Lot in Hot Springs at center of zoning tiff changes hands

HOT SPRINGS — The vacant Malvern Avenue lot at the center of a zoning controversy has changed hands, the new owner has confirmed.

Dragan Vicentic said he acquired the 2-acre parcel at 2105 Malvern Ave. from James Green, who has spent the past seven months trying to get the property rezoned for commercial use. Green’s attorney, Q. Byrum Hurst, told the Hot Springs Board of Directors in December that Green had an agreement to sell part of the lot to Chambers Bank, which planned to open a branch on the lot.

Hurst said the sale was contingent on the property being rezoned. Its suburban residential, or R-2, zoning prohibits most commercial uses. According to property records, a quitclaim deed filed Jan. 28 transferred the property to Vicentic.

The property has sat idle for more than a decade. According to property records, the estate of the owner who resided there deeded the property to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock in 2010. Green acquired it from the church in January 2020 for $166,000.

The Hot Springs Board of Directors voted in December to uphold the planning commission’s denial of Green’s application for commercial transitional, or C-TR, zoning. The commission denied Green’s application for neighborhood commercial, or C-3, zoning in July.

The petition for judicial review Hurst filed in Garland County Circuit Court in December argued the city’s denial of commercial zoning was based on politics and not the zoning code. The city received dozens of complaints opposing the rezoning application, and seven people, including representatives of the Hot Springs Country Club and a property owner whose residence adjoins the lot, expressed opposition during the December appeals hearing before the city board.

Many of the complaints raised concerns about traffic from a commercial development turning onto Malvern Avenue. Hurst has argued in court pleadings that the traffic signal installed last year at Malvern and Lakeside Road diminished safety concerns cited by the opposition.

Vicentic, who’s the CEO of the only licensed medical marijuana dispensary in the Hot Springs incorporated area, said he’s hopeful he can find a commercial use amenable to neighboring property owners.

“I live just behind the property, and the reason for my interest in its purchase is that I am super excited that I can decide the type of business to sell to that is not intrusive to our way of living in that neighborhood,” he said in an email. “A bank, insurance agency or financial planning office are wonderful and suggested low-impact businesses that I would be interested in bringing to the property to maintain harmony with the rest of the neighborhood.”

Vicentic noted the growth in commercial activity along Malvern Avenue in recent years. He’s a member of the group that sold part of the Indiandale Shopping Center at 1544 Malvern Ave.to Walmart in 2015. A Walmart Neighborhood Market opened there the following year.

“I own four pieces of property directly on Malvern Avenue, and it is a commercial thoroughfare that is begging for proper planning and development,” Vicentic said. “Malvern Avenue is a state highway with traffic counts over 20,000 vehicles per day. It is a commercial corridor and should be treated as such. I was instrumental in bringing The Walmart Market to Indiandale Shopping Center, and it has been a blessing to the community.”