Planning and Zoning Commission discusses changes
Siloam Springs’ Planning and Zoning board may be headed for some changes after their meeting on Tuesday.
After hearing three permit applications, Senior Planner Ben Rhoads hosted an open discussion on a few proposed changes for the commission. City staff has been discussing changes to the meeting time of the board, which currently meets at 4 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month.
While no concrete replacement time has been set, city staff, after hearing feedback from all six members who were present, will investigate setting the meetings at a time later in the afternoon to avoid conflicts with people’s jobs.
The time change will be especially important if the commission’s authority is increased as proposed. Rhoads said other area planning commissions are the final authority on most planning-related issues, with the exception of ordinances like rezoning. Karl Mounger said he thought that could lessen the load on the Board of Directors and speed up the permitting process, so he was in favor. All other commissioners voiced similar opinions.
The final proposed change is a potential combination of the Board of Adjustments, which examines variances to city code, and the Planning and Zoning Commission. The two bodies are composed of the same members and each meet just once per month. There was unanimous support of the combination.
For this week, four permits were on the agenda to start the meeting. The first was a Lot Split Development Permit, which Rhoads said was unusual because it concerned two separate
parcels on the 400 block of North Progress Avenue. The permit passed unanimously.
The second Lot Split Development Permit, located at 1147 W. Jefferson Street, was tabled until January while the landowner works with neighbors on concerns they have.
Third, the commission heard a Preliminary Plat Development Permit on Lawlis Road. The permit, which is a request to split 18.36 acres into 60 single family residential lots, drew some questions and discussion from neighbors. Three neighbors spoke about the project and raised questions about the size of the houses, kids’ areas, annexation of the development, traffic and runoff.
Rhoads answered that only the land owned by the developer would be annexed to the city, not land owned by others in the area. Ron Homeyer, the engineer for the project said that contrary to a rumor that the houses would be very small, the new lots would be the regular size for a single family dwelling, though they would be slightly smaller than the existing houses.
Much of the discussion revolved around the recent FEMA flood map, which put a portion of the subject property on the flood plain. However, City Engineer Justin Bland said only about three percent of the plat is on the flood plain.
The Commission approved the permit, which will be heard by the Board of Directors on Dec. 6.
The final permit for consideration was a Final Plat Development Permit from Lucas Roebuck and Tyler Dees, who applied to build seven lots on the 2800 block of Dawn Hill Road. The block is the site of a proposed housing development that was not built because of runoff concerns.
The new development avoids the problem of causing too much runoff by proposing much larger lots; seven to the original proposal’s 50. The Commission approved the permit, which will also be heard by the Board of Directors on Dec. 6.