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Roll call was taken. Members present include: Kenley Haley, Gary Head, Randy Laney, Larry Walker, and Cheryl West. Absent: Robert Daugherty.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: (from the December 6, 2007 meeting) Gary Head made a motion to approve as written. Larry Walker provided the second. Motion passes.

Larry Walker made a motion to approve the agenda. Gary Head seconded. Motion passes.

Project #: 2007-248 Planner: Juliet Richey, e-mail at jrichey@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Conditional Use Permit Approval for Teen Challenge Ranch of NWA LSD staff housing and transitional housing (temporary housing for students who have graduated from the teen challenge program). The proposed project is located on a parcel containing 32.05 acres with 5 proposed units.

CURRENT ZONING: Project does lie within the County Zoned area (Agriculture/Single-Family Residential 1 unit per acre) recently zoned December 15, 2007.

The proposed project has access off of WC #4434 (Res. Dr. English) and WC #431 (Boys Home Road).

The 5 manufactured housing units proposed for this CUP are already in place on the site, as the Teen Challenge Ranch was not aware at the time that they purchased these housing units that an approval process (LSD) was required for this expansion of their non-profit. While working on getting the LSD submittal materials together, zoning was passed in the County, and the project is therefore subject to zoning (CUP) at this time. The Ranch is simultaneously submitting a LSD application that will be heard as item B on the agenda. Please refer to the attached Preliminary Large Scale Development plans for this project when reviewing agenda items A and B.

If Staff receives the GPM fire flow by the January 7^th meeting, and it is deemed adequate for this endeavor by the county Fire Marshal, then Staff will recommend Conditional Use Permit approval of the proposed Teen Challenge Ranch of NWA CUP with the following conditions being met. Staff received this GPM fire flow information. The GPM fire flow for this development is 1205 GPM. The Fire Marshal has deemed this to be adequate for this development.

Staff recommends Conditional Use Permit Approval for Teen Challenge Ranch of NWA LSD staff housing and transitional housing (temporary housing for students who have graduated from the teen challenge program).

1. Any other land divisions, commercial structures, or other types of uses not considered with this submittal must come through a separate CUP or review process with the County.

3. Outdoor lighting fixtures should be shielded to prevent shining directly on neighboring properties.

4. All septic tanks should be approved and installed prior to the occupation of the buildings.

Other Utilities - The lot is in the service area of Ozark Electric and Prairie Grove Telephone.

Juliet Richey, Washington County Planning Director, stated, “The Teen Challenge Ranch is located near Morrow. It is not inside the City of Lincoln’s Planning Area. It is within the newly zoned area. This is our first zoning case within that expanded zoning area. The parcel is either 30 acres or 28 acres. I didn’t understand all of this earlier, but apparently there are some deed discrepancies with this parcel and they are in the process of being resolved. However, the area that is to be developed is not within the discrepancy areas and they are getting surveys completed for that right now. The Final Large Scale Development approval should not be granted until all of those deed discrepancies have been worked out and all of the lot lines have been finalized.”

Richey also stated, “There are several existing buildings on-site. There is an old farmhouse and there is another home that they built about a year and half or two years ago. There is a barn and some sort of shed. The new structures are manufactured homes that were purchased or given to them by FEMA. These trailers are already on-site. This was not done unintentionally by the applicant as far as I know. They didn’t understand that they would have to go through the Large Scale Development process at the time that they put them on there to expand their staff housing and what they call transitional housing. Basically, what happened is they put the trailers on and they applied for addresses for these trailers. We review address applications and we looked into it to see what all these additional housing units were and find out what was going on and let them know that they need to go through Large Scale Development. They have been looking for an engineer to draw up plans and during that time the full County zoning was passed and so they are now subject to zoning. They are requesting to expand basically their staff in transitional housing. How they define transitional housing is basically young men that have graduated from their program part of the Teen Challenge program for troubled young men. Once they have graduated from that program it gives them a place to live sometimes for a month or so while they look for housing on their own. It is an existing use on-site right now, it is basically just an expansion of that same use to more units is what the Board is looking at. Right now they said that the parcel will be approximately 5.56 acres, that is what we are going to rule on it, as even though it is on that larger tract that is what it should end up being. They do have a Large Scale Development application the Board will hear that next on the agenda.”

