HomeMy WebLinkAboutnews articleLR Board of Directors to hear Deltic Timber's rezoning proposal
Page 1 of 1
Publication: Arkansas Democrat -Gazette; Date:2012 Dec 18; Section: Arkansas; Page Number 9
AcfvoF�oor'
LR Board of Directors to hear Deltic Timber's rezoning proposal
CLAUDIA LAUER shiceEnv first proposal toim pan roiticst wAstanavd.duwll the imm residents had with
the cumpan}'s o mowing to- kolial Z and multifamily w
[axnnsr[orxrs re'r� rur�rr support the move, petitions at thattime. and the mmparty the 2iHr3 pruMtisal
(nim hundreds
yuusts, wfurh would rezone office. open space and com-
A proposal to rezone a of residents withdrew the other tun re As a resu r, Ihr ..npatry
large swath of Rahiing Road against the plan are rolling ytueslsWore Oerywere wted as1edthat thewrFunbaiun rr
}and on the e3 t nide of RPh- mercial Poore
IIng south of pebble Reach The commission voted
in west I!Ede RawkisIkhL- into citydirecturs'nfficesand on. move from Ihecliy'n master
Road from residential low against the thinsportion of
fare the Little Rock Board of a -mail accounts. Company representatives planthcexlerolonofWelling•
density and medium den- the request, which included
liirstiturs tonight after being Representatives from Del- and lawyers told the Little tun ltl:uu-Adon Flrivv to mutt
Cry to park and open space, removing the extension of
turnctii drnva re than tic'1 umber, the owner of the Rock pluming Commission Rahlingg ltuod uul lussenvd
more than 70 lo tate Inst had
office, ncighburhuud corn- Wellington Plantation from
low the master
years aa�. acres a ng month that they same of the proposed rotor
Wlu Rahling Road the
mercial and residential Platt
density. The Neighborsinthe.sammuad-
repruniontH&Lsfrom under cunsid- met with some of resi- inguses totighter rvmmereial
a few of tete dmm neighbor- oration, sought a rrzoning dents oft he nelghborhoods andlighter off ice uses.
and medium
proposals would also rezone iris suWlvisions and housing
hoods that Lvuld toe,aftected. uppmtial hefure the hoarJ in near NVellingron plantation `11, aimingOorm ssion
jandlerswalll ofpmpe"On developments west o the
by the champ have switched 2009. One part of the three- Drive and resolved same of last momh approved M of
Rahlinbrs rastside from Resi- See PROPOSAL. page 8B
http: //epaper. ardemgaz. comIAPD271003IPrintArt. asp?SkinFolder=Arkansas&Path=ArD... 12/18/2012
LR Board of Directors to hear Deltic Timber's rezoning proposal
Page 1 of 1
r
Publication: Arkansas Democrat -Gazette; Date:2012 Dec 18; Section: Arkansas; Page Number: 16
Proposal
Continued from Page 1B
proposed changes said the
adjustments made by Deltic
and its development partners
won't make enough of a dif-
ference in the traffic they will
see on their streets
"Nobody has been able
to provide a reason for this
change, other than Deltic
wants it to change, but if they
can be patient when the need
is there, the land -will develop,"
said Dana Gaddy, vice presi-
dent of the Hillsborough Prop-
erty Owners Association.
"We're really concerned
about the effect this will have
on our roads and our traffic
conditions. It's like the city
allows people to put residen-
tial zoning on the map life
a placeholder until they can
figure out some other way to
develop that land, but there
are so many people whose
properties back up to where
they want to build a three-
story office building. That's
not what people thought when
they bought their houses. Its
as if we can never rest on this,
likee we have to remain ever -
vigilant:
Staff members in the city's
Planning and Development
Department recommended
turning down all three requests
for a handful of reasons.
There are more than 85
acres of property already
zoned for the new uses with-
in a mile of the area, some of
which have been built and
are sitting vacant, staff mem-
bers told the commission last
month.
Planning staff also raised
concerns about existing and
potential traffic on Rahling.
The developers are supposed
to widen and repave the road
once traffic counts bit 12,000
cars a day on a regular basis,
a figure that is near current
counts. But widening will ac-
commodate only 18.000 cars
per day before traffic conges-
tion starts to build, according
to the staff
The topography of the ar-
ea, which is hilly and bottoms
out near the planned rezon-
ing, also caused concern for
staff members, who said the
terrain 'is not suited for the
larger footprints of nonresi-
dential uses."
Because of the lower -ef-
fect commercial plans, staff
members added, Rahling Read
likely would build out under
the new zoning as a series
of strip malls rather than a
-nixed-use, mostly residential
area as called for in the master
plan.
Planning Director Tony
Bozynski reiterated some of
those concerns to the Board of
Directors at its agenda meet-
ing last week.
The board will decide
whether to approve the little
Rock Planning Commission's
vote on the two rezoning re-
quests and hold a public hear-
ing on whether to remove the
extension of Wellington Plan-
tation from the master street
plan.
Only one board member,
Ward 5 Director lance Times,
who represents the area in the
plan and was elected in 2010,
has changed since the last
hoard vote in 2009.
http://epaper.ardemgaz.comIAPD271003IPrintArt. asp?SkinFolder=Arkansas&Path=ArD... 12/18/2012