HomeMy WebLinkAboutHDC2001-008 Staff Report Minutes Of The Little Rock Historic District Commission 08/02/2001Ek
City of Little Rock
HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION
2 AUGUST 2001
MINUTES of the
LITTLE ROCK HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION
Commissioners Present:
Howard H. Gordon Jean Ann Phillips Mark Zoeller
Commissioners Absent: John Greer Wyatt Weems
Staff Present: V. Anne Guthrie Debra Weldon
The meeting of the Little Rock Historic District Commission (LRHDC) was called to order;
there was a quorum but no minutes were distributed for approval. Gordon stated for the record
(and applicants) that with three commissioners, a vote would have to be unanimous for passage,
The first Certificate of Appropriateness (COA), which was deferred, was:
Applicant: City of Little Rock
Address: 600 Ferry
Request: Construction of Visitor's Center parking lot
Staff summarized the application request. Also entered into the record was a memo from City
Attorney Tom Carpenter, who was requested to distinguish the difference between the subject
application and the Second Baptist Church's application for a parking lot. The decision was
appealed and went before the state supreme court in 1987. Weldon summarized Carpenter's
memo: that the parking lot request for the Visitor's Center is easily distinguished from the
parking lot of Second Baptist. While the memo was five pages in length, Weldon read the
memo's four main points into the record: 1) The application is not simply for the creation of a
parking lot, instead it is for the creation of a parking lot as part of an overall historic preservation
project; 2) the parking lot is not on the edge of the district; 3) The parking lot can actually serve
two historic structures; and 4) the Commission has approved parking facilities within the district
that are part of other preservation efforts within the district. For additional information, refer to
Carpenter's 2 August 2001 memo. There was additional in-depth discussion about parking lots in
historic districts.
Brian Minyard, of Planning and Development, raised the issue that Director Jim Lawson had
submitted the requested statistics for visitor center parking. Phillips raised the possibility of
waiting to construct the lot until after the Visitor's Center is up and running in order to see its