Rogers panel OKs sports complex plans

Planning Commission also approves shops on west side

ROGERS — A new sports complex is a step closer to being developed after the Planning Commission on Tuesday approved plans for the project.

Arkansas Athletes Outreach has plans to construct a nearly 51,600-square-foot sports complex on more than 10 acres on South Dixieland Road half a mile south of Rogers High School, planning documents show.

Arkansas Athletes Outreach is a Fayetteville-based nonprofit organization serving as a mentoring center for youth, according to its website. The organization’s P. Whitaker Sports Center in Fayetteville includes basketball and volleyball courts.

Diego Garcia, the engineer on the project, said the new sports complex will have soccer fields.

The developer on the project didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Plans for shops on Pleasant Crossing Boulevard on the city’s west side also got the green light from the commission. The development includes an 8,000-squarefoot building and a 14,000-square-foot building on about 3 acres, according to planning documents.

Developer Matt Sitton said a tenant has already agreed to rent the 8,000-square-foot space, but Sitton wouldn’t say who the tenant was.

The spaces allow for retail, restaurants, office or medical space, he said.

“This is where the growth is,” Sitton said of the area, adding there is “a tremendous amount of traffic and synergy” where he plans to construct the shops.

Construction on the project will begin May 1, if the City Council gives it approval, Sitton said.

The commission also voted to allow an animal hospital at 4032 W. Garrett Road, where Blue Ribbon Lawns, a landscaping business, is. Owen Allphin, veterinarian, said he’s in the process of purchasing the building where Blue Ribbon Lawns is and plans to operate the animal hospital out of that building. Allphin Veterinary Clinic has an office in Branson, Mo., and Allphin’s son, Owen Allphin Jr., will practice at the Rogers office, Allphin said.

“Our plan is to open a good animal hospital that’s going to provide excellent, high-quality medicine,” he said.

Allphin said the hospital will open this summer.

All items passed unanimously with commissioners Eriks Zvers and Tony Noblin absent.