Pea Ridge Commons plans OKd

City officials and Planning Commission members met with the developer and engineer of the Pea Ridge Commons during a tech review Monday afternoon.

Matt Sitton of the Sitton Group and Barry Williams with Crafton & Tull presented the plans and answered questions of city officials.

“It’s a subdivision,” Williams said. “We don’t know what’s going in all the holes yet. Probably 80% of the lots will be impervious so we can plant drainage

… we have more work to do on finalizing the lift station.”

Pea Ridge Commons is on the south side of Slack Street on either side of Ryan Road and is a combination of commercial and residential lots. The commercial lots border Slack Street.

Williams said he had been in communication with the Arkansas Highway Department of Transportation about curb cuts along Slack Street (Arkansas Highway 72) and would be following ARDOT guidelines.

He said the property on the west side of Ryan Road would be a “large commercial” development. “We would like to keep it as one, but perhaps could be split.”

He said all parking lots would be connected in the commercial development.

Williams also discussed locations of fire hydrants with Fire Chief Jack Wassman.

Developer Kevin Felgenhauer, who was present due to an earlier Planning Commission meeting, asked to speak and expressed concerns about rights of way for utilities, complaining that he wasn’t allowed a ROW across the property being developed for Pea Ridge Commons. As he and Sitton exchanged words, city Street Department superintendent Nathan See and planner Dr. Karen Sherman advised them to discuss the issue outside of the meeting.

City building official Tony Townsend said the developers need to sell the “five commercial lots up front” in order to develop the residential areas south of the commercial lots.