Richey added, “As far as the criteria checklist, they did get us the gallon per minute flow information that we requested for the hydrant in Morrow to make sure there was going to be enough re-fill water available to re-fill the tankers when they are fighting fires. We did get that back and it is 1,205 gallons per minute and Mr. Jenkins (John Jenkins, Washington County Fire Marshal) was okay with that for this type of use. We also got the soils work for all of the septics. It does look like they will be able to support that many septics on this site, which was another concern we had. They will be upgrading part of the residential drive that leads to the Boy’s Home or to this expansion because it does not meet our standards for emergency vehicles it will have to be 20’ in width and be able to hold 75,000 pounds in all weather conditions. They did get a drainage report and after a few corrections it looks fine, we’re just waiting for a stamped and signed copy. Generally, the surrounding uses are agricultural and large lot single-family residential. This is also close to the existing, the rest of the Boy’s Home it is separated by about a quarter of a mile from the rest of the home where they do have all of the young men in residence that are working through the program. Basically, Staff is in favor of approval because it is an expansion of an existing use. I just talked with some neighbors tonight and I hadn’t gotten any feedback from the neighbors till today. I think that some of the neighbors tonight might be interested in some sort of screening. There are some concerns about the transitional part of the housing use as opposed to just to the Staff people living there. Basically, we have some concerns that the audience wants to voice that we haven’t heard before tonight.”

Randy Ritchey commented, “I am the engineer preparing this for the Teen Challenge. I don’t necessarily have anything to add. Juliet did a good job. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.”

Tonya Umberson, adjacent property owners to the north and east at 15551 Bush Valley Road, stated, “Our land connects directly behind the mobile homes. We actually have some deed discrepancies with this right now. Our 90 acres is connected directly to this and then there is Hwy. 45 and we would like some type of screening or pine trees or something planted so that those aren’t directly seen on the highway. Once those were put there it is just obvious.”

Jason Umberson commented, “It is all open visually from Highway 45. We have 93 acres of open on the highway all the way south of their property. As soon as it showed up all of our land is used for agricultural at this point in time. We haven’t had any appraisal on our land yet, but up to now it is all increase in value like anything else. Our property joins the dirt road on (WC #4434) English Road on the east side, which is on the right and goes all the way north to Hwy. 45 and it goes all the way over to their corner. It is a rectangle piece of property going straight north. Other issues that we have are they mentioned that they have two existing homes there. The two-story home there they went in over the years and split it up where there is two occupancies, it is upstairs and downstairs; so two different families have lived in it and are living in it. The other house that they moved in the last year or two the people moved in the last six months to a year, they finally re-did it and got it on blocks. They moved in the five mobile homes on it and what our views and our deal is get so many people moved in a small location and traffic and sort that is in the future. How many more are they going to pack in there? That is the issues that we have with it.”

Tonya Umberson stated, “How much security goes along with that? Ms. Halterman has issues with the transitional housing that it says. We had a neighbor that had a car stolen three or four months ago. The kids went joyriding and it was kids from the home that had stolen the car. How much security is there when you’ve got eight occupancies on five acres and then the Boy’s Home just a quarter of a mile down the road along with it as well?”

