Commission Approves Taco Bell Plans

PANEL TO CONSIDER NEW ZONING DESIGNATION

FARMINGTON — Dairy Queen opened a new restaurant in Farmington last year and now Taco Bell is coming to town.

Farmington Planning Commission approved the large scale development plan for a new Taco Bell restaurant at its monthly meeting last week. The restaurant will be located between Walmart Neighborhood Market and Casey’s General Store on Main Street.

The undeveloped land between the two businesses has been split and Taco Bell will be in the .66-acre lot nearest to Walmart. It will have two entrances, one off Main Street and the other, a shared driveway with Walmart. An empty lot will be between Casey’s and Taco Bell.

“There’s nothing special about it. It will be just like the others,” Geoffrey Bates with Bates & Associates engineering firm told the Planning Commission at its June 26 meeting.

The land currently is owned by Oakland Farms LLC. Bates said G. Oney & Associates has a contract to purchase the land, pending approval of the large scale development plan.

Gerald Oney with G. Oney & Associates of Walnut Shade, Mo., said his firm has built 190 Taco Bell restaurants for franchisee K-Mac Enterprises Inc., of Fort Smith. K-Mac will be the franchisee for

the Farmington Taco Bell.

Oney said he believes the Main Street site will be a good location for Taco Bell.

“I think the development is improving out that way,” Oney said by telephone last week. “There are other (Taco Bell) restaurants in that area and it’s time for one in Farmington.”

The firm will close on purchasing the land in mid-July and construction should start in the latter part of July. Oney said it should take about 75 calendar days to build the new restaurant.

“We’re pleased to be there,” Oney said. “It’s a great location and I’m happy things worked out.”

The large scale development plans show the building will have 2,250 square feet, will seat a capacity of 50 customers and has 24 parking spaces and two handicapped spaces. A detention pond will be located in the back of the property for storm water drainage.

The landscape plans show the property will have 35 Blue Dune Lyme Grass plants, 82 Nandina plants, 62 boxwood plants, five Sugar Maple trees, eight Eastern Redbud trees and six Colorado Blue Spruce evergreen trees.

According to a Taco Bell spokesman, there are 7,000 Taco Bell restaurants in the United States, with plans to grow to 8,000 restaurants by the year 2022.

Mayor Ernie Penn said he is not surprised that Taco Bell wants to come to Farmington.

“It is quite obvious that with the rapid growth of Farmington and the number of vehicles that travel through our town each day, Franchise-type businesses are locating west to Farmington,” Penn said by email. “There is a lot less traffic congestion in Farmington than in Fayetteville, and our businesses service customers in not only Farmington, but our neighboring communities of Prairie Grove, Lincoln, West Fork and in bordering Oklahoma. Farmington has been very blessed to have these types of businesses locating to our community.”

Diane Bryant, chairwoman of the city’s Economic Development Committee, said a new business is good for Farmington.

“I’m always glad for businesses to come to town,” Bryant said. “Taco Bell is a good business and I’m sure it will be good for revenue.”

Bryant said her only concern is traffic in the area, with Casey’s General Store, Neighborhood Market and now a Taco Bell all located on that side of the highway.

In other action, commissioners tabled a rezoning request for property at 295 and 297 Kelli St. Property owner Stewart Ong is requesting the land be rezoned from R-2 single-family residential to highway commercial.

This property is the former site of a duplex that was destroyed by a gas main fire in December 2016. A vehicle traveling west on Main Street struck the gas main, which then ignited the duplex. The driver of the vehicle died in the accident.

Engineer Larry Grelle said the property owner is interested in building an office/ retail facility but will need a variance from setback requirements for the development. Grelle asked to table the rezoning request and return with a variance request and rezoning request at the commission’s July meeting.

According to a letter submitted with the proposal, Ong has not made a final decision on what he will build but one option is an expansion of his rehabilitation business, Mountaincrest Rehab Facility, in Bella Vista.

The Commission also set a public hearing for 6 p.m. July 24 to consider a proposal to amend the city’s zoning ordinance to add a new zoning designation.

Property owner Tom Sims has approached the city about a zone that allows zero lot lines and smaller lots to develop property on Double Springs Road, according to city Business Manager Melissa McCarville. A request to rezone this property on Double Springs from single-family residential to multi-family was withdrawn from the Planning Commission’s consideration on April 23 after many residents in the area showed up to voice their opposition to the request.