Request made to rezone for Dollar General
A request to rezone a 1.613acre parcel of land near the intersection of Commonwealth and Euston Roads to make way for a Dollar General Store is being met with quite a bit of opposition by many Bella Vista residents.
The request was presented to the Bella Vista Planning Commission at its monthly work session held Wednesday, March 30, at the District Court Building.
Approximately 50 residents, some holding anti-rezoning signs, attended the meeting, but because it was a work session, as opposed to a regular session, they were unable to address the commission or the entities making the request.
“We do want to hear from the public and we want to hear from you,” Planning Commission Chairman Daniel Ellis told the audience at the meeting’s outset, “but tonight is just a fact-finding time for us to hear staff’s report on what’s been presented to us, to listen to the applicant and to ask questions and have discussions about it. But we will actually vote and take action at the April 11 planning meeting after we’ve held the public hearing.”
Two waiver requests are being made by Bartlett Architecture in conjunction with the rezoning request. The first waiver request addresses the distance between access drives near Commonwealth Road and Euston Road. The second pertains to the required retaining wall setbacks near Commonwealth Road and Euston Road.
The rezone request, being made by Cooper Communities, Inc., is to rezone the parcel from R-2, Residential, Two-Family District, to Planned Zoning District (PZD).
The applicant’s master plan states the “only allowable use via this PZD would be that of a Dollar General Retail Store … such that no other land uses would be allowed without a revision to the PZD.”
The purpose of the PZD, according to the request, is to “establish a mechanism to propose a development with a mix of commercial, industrial or residential uses that is innovative but which does not strictly comply with the provisions of the zone in which the property is located and cannot be achieved through traditional zoning. A PZD provides the city with a unique opportunity to review more standards than via a traditional rezone — including the visual appearance of the structure(s) and how the overall layout of the associated development proposal contributes to economic development, community identity, development form, and other city goals.”
Commissioner Clayton Sedberry said, “When I read that … ‘strictly complies’ tells me it somewhat complies with the R-2 zone. And nothing about this complies with the R-2 zone. So if you just take that first sentence in the ordinance it automatically tells me that this doesn’t comply with an R-2 district.”
Following staff’s presentation of the request, Dan Bartlett, of Bartlett Architecture, stepped up to the podium to answer questions from the commission.
“We’re here to find out if our
project can fit into the requirement of the city and the PZD,” he said.
One question raised was about a proposed traffic study, which commissioners were told was supposed to be completed around April 4. The study, among other things, would determine how general users, as well as delivery trucks, would access the area.
“I’m a little less concerned about how a tractor trailer maneuvers on site,” said Sedberry. “I’m more concerned with delivery routes of the tractor trailers.”
For example, he mentioned what is referred to as a “swept area,” which is “the difference between the turning radius of the tractor and the trailer.”
He explained, “When you go around a sharp curve, the sharper the curve the wider the swept area. In Bella Vista, all our roads are curvy. I have a wife and a small child who travel these roads frequently and I would like to know that when these 18-wheelers go around a curve it’s not taking up the entire roadway. This is a genuine safety concern. There are roadways in the United States that have banned 18-wheel traffic because of swept area.”
Bartlett said, “We did the little preliminary thing and so far the traffic pattern appears to be safe.”
Sedberry then asked Bartlett which routes he anticipated the delivery trucks taking.
“I can’t recall on that,” Bartlett responded.
Sedberry said, “I would like to know that and I would like to see some analysis of that.”
Commissioner JB Portillo then asked, “I’m curious as to why that particular site was selected for a Dollar General?”
Bartlett said, “That one’s kind of out of my expertise. The developer/Dollar General picked some sites. We’ve looked for sites in the area and this one just came to the top. And I don’t know why. We don’t hear those things, we just draw the pictures.”
Ellis also brought up concerns regarding the routes larger vehicles would travel coming to and from the location.
“As far as I know probably Commonwealth nor Euston were designed to support the loading of a tractor trailer,” he said to Bartlett. “That would be something I would be very interested in having your geotech take a look at (to see) if those pavements even support a vehicle of this size without creating some undo maintenance requirements for the city. If not, I think a remedy needs to be proposed in order to get those roads to something that can even support that load rating.”
He added, “I’m hoping the traffic study will also look at the intersections and level of service, not just here at your entrance but at the intersection of Commonwealth and Trafalger and Commonwealth and Euston and maybe Euston and Dartmoor, because this is a retail establishment that will bring cars from a couple of miles radius. It will be interesting to see what that will look like.”
Ellis said his final concern was in regard to the applicant’s communication, or lack thereof, with residents in that area.
“I have received an inordinate number of emails over the last two days and there’s a lot of people here,” he said. “The question I’ve got is there’s not been any intent to engage your neighbors in this process up to this point. This is one commissioner that thinks it’s important that happens before you come before us. If you choose not to then you kind of proceed forward at your own risk. But the neighbors are going to definitely influence our decision on the 11th I think.”
Bartlett asked, “How do you propose we do that?”
“That’s really up to you and the property owner you’re selling it to on how you want to engage them,” Ellis answered. “I think it’s important on something of this magnitude to engage your neighbors before the process and not after.”
Sedberry said he had received “close to a dozen emails” and the overall thrust was that a Dollar General Store would be “out of context for the neighborhood” and a “disruption to a residential neighborhood.”
Part of that disruption, Ellis pointed out, could involve the Razorback Greenway path near that parcel.
“This is the start of the greenway trail that goes all the way to Fayetteville,” Ellis said. “A person can park up there at the skills park and literally ride their bike all the way to south Fayetteville. From what I’ve heard, Bella Vistans are proud of that fact.”
Bartlett said if the store were there trail users could “come in and get a bottle of water before they leave” to get back on the trail.
The commission is expected to vote on the issue during it’s regular session on Monday, April 11, at 4:30 p.m. at the District Court Building.