Jason Umberson commented, “What they are wanting to do if they increase the occupancies, from my understanding they are already in the process of hiring on more employees to take care of and be able to take more boys in. We have issues in security and them being able to take care of what they have right now matter-of-less getting more chaos and more confusion in the deal on that. Also, on the situation of that of them stealing the car and everything they didn’t even know that the kid was gone until the authorities and people reported to the County Sheriff that’s not dealing with this, but they have some issues, things happen. On the privacy deal on building a screen that was one issue that we have with it, too. On the deeds and everything we are having more surveyed, but they are claiming 30 to 32 acres and they are coming back down it should be about 28 to 29 acres and then if you subtract their 5.56 acres, they are land swapping with Bob Daugherty with land that joins their compound to their housing of the Boy’s Home and when it is all said and done they’re going to have it sucked down where that’s all they have. I look into the future as how much more people can they move in that area and housing and everything in the existing mobile homes because each of their mobile homes are two to three bedroom mobile homes and they say that it is a single-family, but the transitional deal. Our understanding is people that are coming back that have graduated from their program, if they are needing homes, coming back through needing homes so if they are over 30 to 35 year old people can work back through their program and stay there. That is some of the stories we’ve heard, we don’t have any facts to prove that.”

Walker asked, “Who owns the little piece of property just to the east?” Jason Umberson replied, “The fence, what we’re into is we’re going to find out at the end of this week, we’re hoping with our surveyors, right now the fence goes from the dirt road all the way to west that is our boundary fence. We’re in the process of finding out if we own more property we have the deed to it we just don’t have procession and that fence is going to be moved south.”

Tonya Umberson stated, “That little acre is actually in our name. We don’t have (deed) procession that is why we are having it surveyed right now.”

Jason Umberson commented, “Also, down on the bottom side where it has a little finger triangle on the creek the piece to the right of it there supposed to be 6 to 7 acres in that it is deeded in our name right now at this point in time. We are getting some stuff worked out. Our fence, that south borderline on our fence is going to come down to their mobile homes we don’t know how close. The closer it gets, this is the first time that we’ve been involved in this, I wish that we brought more pictures of it, but visually we don’t know how much acreage if it’s 3 to 4 acres and the further you get on the south it’s going to be closer. I just look to the future there is a lot of activity there and that is an issue that we have with it. Right now it is agricultural purpose for our land, but we don’t know what is going to happen down the road, and appraisal-wise is what we’re worried about.”

Walker asked, “If the property line moves south are we still meeting the setbacks?” Richey replied, “Yes, it should be okay if the property line moves south. There is a point where it wouldn’t be okay. The way that I understood it was the part that we’re looking at was not a disputed part.”

Jason Umberson stated, “At this point in time it is not, but it could be. There is a buffer that I had measured off. Right now, they want to have a fenced off area where they are stopping where the lateral lines are. It’s getting closer.”

Tonya Umberson commented, “We’re in the process with the surveyor of figuring it out.”

Madeline Halterman, adjacent property owner to the west at 16614 E. Munyon Road, stated, “I live across the creek. There is a considerable cliff associated with that creek. Where the four chicken houses are. I watched the additional building being built. I thought it is expanding they are evidently getting more boys or more staff or something during the last couple of years. Lately, there has been all kinds of stuff moving in there. It’s just getting bigger and bigger. I question the amount of control that they have over the boys if they are leaving the premises and stealing things from neighbors. I question this transitional part of this phrase on here because it might be a good thing to have this facility where these boys can improve themselves and then become good citizens; I am okay with that. How many can there be and how much control can there be over those young men? Nothing has happened to us so far, I have a young daughter. I am starting to look up on the hill and realizing there’s these teenage boys up there, I’ve got to be careful where we can take walks, what we can do, and the freedom that she can have on my own property because we’re visible to them. I am all for them for having more staffing I think they need more control for sure. It suggests to me if these buildings have two to three bedrooms that there’s quite a lot of graduates being housed there and how long is it going to take before they actually find a place in society and can move on? It sounds like to me that there might be 20, 25, or 30, it’s going to be hard to control. This is maybe not as simple as it is written to be.”

Richey commented, “The gentleman that was working with us on this project had a heart attack and he is recovering.”

Laney stated, “Mr. Ritchey, you don’t have any information on that, I assume, on numbers and those kind of issues you’re not really privy to.”

