Last-mile delivery

Government communication can sometimes be filled with jargon and acronyms. When officials working in government attempt to explain details of a proposal or the regulations or laws influencing some action, it can sound like an entirely different language.

Planning commissions deal with a lot of regulations about development and how it’s done, so it can be awkward to grasp the meaning of the alphabet soup that pours from planners’ mouths. But the other day, a decision by the Fayetteville Planning Commission came through loud and clear: When it comes to options for a proposed apartment complex, 180 parking spaces more than a mile away doesn’t qualify as “off-site.”

Oh, it’s clearly off-site. That’s not in doubt. But could it reasonably be considered as feasible parking to serve an apartment complex more than a mile away? That’s a heck of a commute just to start one’s commute.

Imagine parking your car after a hard day’s work or a full day of classes then having a mile to travel before you’re home. The company certainly must have confidence in its capacity for marketing. Or perhaps there’s a sense there’s enough desperation for affordable student housing that renters will be willing to walk a mile, in their own shoes or anyone else’s.

Fayetteville’s rules are open to off-site parking, but within 600 feet of the development it’s intended to serve.

We’re all for people walking or riding bicycles more, but that’s taking last-mile delivery too far.

Thankfully, the commission voted 8-0 to reject a permit for the student housing project. Just because Fayetteville is in a housing crunch doesn’t mean it needs to throw common sense out the window.