Panel OKs apartments, retirement community

ROGERS — Final plans for two residential developments got the green light Tuesday from the Planning Commission.

Plans for Pinnacle Springs Retirement Community show an almost 74,000-square-foot facility on nearly 8 acres off South Bellview Road. The retirement community will have 130 units, according to planning documents.

Bob Lewis, a representative for the project, said construction is projected to start in May and should take about a year and eight months to complete. The community will be a part of Resort Lifestyle Communities, a company operating 33 similar developments in the United States and has another 14 under construction, including Chenal Pines Retirement Resort in Little Rock. People 55 and older are allowed to live in the developments, but most are generally around 80, Lewis said.

The commission also approved plans for Dodson Pointe Apartments, a 240-unit complex on about 20 acres off of West Stoney Creek Drive west of Interstate 49.

Blake Murray, a representative for the project, said he expects construction to start within the next two months with no estimated completion date.

The commission also voted to allow Daisy Airgun Museum to prop a 25-feet tall replica of a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun outside its building at West Walnut and Second Streets.

The intent of the replica is to be a tourist attraction

visitors will want to take photos with, said Joe Murfin, chairman of the museum’s board. The replica will be installed and weighted down so it won’t move, he said.

J.R. Shaw, vice president of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce and executive director at Visit Rogers, an organization focusing on tourism, told the commission he supported approving the replica.

“Our job is to get more eyeballs and get more people into Rogers. That supports not only taxes and jobs, but it supports our community and our neighbors,” he said. “That’s what tourism and development is all about, and getting more people downtown is one of our goals and getting them to stay longer downtown is a part of that whole strategy.”

The City Council’s Transportation Committee and the city’s Historic District Commission must approve the project for it to be allowed, said Eriks Zvers, Planning Commission chairman.

No one spoke in opposition of the project at the commission meeting.