Ritchey commented, “I think that I can give you some information, obliviously, not as well as the owner could. I have been to their campus several times lately. They have a dormitory that is a secured area where the boys stay and they get locked in at night and they can’t have anymore enrollment than what that building can hold. If they were going to increase their enrollment they would have to add onto that secured building. I know there is a limit right now to how many boys that they can have. I’m not sure exactly what their plan is for the transitional housing, I know that they are wanting to give the guys that have finished the program a place to stay until they find a house, I don’t know if they are setting a time limit on that or what. They are wanting to increase their staff and they do have some people who are ready to come there and help them, staff members, and they want to put those people in the trailers now. I don’t know if they have a plan to try to increase their enrollment capacity. They would have to build a whole other structure that is under lock and key to do that. So, I really don’t know, but I know that there would have to be considerable amount of work done for them to take on more teens than what they can now. Other than that, I don’t know if that’s what one of the ladies was getting to taking on as far as taking on more kids they can’t do that unless they build another secured dorm. I know that they have some additional staff members that they are really wanting to get in there, I know that would help.”

Tonya Umberson stated, “They did move staff members in this weekend into the trailer houses.”

Jason Umberson commented, “For the last week to two weeks they have had people moving in the occupied building dormitory. Supposedly, they have a permit. The land that joins their facility, north of them they are trading the land once they trade the land by their mobile homes that is what their plans are to build on their campus, nothing wrong with it, but with their track record right now I don’t feel like that is a very good deal right now.”

Walker asked, “I’m a little confused, where is the dormitory?” Richey replied, “The dormitory is to the east closer to half a mile.” Walker asked, “There are no boys that are actually staying on that piece of property?” Richey replied, “That’s correct, that’s the way they presented it. They said that this is for staff. The way that I understand it is I don’t know if they are actually getting more staff that they didn’t have before or just moving them closer. When they talked to me about it they said if they can house their staff close to the facility when they’re on call they have to trot down the road a half a mile instead of wherever they live. It is an enmity that they can offer people that are staff people that work for them. I don’t know how much of his new staff people that he is hiring or just re-locating people that they already have.”

Head stated, “I’m sorry that he had a heart attack, but we are asked to vote on something that they need to answer a whole lot more questions for me personally before I am willing to vote. I am going to move that we table it because I think that we deserve those kind of questions answered before I am not willing to vote on it like it is.”

Gary Head moved to table Teen Challenge Ranch of NWA Conditional Use Permit. Larry Walker seconded. Motion passes.

Laney commented, “Under our new rules, the Conditional Use Permit, for the Umberson’s information it would only approve exactly what they submitted. They couldn’t use this as a beginning to put in 40 more or 5 more because they are already getting an exception, so the exception is granted for what they submit. In theory your question about how many could they ultimately put I don’t know the answer to that, but they would have to come back before they added three more or five more. You would have to do this all over again.” Richey commented, “That is correct, any additions they would have to come back.”

West asked, “Who owns the land between the two facilities, that half mile?” Richey replied, “Bob Daugherty.”

Laney stated, “I’ll express my view that I think that would encourage the parties to discuss the appropriate or some screening alternatives and also clear up who is actually going to be there for sure. I think it is unfortunate that they couldn’t be here, but I understand that he was sick, but I understand that we need to have information.”

Richey commented, “There probably could have been someone else here. I didn’t ask them to be here because I knew that the engineer was going to be here. I probably should encourage them to come to the next meeting.”

Walker asked, “Is this County, where does the boys come from?” Richey replied, “It’s not County, I don’t think any of them are sent by the Courts here I think they come from all over the place like from different states. I don’t really know how the Teen Challenge infrastructure works. The way that I understand it is they take troubled young men from everywhere.”

All Board members were in favor of tabling Teen Challenge Ranch of NWA Conditional Use Permit.

Project #: 2007-242 Planner: Juliet Richey, e-mail at jrichey@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Preliminary Large Scale Development Approval for Teen Challenge Ranch of NWA LSD. The proposed project is located on a parcel containing 32.05 acres with 5 proposed units.

