Bentonville Planning Commission approves Alice L. Walton School of Medicine plans

This is a rendering of how the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine is planned to look.
(File Photo/Courtesy of Polk Stanley Wilcox and OSD)
This is a rendering of how the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine is planned to look. (File Photo/Courtesy of Polk Stanley Wilcox and OSD)

BENTONVILLE -- Plans for the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine were unanimously approved by the city Planning Commission on Tuesday.

The 13.8-acre site is at 1001 N.E. J St. The project will consist of a new structure that will become the School of Medicine. The building is designed to be incorporated into the land as its roof slopes back to the west all the way down to grade, according to planning documents.

The project is designed to incorporate the existing trail network of the area, both along J Street and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art trail network. Significant landscaping is planned, including the preservation of many existing and mature trees.

Site access will be through a curb cut onto Northeast J Street at the northeast corner of the site. There will be 224 parking spaces split between a surface lot and an underground lot. The applicant has negotiated a parking agreement with Crystal Bridges to utilize its under-construction parking garage for additional parking, according to planning documents.

The proposed school is four stories and is composed of primarily curtain-wall glass with bronze metal panels and precast concrete as additional secondary and trim materials, according to planning documents.

Waivers related to off-street parking requirements, roofline-articulation requirements and building-material requirements also were unanimously approved.

Founded by Walton in 2021, the School of Medicine will offer a four-year, medical degree-granting program that integrates conventional medicine with holistic principles and self-care practices, according to its website.

The School of Medicine will be east of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Construction is expected to start this spring, according to the school website.

The Planning Commission also approved a series of rezoning requests.

One was for a half-acre area at 802 S.E. G St. Brightbox LLC was unanimously approved for a rezoning from medium-high-density multifamily residential to downtown high-density residential and for a future land use map amendment from medium-density residential to high-density residential.

The property is planned for development as townhomes, according to planning documents.

A rezoning from agriculture to planned residential development on nearly 40 acres at the end of Southwest Parnell Drive and south of 1904 Mayflower Road also was approved 7-0. Haitham Alley is the applicant.

The proposal is a planned residential development consisting of 17 three-story multifamily structures consisting of 408 units located central to the site. An additional 18 five-unit townhome structures consisting of 90 units are proposed between the multifamily units and the property boundary, according to planning documents.

Jacobs Group was unanimously approved for rezoning from low-density single-family residential to downtown medium-density residential at 1215 Fillmore St.

The property will be used for residential purposes, according to Jacobs Group.


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