HomeMy WebLinkAboutCover Letter 032125Paul Dodds
2119 W. 17`i' St.
Little Rock AR 72202
Mr. Brad Jordan
Little Rock Planning and Development
723 W. Markham Street
Little Rock, AR 72201 March 17, 2025
Re: 1724 Rice Street Zoning Change for Unsafe and Vacant House
Dear Director Jordan and Planning Commission,
Please accept this application to support my nineteenth complete renovation of a home around the
Central High School National Historic District. The requested rezoning can give decades more useful life
to a seriously distressed house. The single story, wood frame home was built sometime in the 1940's. It
was expanded in the early 1950's and encloses around 1700 square feet. The house was converted into
a duplex at one time, and has the remnants of two kitchens, but was never legalized. The house was
listed unsafe and vacant list in May 2022. Entergy said it has had no power since 2007.
The goal is to restore this as an attractive, legal duplex, with two, two -bedroom apartments, to be
rented either to long term tenants or used as an Airbnb. When done, the house will be the exact same
dimensions, with no change in footprint, except a rear deck. The renovation will keep the original 1940's
look and feel. The roofline will be unchanged and the building will be clad with wood or Hardyboard
that matches original to be found under layers of asphalt. The three door locations from the 1950's will
be retained. The house will be gutted to the studs and ceilings raised back to their original height. All
new plumbing, wiring and HVAC will be installed, and everything brought up to current code. To provide
private outside space, permission is sought to build a rear deck of up to 30x18 feet at the back of the
house. This would leave room for two sedan or small truck parking spaces behind the house. Larger
cars or trucks would use the ample on street parking.
I have lived nearby since March 2004, am an Airbnb "Superhost" of a restored Victorian at 1725 S. Park,
and am renovating another duplex Victorian on the next block east at 1721-1723 Dennison. This
rezoning will provide the legal context to help make this difficult, but worthy, project feasible.
Sincerely,
�"_' Y-) o <6L v
Paul Dodds
Managing Director
Lawcraft LLC
501 7914135
Lot Limitations and Parking Waiver:
This home is built on a corner 50x10Q foot lot. The house will not be densely occupied. The attached
plan proposes two, two bedroom, one bath apartments.
It is proposed that the existing driveway behind the house facing 181h St. be expanded to be 18 feet wide
to serve as two nine- foot wide by 16 % feet parking spaces for two cars. The fronts of the cars will
partially go under the cantilevered deck. The spots will be slightly shorter than full sized parking spots,
and larger vehicles can park on the adjacent street. Two large cars or trucks can easily park on Rice St.
and three more on 18"' St.
STIR 2 Permission:
In addition, we request STIR 2 zoning. Mr. Dodds is a well -established Airbnb super -host with hundreds
of positive reviews and zero known neighbor complaints. If STIR use can yield bit more than a normal
rental, it would help make the tight numbers work — while permitting long term residential use, should
the unpredictable STR market prove too fickle.
Mr. Dodds' existing duplex Airbnb two blocks due east at 1725 S. Park.
Site Plan Review Criteria:
a) The existing building will be retained as shown on the survey, with no changes in the existing
floor plan except for the addition of a rear deck.
b) There will be two sedan parking spaces directly to the west of the house. The existing curb cut
will be widened to 18 feet and fresh concrete poured instead of the current, broken up pad.
c) The existing points of egress and ingress will be retained, that is the side door to the south unit
with the steps along 18"' St. and the two front doors to the units reached from the front porch.
It is proposed that the rear deck be accessed from each unit by a double French door. The floor
of the deck itself will approximately 4 % feet above ground level. The parts of the deck serving
the two apartments will be divided with a 6 foot high privacy fence. The deck will have 5 foot
privacy fences along the north and south sides, and a baluster on the west side. The north
apartment will have stairway access to the ground from the deck, to provide a second means of
egress. The southern apartment has an existing second means of egress, so will not have stairs
from the deck.
d) The property is at the corner of Rice and lgth St., existing City streets which will not be changed
as part of this rezoning.
e) The 1724 Rice is served by Little Rock wastewater with an 8 inch sewer main running directly
parallel to the house on the 1811 St. side. The 181h St. lot is served both by this main.
f) Central Arkansas Water has active service lines on both Rice and lath St. A new water line will
be laid from the lot line.
g) There are no on -site hydrants existing or proposed. There is a city hydrant ----
h) The existing property lines are shown on the survey. Lot 13A was partitioned off prior to the
filing of this petition, by administrative decision. This application only covers Lot 14A
i) There are no rights of way on abutting streets.
j) Landscaping is shown on the annotated survey
k) No handicapped parking will be provided or required.
Exhibits Attached
1) Application for Planned Zoning Development (Ifpzd.doc, version 01/17/19) for May 18, 2025
Planning Commission consideration
2) Photos of property as is, including exterior shots and pictures of remnants of two kitchens (Exhibits
2A-2E).
3) Laha Engineer Survey of existing lot skated January 29, 2025 showing existing building to be
rehabilitated.
4) Excerpt of the January 29 survey, annotated to show proposed deck, parking and fencing.
5) Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority map showing existing sewer lines.
6) Central Arkansas line inventory map showing existing water lines.
7) PDF of Zoning Map showing lot and nearby zoning of many properties for multi -family use.
8) Bill of assurance (to research when county records prior to 1995 are available again)
9) Subdivision (to research when county records prior to 1995 are available again)