FARMINGTON -- The Farmington Planning Commission gave the go-ahead recently for another single-family residential subdivision.
The commission approved the preliminary plat for Wagon Wheel West, a 40-acre development with 123 lots on the north side of Clyde Carnes Road.
Wagon Wheel West will be adjacent to Wagon Wheel Crossing subdivision, both owned by Riggins Commercial Construction and Development. Wagon Wheel Crossing has 235 lots on 75 acres.
In other action Oct. 25, the commission approved the large-scale development plan for a building project for Farmington Junior High and turned down a rezoning request from agricultural to R-1 for about five acres on Arkansas 170.
The Wagon Wheel West preliminary plat shows the subdivision will have two entrances from Clyde Carnes Road.
The property is zoned R-1, which requires lot sizes to be a minimum of 10,000 square feet. Most of the lots are .23 acre and .24 acre, with four larger corner lots, according to the plans. A detention pond for drainage is located in the southern section along Clyde Carnes.
The plat does not include any land dedicated as a community park. The city requires $600 per lot as a fee in lieu of park land.
The large-scale development plan for Farmington Junior High shows two new buildings. A two-story building with 26,900 square feet for classroom space and other needs will be adjacent to the junior high gym. The second addition has 12,500 square feet and will be attached to the main school building.
The commission voted 6-1 to turn down a request from Damon McDonald with McDonald Building Group to rezone 5.65 acres at 12650 Arkansas 170 from A-1 to R-1. Commissioner Gerry Harris cast the lone vote for the rezoning request.
The owners requested the new zone so they can develop the property for single-family lots, according to a letter to the city from Justin Jorgensen with Jorgensen and Associates engineering firm.
After the meeting, commissioner Jay Moore said the commission turned down the rezoning request mainly because the owners wanted to put in quarter-acre lots on land surrounded by pastures at this time. He said the request probably was "just bad timing" because there are not any other residential developments nearby on the same side of the road.
In addition, he said it was pointed out that the city's new Land Use Plan, which was recently adopted by the City Council, shows the area designated as rural residential. The land use plan defines rural residential as land that is one acre and larger in size.
Harris said she supported rezoning the property because she wants Farmington to have affordable housing for younger families.
"Most people can't buy these big houses," Harris said. "If our young people can't buy homes, where are we going to go from here? That's my biggest fear, and I think everyone deserves a home."
In other action, the commission approved a variance request from Jordan and Sarah Huckeba for their three acres that are zoned agricultural. The city's zoning ordinance requires a minimum of two acres for a single-family dwelling in the A-1 zone. The couple requested a variance to allow them to split their land into a one-acre lot and a two-acre lot.