NLR to vote on zone change

Macarthur Drive site on state’s meth-contaminated list

The North Little Rock City Council will vote Monday on whether to approve a zoning change that will allow a new business to locate in a methamphetamine-contaminated building in the city.

The small one-story building with white siding and red canvas awnings is at 4108 Macarthur Drive, near Edgewood Cemetery. The building previously housed The Parlor tattoo shop.

The rezoning is being sought to use the building as a car sales and repair shop.

The city Planning Commission unanimously approved the zoning change April 10. But the structure cannot be legally occupied until it is shown to no longer be contaminated by the chemicals released during the production of methamphetamine.

Alderman Steve Baxter, who represents Ward 3 where the building is located, said the Planning Commission was aware the structure was contaminated.

“Before issuing a business license, [a new business operator] will have to have the contamination from the previous owner ... cleaned up,” Baxter said. “That’s one of the conditions of approval.”

But Byron Mckimmey of Mckimmey Associates Realtors, which owns the property, said he was under the impression that the building had been cleared for use. He said the fact that the building was contaminated was not mentioned at the Planning Commission meeting, and minutes from the meeting show no discussion about the building being contaminated.

Mckimmey said he thought an inspection by the city fire marshal’s office cleared the building for use. But a spokesman for the fire marshal’s office has said the inspection was only for fire and safety hazards and their records had listed the building as vacant.

A methamphetamine lab was discovered at the site shortly after 8 a.m. April 14, 2011, after smoke was seen coming from the building.

Jason Banks of North Little Rock let firefighters and police into the building, where officers found a duffel bag containing a methamphetamine lab, a police report states.

Banks and Mark Brookings of North Little Rock were arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining drug premises. They negotiated guilty pleas to lesser charges and are being held in Department of Community Correction facilities.

The building was added to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality’s list of methamphetamine-contaminated properties May 13, 2011.

The building is one of 14 methamphetamine-contaminated properties in North Little Rock and 62 in Pulaski County.

According to Act 864 of 2007, any property on the Environmental Quality department’s contamination list must be cleaned by an approved contractor and tested to show that the harmful chemicals created during the production of methamphetamine are no longer present in the structure.

Until the building is cleaned, it must be labeled with signs indicating it is a methamphetamine-contaminated property, and it is illegal to re-enter or use the building, the law states.

But the building on MacArthur Drive is absent of any signs, except for a small yellow sign noting the city is considering the property for a zoning change.

Mckimmey said he thought that because the building had been inspected by the North Little Rock fire marshal’s office, it had been “completely cleaned up” and approved for use.

He said he didn’t know the property was still listed on the Environmental Quality Department’s website as a methamphetamine-contaminated site.

“I never even looked there because I had no reason to look there and, like I said, the city went there and re-examined it and said everything was fine,” Mckimmey said.

The task of checking properties for the correct signs is the responsibility of the law enforcement office that has jurisdiction where the property is located, Environmental Quality Department spokesman Katherine Benenati said.

Because the property is in the city, North Little Rock police would be responsible for the property, she said.

Officer Carmen Helton, a spokesman for the North Little Rock Police Department, said officers do not make patrols to specifically check on meth-contaminated properties. But several sites in North Little Rock included on the Environmental Quality Department’s list lacked any signs when visited by a reporter last week.

Baxter said he was not sure if the zoning change would be approved at the City Council meeting Monday, citing other concerns with the property including a lack of space for parking.

But Baxter said if the zoning change is approved, it would be in the business owner’s best interests to meet the license’s conditions, including decontamination of the building, as soon as possible.

“Obviously, in an effort for them to get the business up and running as quickly as possible, they would want to address those expeditiously,” Baxter said.