Planners OK final plat for Avalon

PEA RIDGE — The final plat for Avalon by Winter Park Partners was approved at a special Planning Commission meeting April 12 as commissioners clarified that the two final phases were rolled into one.

A second item of business was not discussed as the city building official, Tony Townsend, said he was opposed to it because it was not on the agenda he released April 12.

The agenda listed final plat for Avalon Subdivision Phases 2 and 3. The representative for the developer said phases 2 and 3 were done “all at once” and are “not really in separate phases” when asked by Townsend.

“I guess we’ve just condensed that to phase 2?” Townsend asked.

City attorney Shane Perry and commissioner Karen Sherman questioned that.

“I don’t know what was submitted before, but to keep the record clear and what’s approved and what’s not, we need to make a record of what is going on,” Perry said. “I don’t have an issue with … if it’s been merged. I want the record clear … It needs to be clear in the minutes.”

“The original intent,” according to Townsend, “of the preliminary plat was for three phases. I think Schuber Mitchell has rushed the issue, and they did phases 2 and 3 together, and this final plat is those combined, and they’ve just labeled it as 2 since they’re not going to do 2 and continue on and do 3 later.”

“Does that create a confusion from a paper trail and a records standpoint?” asked chairman Al Fowler.

Perry said if the commission states clearly what’s approved, it should avoid confusion.

“It’s happened before that they’ve gone on ahead and bid the subsequent phases and just rolled them into one,” Townsend said.

“It needs to be clear in the minutes,” Perry said, adding that for purposes of the meeting, Phase 3 has been incorporated into Phase 2.

The final plat was approved.