Board to hear FAR zoning change

City directors will place Ordinance 21-04 regarding a zoning code change to remove the Floor-to-Area Ratio (FAR) from residential construction requirements on its first reading during their meeting on Tuesday.

FAR is calculated by dividing the size of the house under one roof by the size of the lot and requires that a house’s floor area can be no larger than a third of the size of the lot on which it sits, according to a staff report prepared by Senior Planner Ben Rhoads on Jan. 25.

The rule is burdensome to builders and redundant because the city has other zoning codes that deal with lot coverage and height regulation, the report states.

The planning commission approved the the code change in a vote of 6-0 during a meeting on Feb. 9. Commissioner Tom Montgomery was absent the night of the meeting, bringing the commissioner down to six instead of seven.

FAR will still be used for commercial and industrial construction, Rhoads said. The zoning change amends FAR for the historic downtown district, the report states.

City staff looked at the building environment in the downtown area and discovered FAR is not currently included in the historic downtown overlay zone and that adding a FAR of 2.0 or 200 percent would be consistent with other commercial zoning district augmentations regulated in the overlay district.

The changes only apply to new construction, buildings already in existence will be grandfathered in, the report states.

“We’re just trying to update the codes to match the actual built environment not changing the codes to change the built environment if you will,” Rhoads said.

City directors will also discuss the following items:

Consent agenda

• Regular meeting minutes for the Feb. 16 meeting.

• Dedication of utility easements and right-of-way for 20430 Keck Rd.

• Resolution 06-21 concerning street closures for the Dogwood Festival, Home Grown Festival and Turkey Trot.

• The 2020 destruction affidavit for stale documents that no longer require retention.

• The purchase of a Case 590SN Loader Backhoe from Scott Equipment in the amount of $109,700.

Ordinances

• Placing Ordinance 21-02 regarding the vacation of unnamed rights-of-way at 316 N. Hico Street on its second reading.

• Placing Ordinance 21-03 concerning rezoning 813 Arkansas Highway 16 from A-1 (Agriculture) to R-2 (Residential Medium) on its first reading.

Staff Reports

• Year-end financials for 2020.

• Administrator’s Report.