HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-12-13 email nichols1
Minyard, Brian
From:Minyard, Brian
Sent:Friday, December 13, 2019 9:29 AM
To:'Cheri Nichols'
Subject:RE: Proposed infill development at 10th and Rock Sts.
Thanks, Ted sent it to me and the commissioners got it in the packet before the meeting. The applicant has been
revising the design and we should see something different in March.
Brian
From: Cheri Nichols [mailto:cgnichols79@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2019 5:49 PM
To: Minyard, Brian
Subject: Fwd: Proposed infill development at 10th and Rock Sts.
Brian,
I should have sent this e-mail to you as well as to Ted. I'm glad the project has been deferred and hope that
significant changes will be made before it comes back to the HDC.
I'd like to underscore what I said, below, about a "rowhouse" design not being appropriate, not only in the
MacArthur Park Historic District but in any of Little Rock's historic neighborhoods. The inspiration for infill
development needs to come from types of buildings that historically were common, such as the Craftsman-style
fourplexes that are sprinkled throughout the MacArthur Park HD.
Sincerely,
Cheri
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Proposed infill development at 10th and Rock Sts.
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 2019 20:02:30 -0600
From: Cheri Nichols <cgnichols79@comcast.net>
To: Ted Holder <holderheuvel@yahoo.com>
Ted,
I've seen the drawings for the proposed 18-unit infill project at 10th and Rock Streets, and I hope the Historic
District Commission will defer the application until some very substantial revisions can be made -- particularly
since the project can't move forward anyway without a change in zoning that has not yet occurred.
In my opinion, the proposed development is very much out of scale for the historic district. It is both too tall
and too dense. (A project of this scale, in fact, is not allowed under the existing zoning; hence, the requested
rezoning.) In addition, the "rowhouse" design does not reflect the MacArthur Park neighborhood's historic
architecture. Rowhouses virtually were nonexistent in Little Rock during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In
2
all of the research I've done on the city's historic buildings and neighborhoods, I've come across exactly one row
of connected dwellings -- long since demolished -- that might have qualified as rowhouses (except I think they
actually were apartments). The so-called Caroline Row apartments simply are two duplexes side by side, and
their scale is nothing like what is being proposed at 10th and Rock.
Historic multi-family dwellings are found throughout the historic district, and I would hope the applicant could
look to those buildings for design inspiration. A number of Craftsman-style fourplexes, for example, are
located in the district and might serve as models for the design of multi-family infill.
I encourage the Historic District Commission to ensure that new development in the historic district is similar in
scale, and compatible in design, with the historic architecture that the district was created to protect.
Thank you,
Cheri Nichols
1721 S. Gaines St.
Little Rock, AR 72206
501-375-2686
501-951-1941