City considers design standards

Springdale officials discuss details for single-family housing

SPRINGDALE — City officials have turned their focus to single-family housing, and so have many others.

The Planning Commission met Thursday night to discuss developing design standards for single-family housing in the city. The meeting room at the City Administration building reached its capacity of 65 and many more residents stood in the hallways around the room. Most weren’t happy. Patsy Christie, the city’s director of planning, brought a draft of standards to commission members this summer. They asked members of the Northwest Arkansas Home Builders Association for their input.

Christie noted she picked up many of the details from the standards in place in other communities. “It’s a place to start,” she said.

Builders, contractors and suppliers all objected initially to the prohibition of vinyl siding. They continued to object as the standards addressed subjects such as roof pitch, front facing garages and landscaping.

Initially, the response came from Rausch-Coleman builders, who said they build homes for first-time home buyers. The design standards proposed would raise the cost of the homes, pricing entry-level buyers out of the market.

Springdale is known for its supply of affordable housing, and many accused the commission of trying to push that away.

“But don’t people who live in affordable housing deserve a nice place to live, too?” Christie asked before the meeting.

As the city’s planning director, Christie has seen home construction in the city that’s crumbling over time, but shouldn’t be.

“I like to go into things with a purpose, so we know what we are working toward,” Christie said. She quoted the purpose as written in the draft of standards: “The purpose of these standards is to establish requirements for sustainable residential development throughout the city, increase the value of the city’s housing stock and ensure that homes are attractive and of high quality.”

Further, she noted, the standards ask for neighborhoods that will become established, “age gracefully ”and create a sense of place.

“The intent of these standards is to prohibit certain design elements that have a negative impact on communities, while simultaneously allowing developers a great deal of latitude to create interesting, attractive developments,” she concluded.

Shana Kasparek, executive director of the Home Builders Association, said after the meeting she thinks the word “prohibited” in the initial draft was a red flag. She also thinks builders are concerned because they haven’t see an

updated draft removing the prohibition, even though Kevin Parsley, chairman of the Planning Commission, explained the vinyl siding ban was no longer part of the standards.

Builders and suppliers have continued to key in on the siding issue. The association invited Fernando Pages Ruiz of the Vinyl Siding Institute from Colorado to give a presentation Thursday on various types of siding and how they could be used in home design.

Others spoke in its favor. “My house has vinyl siding,” said resident crowded into the room. “Anything else would have added more to the cost of my house and my monthly payment. Without vinyl siding, I would not have a house anywhere.”

Jessica White, a resident of Tyson Heights, said Rausch Coleman Homes built her house and gave her a choice of building material, including brick. “I wanted vinyl. I didn’t want brick,” she said. “I have a brick arch that would disappear if the whole house was brick.

Several residents said they chose to live in Springdale because they could buy the same house or bigger, same quality or better, for much less money than they could in other communities of Northwest Arkansas. One said she was a nurse by trade, but can afford to be a stay-at-home mom because her house in Springdale costs about $100,000 less than it would in Bentonville, where her husband works.

Residents suggested the longevity of a home depended more on the owner’s pride and care than the quality of building material. They suggested the city do a better job of enforcing codes about upkeep already in place.

“The whole design standard is not just about vinyl siding,” Parsley said. “It’s that Springdale, as a city, has not been successful in having a balance of home types.”

Parsley and Brian Powell, another planning commissioner, have explained at previous meetings they would hope to see the doctors with Arkansas Children’s Northwest and the planned Highlands Oncology Group development choose to live in Springdale. But, the commissioners said, Springdale doesn’t have homes in the size and price range they would want.

“It’s everybody’s American dream to own a house,” a resident commented. “But now you’re saying, ‘Sorry, your dream’s not good enough.’ I’m a single mom.”

Residents suggested to the commission members more amenities, such as the arts opportunities, restaurants and shops in other Northwest Arkansas communities, would attract those home buyers to Springdale.

Parsley noted restaurants want to locate near houses already built.

City Council member Colby Fulfer spoke in favor of letting the housing market dictate the housing types in Springdale, as opposed to regulations.

“Springdale does not have the demand for $1 million homes,” he said. “But it does have a demand for $175,000 to $200,000 homes. And that’s the free market speaking.”

Vivi Haney, a member of the Planning Commission, explained the city set standards for multi-family housing after one developer came in, set up some “boxes” and charged the same rent as landlords who also offered their tenants amenities such as pools, community rooms and green space.

They want to eliminate the same possibility with single-family homes, she said.

E.J. Johnson, the president of the Northwest Arkansas Homebuilders Association, said his family had been building homes in Washington County for 26 years. When Fayetteville began adding too many regulations, he said, the family came to Springdale to build homes. And if Springdale adds strict regulations, they will look to Benton County to build.

“So much extra on the outside of a house also affects everything inside the house,” Kasparek said. “OK, so I can’t have wood. I can only afford carpet.”

“You say you don’t care if this builder or that builder doesn’t build homes in Springdale,” Fulfer said. “But there are a lot of plumbers that do, a lot of electricians that do, a lot of landscapers that do.”

One man spoke proudly of Springdale’s history as a blue-collar town, with an economy based on manufacturing. “We are what we are,” he said. “We will not be Rogers, and we will not be Bentonville.”

“It’s not about being Rogers or Bentonville,” Parsley said. “And affordable is absolutely a part of Springdale. But what about other demographics?”

Parsley spoke several times during Thursday’s meeting about wanting to see in Springdale a mix of housing styles and costs like he sees near the Pleasant Grove Road exit of Interstate 49 in Rogers.

Residents suggested to the commission members more amenities, such as the arts opportunities, restaurants and shops in other Northwest Arkansas communities, would attract those home buyers to Springdale.