Planners approve conditional use permit for a new church

PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove Planning Commission unanimously approved a conditional use permit for a church in an R-3 zone at its April 4 meeting.

Lots 102 Holdings LLC submitted the request as owner of the property on Heritage Parkway on behalf of Fellowship Bible Church of NW Arkansas.

Lots 102 asked for a conditional use permit for two separate parcels, one with 13 acres and the other with one acre.

Commission Chairman J.C. Dobbs said the commission “obviously” welcomed a new church to the community but hated to give up commercial frontage that could bring in tax revenue.

The commission reached a compromise, Dobbs said, and decided to give a conditional use permit for the 13-acre parcel but not for the one-acre tract. The 13-acre parcel has a small highway frontage and the rest of the property goes in a northsouth direction.

“We wanted to maintain that commercial frontage

(on the second parcel),” Dobbs said after the meeting. “Every sliver we give up, we are giving up revenue.”

Dobbs said a representative of the church attended the meeting and told commissioners the church was interested in building a 50,000-square-foot facility. The church will have to submit a large-scale development plan for approval by the commission before it can start any work on the property.

The commission also approved the revised preliminary plat for Copper Hill subdivision, phases one and two. The developer will be required to add 10 parking spaces to a community park area.

Dobbs said Phase 1 has 82 lots and Phase 2 will have 79 lots. The developer expects to be selling houses in Phase 1 by the end of 2025, according to Dobbs.

Copper Hill is a planned unit development by Rausch Coleman that will have single-family homes, townhomes and duplexes to be phased in over the next nine years. It will be located on about 80 acres off Butler and Pittman streets.