Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Public input on corridor’s future begins
Thoroughfare’s northern portion focus of meeting
FAYETTEVILLE — It takes a village to raise a child, or in this case, groups of interested residents and business and property owners to shape the future of one of the main thoroughfares running through town.
Public input on the 71B Corridor Plan kicked off Wednesday at the Ozark Natural Foods community room.
The City Council in June hired national firm RDG Planning + Design to develop a plan for stretches of the U.S. 71B running through the city. Focus areas include North College Avenue from North Street to Lake Fayetteville and Archibald Yell Boulevard and South School Avenue from Rock Street to Cato Springs Road.
Wednesday’s meeting focused on the northern portion of the corridor. A meeting today will address the southern end.
The council already rezoned properties along a portion of College Avenue from Maple to North streets. It changed from a strictly commercial district to one encouraging a mix of residences and businesses with buildings closer to the street. Other standards were applied, such as limiting building height to four stories and only allowing gasoline
stations and drive-throughs with a permit from the Planning Commission.
Marty Shukert, principal with RDG, said the team has been in town for months, riding bikes and getting to know the area. The public will have several opportunities to contribute to the corridor plan, in person and online, over the next several months, he said.
“We’ll be here so often you’ll be sick of us,” Shukert said. “We’ll look at individual parts of the corridor and put all the pieces together.”
More meetings will be over the next few months, with design sessions set through the end of the year into next. Concepts are set to be revealed in March and the City Council should see a final presentation in May.
Garner Stoll, development services director for the city, said a better corridor is accomplished through proper zoning, design standards and investments in infrastructure. The focus is safety, aesthetics and convenience, he said.
“It’s really important the public and property owners buy into it, so when we do propose something new they say, ‘Yes, they’re doing what they talked to us about,’” Stoll said.
Michelle Keyes, a resident of eight years, said it seems as though College Avenue hasn’t changed much. Cars, buses or bicycles need to be able to get
around easier, and building street and trail connections near the main corridor will help divert traffic, she said.
“It was a lot smoother five or six years ago,” Keyes said. “Now it’s constant rush hour and constant traffic no matter what time it is.”
The Arkansas Department of Transportation owns the highway, but transportation officials are open to possibilities, said Chad Adams, district engineer with the department. It’s possible the city could take ownership of stretches in the future.
“We just want to make sure that we go down a path we can all agree to,” he said.