Planners table lot split for new Water Department land
The Planning Commission tabled a lot split for the parcel at 51 Huntley Lane, just off Lancashire Boulevard, during its Monday-night meeting.
The lot is owned by Cooper Communities Inc., which has hired Springdale-based Survey 1 Inc. to survey the tract. The lot split was filed Nov. 16, with the intention of splitting nearly 3 acres off the parent parcel. CCI plans to transfer the land to the Property Owners Association to expand the Water Department’s maintenance yard, according to the staff report provided by the city’s Department of Community Development Services.
Senior planner Jennifer Bonner said the commission has to approve it because of the necessary easements and right of way. While the application was filed in November, she said, it wasn’t ready to go until this meeting.
Chairman Daniel Ellis said that the request had not yet completed all the requirements for approval.
“They’ve got nine outstanding comments and nobody is here to represent them,” Ellis said. “The staff has given them several comments, a couple of them are big deals.The standard is published by Bella Vista, they know what they have to meet.”
The staff comments included incomplete owner name and address information on the certificate of ownership, showing the entire parent parcel on the survey, dedication of 20-foot-wide utility and drainage easements along the entire perimeter of the parcel and the border with the parcel-to-be, showing all utility lines and poles within the parcel, centering the right of way to be dedicated for Huntley Lane with the edge of the pavement and corrections on the utility signature line — which needs to read “Architectural Control Committee” but currently reads “Agricultural Control Committee.”
“We have to ask ‘does this meet the code or not?’ And right now what you have in front of us does not,” Ellis said.
Commissioner Don Robinson agreed.
“I’d sure like to hear from them and figure out what exactly is going on,” he said.
Robinson made a motion to table the split, which was seconded by commissioner Gail Klesen. The motion carried unanimously.
The commission also discussed upcoming vacancies. Shawki Al-Madhoun has agreed to be re-appointed; however, Jaime Kemp has not, meaning there will be one vacancy the commission needs to fill. That seat’s term will end March 1, 2021.
Bonner said that, in this case, she needs applications by Wednesday, Feb. 15. Applicants need to come quickly, she said, because they need to be reviewed by the City Council in time to be sworn in for the commission’s March meetings.
March is important for the commission, she said, because the commission will typically use these meetings to elect officers.
Additionally, she said, because the city is intending to hire a consulting firm to work on the city master plan, that firm may make suggestions that need to go through the Planning Commission.
“Anything they change in the municipal code could come through here,” she said. “The last couple of months of this year, the first couple months of next year may be busy.”