreement for Cadence Crossing, at Gibbs Road and Har-Ber Avenue, which moved a retention pond, parking and the side lot of a house. It also OK'd a preliminary plat of Phase 2 of the Hylton Road subdivision, which will include 100 homes; and final plats of Sundance subdivision at 600 Julio Road, with 73 homes, and Spring Meadows, a subdivision of 56 homes, along Apple Blossom Road.
Christie explained projects come before the Commission in three stages. The preliminary plat shows a layout of the project, including streets, drainage and utilities. The plat includes detailed construction plans.
The city considers the final plat only after 95% of the water and sewer infrastructure and 80% of the streets have been built. No building permits will be issued and no individual lots can be sold until the final plat is approved, she said.
Residents of a neighboring development came before the commission because initial construction put the Hylton project higher than their homes, which was draining water into their yards.
Christie noted the development was planned and approved before the 2008 recession, when some city building standards were different. The current developer, Riggins, had intended to follow those plans when possible, she said.
Darin Riggins, who attended the meeting, shared contact information with the complaining residents to meet with them about the problems.