Nwaonline.com April 12, 2022

FAYETTEVILLE — A request to allow a wider variety of land uses at the 112 Drive-In site passed the Planning Commission on Monday and will go to the City Council for final consideration.

Commissioners voted 8-0 to support rezoning 22.3 acres of the 36-acre property west of Arkansas 112. Commissioner Porter Winston was absent.

The land is currently zoned for strictly commercial uses. Rezoning would change the land to an urban thoroughfare allowing many of those same commercial uses, along with residential.

Land uses allowed in an urban thoroughfare district include single-family homes through quadplexes and multifamily units. On the commercial side, potential uses include restaurants, hotels, shopping, offices, liquor stores and gas stations, all of which are already allowed under the current zoning.

Attorney Steve Brooks, representing developer Dave Anderson of Little Rock and his CL Partners, LLC, said the plan for the property includes a drive-in movie screen. He acknowledged public comment circulating online over the current drive-in theater.

“To preserve the historic aesthetic of this property is very important to these developers,” Brooks said.

City planners in March received a conceptual site plan for the property that shows an outdoor movie screen at the southeast corner with 46 stalls for cars. Immediately north of that would be a 37,585-square-foot indoor theater with 805 seats and a beer garden outside facing the outdoor screen. The current outdoor screen lies closer to the northeast corner of the site.

The southwest corner of the plan near Arkansas 112 shows a 10,285-square-foot retail and restaurant space with parking. The plan also includes 210 residential units.

A site plan is not part of a rezoning request. Planning commissioners would review a detailed site plan at a later date if the City Council approves rezoning the land.

City Attorney Kit Williams advised the commission to consider compatibility with surrounding areas, adequate infrastructure, potential land uses and reasonable and rational comments from neighbors when considering the rezoning request.

No one from the public spoke at the meeting. City planner Gretchen Harrison said staff had received inquiries about the development proposal, but no comments in support or opposition to the rezoning request.

Commission Chairwoman Sarah Sparkman said the current and requested zonings are largely equivalent, except urban thoroughfare has better design standards and a residential component.

Commissioner Mary McGetrick agreed, saying urban thoroughfare is the superior zoning.

“It does allow housing, which we need,” she said. “I think housing in an urban center here is a great addition.”

In other business, a project at wooded land east of Rolling Hills Drive will be allowed to have multifamily structures as long as the developers adhere to a site plan they submitted to the city.

The commission voted 8-0 to approve a use permit for multifamily units on 8 acres east of Rolling Hills Drive along Old Missouri Road. The proposed development includes 30 residential units total.

One continuous structure would have 19 townhouses connected along Old Missouri Road, city planner Ryan Umberger said. Another structure would have six residential units, and a third would have five, he said. Four commercial units are proposed near the intersection with Rolling Hills.

Some commissioners expressed disappointment in the lack of proposed commercial units. They added a condition that the permit be granted as long the development is substantially compatible with site plans submitted to the city, which include the commercial uses along with the multifamily.

Blake Jorgensen, engineer on the project, said development plans for a larger portion of the nearly 40-acre site should be coming to the commission soon.

Original Article https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/apr/12/112-drive-in-rezoning-moves-through-fayetteville/