Bentonville office development tabled

BENTONVILLE — A development that includes a few office buildings has been put on hold as developers work on a safe access to the site.

Crossmar Investments is seeking to build three office buildings in two phases on 10 acres west of Rice Road and northeast of Interstate 49. The project is called ROC Offices.

The Planning Commission tabled the plans on the developers’ request. Commissioner Jim Grider was absent.

The first phase is to include two single-story buildings, one 18,000 square feet and the other 16,200 square feet, according to meeting documents. There will be 303 parking spaces created in Phase One.

Phase Two will include a 78,704-square-foot office building with 298 parking spaces.

Northeast 11th Street will also be extended in Phase One to provide access to the development. However, the extension would place the driveways of four residential houses on a collector street, which city code prohibits.

City officials said it creates a dangerous situation for those needing access to those houses.

City code defines collector streets as those providing both “access and circulation within residential, commercial, and industrial areas. Collector streets are located along neighborhood borders and collect traffic from residential and commercial areas and channel vehicles to minor or major arterials.”

Arterial streets carry higher volumes of traffic.

Developers asked for the item to be tabled so they can have more time to work with city staff and figure out a road configuration that works, Tyler Overstreet, city planner, told commissioners Tuesday.

Neither a project representative nor commissioners discussed the item Tuesday.

Plans for ROC Offices first came through the Planning Commission on June 6. They were tabled then and again at the June 20 meeting as details were still being worked out. The commission approved the plans July 11, but developers weren’t able to acquire the right of way needed to build a collector street for access to the site.

They submitted plans with an alternative route, which commissioners considered over the past few weeks.

Project representatives, commissioners and city staff tried to work out a solution at the Nov. 28 technical review meeting with no success.

Three of the four homeowners were willing to allow developers to either build the road or a turn-a-around on their properties, the representatives said.

City planners said the homeowners would still be backing out onto a collector street, which isn’t permissible by code.

“I don’t want to create a hazard,” Grider said. “That’s not what we’re here to do.”

“As much as we’d love to see this, we can’t do it at cost of those four lots,” Commissioner Rod Sanders added.