Council votes on rezoning request

Townhomes approved in single-family residential area

SPRINGDALE — Mayor Doug Sprouse cast the deciding “yes” vote Tuesday night after the City Council split 4-4 on a rezoning request that neighbors argued would change the character of their long-established community.

The aldermen were deadlocked at 4-4 on the rezoning. Rex Bailey, Amelia Taldo, Jeff Watson and Mark Fougerousse voted yes and Mike Lawson, Mike Overton, Randall Harriman and Brian Powell voted no on the request from developer Philip Taldo to rezone a 1.5-acre parcel of land at 2202 S. 40th St. from agricultural to low-density, multifamily housing.

Sprouse said he has thought for some time the rezoning request is in the best interests of both the city and the neighborhood. He said the city needs to add more affordable housing, which the multifamily zoning will allow, and at the same time city ordinances place more design restrictions on multifamily housing than on single-family housing.

“There are more protections for the neighbors under the MF-4 zoning than they would have with a similar number of single-family houses on the property,” Sprouse said.

Springdale planners on April 2 narrowly approved the proposal to rezone the property in a single-family residential neighborhood for a townhouse development. The Planning Commission voted 5-4 on the request from Taldo. Commissioners Ray Cardiel, Mark Cloud, Chris Hussein, Jennifer Keith and Dale Tyler voted for the rezoning.

Commissioners Howard Austin, Gary Compton, Brent Couch and Tresa Reynolds voted against.

Taldo asked for the property to be rezoned last year, but that request was rejected by the Planning Commission in December. The proposal presented in December would have allowed 14 two-story townhouses on a single lot. The Planning Commission voted against that rezoning request with three votes in favor and five votes against.

Neighbors objected to the original rezoning requested in December, filled the meeting room again at the April 2 meeting and turned out once more Tuesday night to speak against the proposal. Many of the residents called the request “spot zoning” and argued it could open the door for more such developments in what have been single-family residential neighborhoods. They said the values of their homes would decrease if multifamily housing is allowed in the neighborhood and cited concerns about noise, traffic and safety.

Mike Nelson said he has lived in the area for 36 years and it has always been a community of single-family homes. Nelson said the city needs more single-family homes that residents can buy and own, not multifamily developments that offer no path of home ownership. He also said the growth of the city is already causing more congestion on the neighborhood streets and in the schools. Nelson said he has seen traffic problems in the area grow and said he had read recently that the Springdale Police Department had responded to 23 accidents in one 12-hour shift.

“The traffic, it’s hard,” Nelson said. “The road rage is there. It’s real, and that’s why we have the accidents.”

The parcel is on the west side of 40th Street and north of Chapman Avenue. The agricultural zoning allows for single-family residential use on lots no smaller than two acres, according to information from the city’s Planning Department. The multifamily zoning allows a maximum of four dwelling units per residential structure and up to eight units per acre.

The tract is undeveloped. According to the city, the property to the north contains single-family dwellings. The areas to the east, south and west contain churches in an agricultural zoning. The city’s adopted comprehensive land use plan indicates the area is suitable for low-density residential use.