HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-07-23 email Fogleman 2 letterMr. Brian Minyard, Planner II
Planning and Development Department
723 West Markham Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
bminyard@littlerock.gov
Re: New home proposed for 1414 Park Lane/HDC2020-015
Dear Mr. Minyard:
My family and I live at 620 E. 16th Street, just around the corner from 1414 Park Lane.
We moved to Pettaway, in 2013 inspired, in part, by the vision promoted by the MacPark Group
and Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corp, through their adopted master plans.
An element of both of the plans was development that inspired connections with surrounding
areas. This requires conscientious development.
First, we believe that the home designed for 1414 Park Lane is conscientiously designed. It is
consistent in form with a commercial or mixed-use structure that may have been developed
there, immediately north of another commercial mixed-use structure had Little Rock not imposed
artificial barriers to the use of property and form of development in 1937. By 1913, a commercial
node was developing in the area. Within one and a half blocks of the site under consideration,
there were six commercial buildings (storefronts at 1500, 1501 and 1502 Commerce, 600 E. 16th,
518/520 E. 15th Street (also addressed as 1420/1422 Park Ln.), and a 2 story wagon repair shop
on the interior of the block located where a home now stands at 1514 Park Ln. By 1939, the
home at the southwest corner of 14th and Commerce was converted into use as a clinic; a
commercial use. It was not then, and is not now, out of the ordinary to convert a home into a
commercial use, or a storefront into a residential use. One such example may be found in Little
Rock at 1511 Scott Street.
Second, the previous structure was first the subject of a warning order to repair or face
demolition by the city in 1996. The city had the authority to bring the structure back into code
compliance; however, it chose not to. It remained vacant and in disrepair from 1996 until its
destruction by fire in 2019. New structures in the district are non-contributing. This proposal
does not distract from the nature of the district. To the contrary, it builds a bridge. It better
connects the district, which overlays the northern part of Pettaway, to the rest of Pettaway with
its mix of architectural styles: some historic, some modern, and some commercial-turned-
residential.
Respectfully, we would like for the Historic District Commission to approve the present design
of the house proposed for construction at 1414 Park Lane. We thank you for your time and
attention to this matter and ask for a favorable vote.
Sincerely,
Jill and Adam Fogleman