LR board denies request for rezoning
Residents opposed developer’s plan to divide lot, build 3 drive-thru eateries
The Little Rock Board of Directors rejected a request to rezone a parcel of land off Arkansas 10, which would have allowed the construction of three drive-thru restaurants in an area where many residents said they feared the development wasn’t compatible with the neighborhood.
The developer, John Rees of Rees Commercial, had requested a variance to the Highway 10 Design Overlay District for a three-lot project in the northeast corner of Cantrell Road and Rummel Road in west Little Rock.
The design overlay district is a set of regulations established by city ordinance that aims to allow only development that preserves the scenic nature of the corridor in terms of density and busyness.
The ordinance requires a minimum size of 2 acres for lots in the district, a requirement that Rees sought to waive for a plan to divide the property into three lots ranging from 0.87 acres to 1.14 acres.
The Little Rock Planning Commission had signed off
on the rezoning in a split vote at its July 16 meeting, with seven commissioners voting yes, three voting no and one absent. The city’s planning staff was supportive of the project, writing in a report that the application addresses all technical issues and represents a continuation of the zoning and use pattern along the north side of Cantrell Road east of Rummel Road.
But several neighborhood residents who showed up to oppose the project, some wearing stickers printed with a fast food symbol under a red circle and backslash, said they feared even more traffic congestion in an already busy area.
One of them, Dawn Prasifka, said staff and commissioners’ approval of the proposal spoke to a larger issue of the city not following its own rules in the area encompassed by the district.
“The staff and the Planning Commission continue to override and violate the spirit of the law by disregarding the [design overlay district] and granting the developers’ requested variances, rezoning to allow what the residents are being told is considered progress. I’m not opposed to progress. I’m not opposed to development,” Prasifka said. “I am opposed to going against the very foundation that the residents have relied on, believed in and trusted in when they chose this area to buy or build their home.”
More than 400 residents had signed an online petition at Change.org opposing the development as of Thursday evening.
Ward 5 City Director Lance Hines, who represents the area containing the lot, said that after the board approved a development that became a Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe just east of the intersection of Cantrell and Rummel roads, he made a commitment to a group of neighborhood residents not to allow any more “zoning creep,” where development activity permitted in one district is allowed to extend into another.
“I think the neighbors would
love to see something finished out but not something this intense, and I have to agree with them. And I’m going to stick by my commitment to not allow any zoning creep and to stick with the zoning and the land use that’s in here,” Hines said.
Hines added later that the development as proposed would basically be a “motor food court” and that there aren’t contiguous drive-thru restaurants anywhere in that area.
At-large City Director Dean Kumpuris said he also had made that commitment to residents. Other city directors, at Tuesday’s meeting and at last week’s agenda meeting, said they had received dozens of emails from constituents about the proposal.
Rees said the city had already “kind of broken the glass ceiling” when it OK’d the Taziki’s development, and that Mayor Frank Scott Jr. had been supportive of the proposal in a previous conversation. He said the businesses would be patronized by people already driving up and down that road, and that traffic would make it a prime location for commercial development.
“This is a time when Little Rock needs to grow,” Rees said. “Mayor Scott has told me he’s for development. He’s pro-development. He likes development. … He’s already said he likes this project. He told me that. He said this is a good project. Not sure if he still believes that or not, but he told me that.”
Scott noted that he had met with Rees in early 2019 and that he had met with neighborhood residents this past weekend. He said he would ultimately side with Hines and oppose the project.
“Mr. Rees is correct. I’ve always shared that I’m pro-development,” Scott said. “Every city board member wants to see growth in the city, but it has to be smart growth.”
The city board denied the rezoning application in a voice vote. No member could be heard voting yes.
Rees told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette after the meeting that he would likely try to rework the rezoning application and get ideas from the neighborhood on what they would prefer to see.