Heights plot rezoning OK’d
LR board clears way for Regions bank branch on R Street
A fear that the Heights commercial district will encroach on residential areas with the construction of a Regions bank branch at North University Avenue and R Street didn’t prevent the Little Rock Board of Directors from approving a zoning change Tuesday that paves the way for the bank.
The Regions bank branch at 1801 N. Fillmore St. in the Heights cannot renew its lease at that address but wants to continue serving the area, bank representatives said. The bank has purchased a four-lot site at 6001 R Street and plans to build a one-story, 3,200-squarefoot branch there.
The city’s Planning Department staff and the Planning Commission both recommended that the board deny the bank’s request to rezone the R Street property from single family to planned development.
The proposal for the bank building includes a four-lane drive-thru on the west side of the property, which is adjacent to a single-family home. The two access drives from R Street do not comply with development standards in the city’s boundary street ordinance or subdivision ordinance, according to a memo sent to the board members.
The memo noted that nonresidential uses of property in the area are concentrated east of University Avenue and that the areas west and south of the property are exclusively used for single-family homes.
“Staff feels a rezoning to office is an intrusion into an established single-family neighborhood and could have an adverse impact on the surrounding residential properties,” the memo said. “If the lots are rezoned, an undesirable zoning pattern will be created and make it difficult to deny other requests in the immediate area.”
Tonya Clayton’s property is 12 feet from one planned entrance to the bank.
“I do not want a bank in my backyard,” she told the board Tuesday. She was one of about a dozen Heights residents who showed up to the board meeting to object to the bank’s zoning request.
Randy Frazier, attorney for Regions, noted that there are seven banks in the Heights area along Kavanaugh Boulevard that all have residential property directly abutting them. A traffic engineer hired by Regions to do a study at the proposed site said traffic would increase 6.4 percent during the noon Friday peak hour.
The board voted 8-2 to allow the rezoning for planned development. Ward 1 City Director Erma Hendrix and At-large City Director Joan Adcock voted against the request. City Directors Ken Richardson, Stacy Hurst, Brad Cazort, Lance Hines, B.J. Wyrick, Dean Kumpuris and Dean Fortson voted for the zoning change.
The group of residents opposed to the request yelled, “Did you hear any of that?” and sighed other indications of displeasure as they left the boardroom Tuesday after the vote.