Commission discuss change to the subdivision ordinance

The Benton Planning and Zoning Commission recently had a public hearing and their regular monthly meeting and voted to make changes to the city's subdivision ordinance.

This specific change requires that preliminary plats would have to be submitted to city's Community Development Department at least one week before commission meetings.

City Planner Chelsea Manning and Director of Community and Economic Development Brad Jordan have both supported the change since it gives themselves and the commission more time to review plans before they vote. Commissioners welcomed it as well.

The motion was unanimously approved by the commission.

They also opted to table a site plan for a proposed mini-storage business that would be located at 5900 Congo Rd. The location is outside city limits but is within the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction. The site plan was submitted by Arkansas Surveying and Consulting.

Chairman Brian Black raised concerns about the site plan not meeting the city zoning ordinance.

“So this is in our ETJ, so this property is not around any property that has any specific zoning designation, however looking in our zoning ordinance it does appear there are some setbacks and landscaping regulations that it does have to adhere to,” said Black.

He said that the zoning regulation states that a perimeter landscape strip at least 12 feet in width should be provided along all property lines and adjourning residential areas. Black pointed out that while the area surrounding the property is not designated as a residential zone, there are still houses around the property.

Scott Foster, of Arkansas Surveying and Consulting, was at the meeting to speak on behalf of the applicants. He said they would bring the site plan back next month and that it would meet the requirements of the city zoning ordinance.