FAYETTEVILLE -- Adventure Subaru will have a service center less than a mile away from its main campus after a Planning Commission vote Monday.
Commissioners voted 7-0 to approve a development plan for a 35,321-square-foot service center for Adventure Subaru on Foxglove Drive, west of North Shiloh Drive. Crain Volkswagen and Hyundai dealerships sit immediately east of the 4.38-acre property.
The Adventure Subaru dealership on Henbest Drive lies less than a mile south of the property. Owner David Nelms told the commission the Foxglove Drive property is intended as an auxiliary facility for service and parts, as well as shipping and receiving.
"Really we just want this to function for our service and parts and detail operations to support our dealership, which just continues to grow," he said.
Rows of single-family homes lie west of the property. The Northwest Arkansas Land Trust owns more than 120 wooded acres nearby, mainly north of the site.
The plan came with two requests to vary from city code. One had to do with the lack of a prominent entrance facing the street. The other dealt with driveway connections to surrounding properties.
Commissioners agreed the requests were appropriate for the intended use of the facility. Commissioner Rob Sharp said creating connections to other properties would not serve a purpose. Commissioner Quintin Canada said the building didn't need a prominent entrance facing the street because customers would not be coming in to look at cars.
The plan includes an outdoor courtyard area with seating near an entrance to an employee break room on the south side of the property, said Audy Lack with MBL Architecture.
In other business, the commission voted 7-0 to recommend rezoning about 20 acres on Old Farmington Road, northwest of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and One Mile Road. The property is on the southern slope of Millsap Mountain.
The rezoning would change the land from a residential single-family zone allowing up to 8 units an acre to a neighborhood conservation zone. Both zones are single-family residential zones. However, neighborhood conservation allows homes to be built within 25 feet of the street, while the current zoning requires homes be set back 15 feet from the street. The City Council will have final say on the rezoning.
Brian Teague with Community by Design said the request was intended to allow homes closer to the street. Teague is in the middle of a project to put clusters of homes on the property. The property was rezoned last year in association with the project.
Space between the front doors of homes on different sides of the street would reduce to 50 feet under the new zone, as opposed to 70 feet of space under the current zoning. The reduced width would encourage cars to move slower, Teague said. The new zoning also would allow the developers to create more than an acre of extra tree preservation space, he said.
The project will still be built at a density of 8 units an acre, Teague said.
Commissioner Matt Johnson was absent for Monday's meeting. The commission also has a vacancy after Mike Wiederkehr was elected to the City Council on Feb. 8.
Commission action
None
Fayetteville’s Planning Commission met Monday and approved:
• Rezoning a quarter-acre on Hollywood Avenue south of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from residential single-family up to 4 units an acre to a community services zone. The request will go to the City Council for final approval.
• Rezoning 1.7 acres on 54th Avenue south of Wedington Drive from residential single-family up to 4 units an acre and agricultural uses to residential multifamily up to 6 units an acre, matching the zoning of adjacent property. The request will go to the City Council for final approval.
Source: Fayetteville