Spa City to update parking code
Input sought as city looks to redo zoning requirements for stores
HOT SPRINGS — Acres of empty parking spaces are a legacy of the last update the city of Hot Springs made to its zoning code in 2003.
With e-commerce still in its infancy then, brick-andmortar outlets dominated retail.
“We didn’t see Amazon being the giant it has become and becoming a preferred way to shop,” Planning and Development Director Kathy Sellman said. “If you needed 80 parking spaces in 2003, you probably really did need that, but you probably really don’t now. So why not put that land to a more productive use?”
The first draft of the code update the city will be soliciting public input for from noon to 1 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Garland County Library and from 8 to 11 a.m. Thursday at Transportation Depot sets parking maximums based on the square footage of a retail business.
Camiros Ltd., the Chicago consulting firm the Hot Springs Board of Directors awarded a $229,000 contract in 2022 to codify the longrange land use plan the board adopted in 2020, will be at the three open houses.
The current code requires a minimum number of parking spaces based on a building’s use or square footage. The draft available on the city’s website limits structures classified as retail goods establishments to 1.5 parking spaces per 500 square feet of general floor area.
“We’re taking a hard look at parking requirements, because so many parking lots, particularly in retail settings, are empty most of the time,” Sellman said. “We are adding the concept of a parking maximum. We don’t want you to over park.
“That uses up space that could be used for another business. The parking maximum is something new we’re hoping will stay in the code.”
Public input that informed the long-range use plan, HS2040: Forward Hot Springs Comprehensive Plan, ranked neighborhood revitalization as a top priority.
The legacy nonresidential reuse category proposed in the new use matrix would enable the return of the neighborhood bodega.
Buildings that housed corner stores in older neighborhoods are now zoned for residential use, making them noncompliant for commercial activity.
The new use matrix permits by right in all residential-zoned districts art galleries, fitness studios, day cares, offices, personal services establishments and restaurants and retail stores that don’t sell alcohol.
“We heard a lot when we were doing Forward Hot Springs that people would like to see those old corner stores,” Sellman said. “They do not want a Circle K with 400 parking spaces. They want the little building that’s already there that when you’re doing supper, and you’re out of milk you can send the kid out to get it.
“We have those existing corner store type buildings all over the city. If somebody wanted to, they could revive it as a corner store.”
The new matrix lists about a third fewer principal use categories than what’s in the current code and includes two general use categories for retail. The current code lists about a dozen uses that fall under the retail umbrella. The new matrix consolidates them into retail goods establishment and retail sales of alcohol.
Camiros told the planning commission last year that less specificity allows uses not anticipated by the code to be put into existing categories.
“Our existing table of uses went in a ‘let’s be really specific’ direction,” Sellman said. “Was it absolutely necessary to call out palm reader, fortuneteller, psychic? We have that in our code, but not retail. We’re trying to step back to be more general without making it so general we have four categories, and that’s it.”
Retail and service uses that may be objectionable, such as those of a sexually explicit nature, can be put into more specific categories that impose a stricter set of standards and are permitted in fewer zoning districts.
“If something is specifically of concern, that will be called out,” Sellman said. “Just because you’re retail but your product is a sexually oriented good or service you don’t get to go under that big umbrella. If you’re called out under a smaller umbrella, that’s where you’re regulated.”
The 6,500 square feet in the medium/high-density residential zone is the smallest single-family lot allowed in any of the current code’s five residential zones.
A zone proposed in the new code allows lots as small as 3,000 square feet. Sellman estimated about a dozen structures per acre could be built under the smaller lot scheme.
“It would allow for more houses,” she said. “We got that from talking to builders. They have the right idea, and the code needs to catch up.”
Most land in the city was subdivided before land use controls were codified, making lots and homes nonconforming to the minimum lot sizes, setbacks and dimensional requirements of their district.
Sellman said Camiros found that about 40% of the lots in the city were nonconforming.
Renovating or rebuilding homes on nonconforming lots require a variance from the Board of Zoning Adjustment.
The new zoning map would reduce nonconformity, making setbacks and the ratio between the square footage of the lot and home less of a consideration for people looking to improve their property or buy older homes.
“We want people to conform so they can maintain and expand,” Sellman said.” If all goes to plan there will be far fewer people who are nonconforming than there are nonconforming now.”