CURRENT ZONING: Project does lie within the County Zoned area (Agriculture/Single-Family Residential 1 unit per acre) recently zoned December 15, 2007.

The proposed project has access off of WC #4434 (Res. Dr. English) and WC #431 (Boys Home Road).

The 5 manufactured housing units proposed for this CUP are already in place on the site, as the Teen Challenge Ranch was not aware at the time that they purchased these housing units that an approval process (LSD) was required for this expansion of their non-profit. The Ranch is simultaneously submitting a CUP application that will be heard as item A on the agenda. Please refer to the attached Preliminary Large Scale Development plans for this project when reviewing agenda items A and B.

There is an existing farmhouse and other home on the property that also serves as staff and transitional housing at this time. This CUP application asks to basically expand the number of housing units on the piece of property currently used for staff and transitional housing. As per LSD standards, there are some upgrades that must be made, including upgrading a portion of the Residential Drive providing access to the property, as well as interior LSD streets. Other items looked at in this review process include: septic issues, water issues, fire code adherence, and the impact on the drainage of the site (with the addition of roads and residential structures).

Many of these items have been resolved for Preliminary LSD approval. Outstanding items include obtaining a GPM fire flow for the hydrant in Morrow that will be used to refill tanker trucks in case of a fire, some road issues, and several checklist items.

· WATER SUPPLY - The water supply should be adequate to support fire hydrants and maintain a reasonable amount of fire flow water to the development. (Fire Flow GPM required for Preliminary approval). (OK- Received 1/7/08)

See the “Additional Information” section of this staff report for more information on what is still lacking in these plans for Preliminary Approval.

*Please note that if an item is marked inadequate, staff will usually recommend tabling or denial of a project. It is up to the Planning Board’s discretion whether or not to agree with staff recommendation.

Staff Recommends approval of the Preliminary LSD with the following Conditions:

2. There will not be a final approval given until private roads are built and inspected by the planning dept.

3. Septic permits must be approved by the Health Department for each structure prior to Final LSD approval.

4. The plan shows only part of the parcel. The split will need to come through the Planning Office but this should not prevent the preliminary LSD from proceeding.

5. Concrete or approved aluminum monuments shall be placed at the exterior boundary corners and one-half-inch by eighteen-inch steel pins shall be placed at all lot corners. Currently, there are no property corner markers on the plan.

· All preliminary septic soils work must be submitted to this office in order to receive Preliminary LSD approval. Staff believes this has already been completed, however, we will need a copy to verify. (OK- Received 1/7/08)

· There will not be a final approval given until private roads are built and inspected by the planning dept.

General information that needs to be added to the Preliminary Plans

· Please add note stating that existing and proposed driveway must be labeled 20’ wide driving surface and a note added that all driving surfaces will be able to support 75,000 lbs in all weather conditions. Please add note to proposed private drive in addition to the existing residential drive for clarification purposes.

· As the circle drive portion qualifies as a private road, please show 50’ ROW for this private portion, and adhere to standards attached. (The only exception is that the County Fire Marshall will require a 20’ driving surface). Private road standards handed out at Tech Review if additional copies are needed please contact the Planning Office. Please add note to proposed private drive in addition to the existing residential drive for clarification purposes. 50’ ROW needs shown to meet standards.

· The hydrant at the Morrow Fire Station will be the primary water supply for this project. Please provide an engineered or actual flow for this hydrant. No fire flow information has been submitted to date 12-20-07.

· Show setbacks (will apply to entire parcel): 25’ front, 10’ side and 20’ rear. Resubmitted plans do not show building setback.

· Submit one (1) .jpeg or .pdf AND (1) .dwg of the LSD Plan on disc or by email to jrichey@co.washington.ar.us As of 12-10-07 a digital submittal has not been submitted to the Planning Office.

· (Preliminary LSD Plans) All fire flows must meet minimum State Fire Code standards. A flow test or engineered hydraulic study may be required for all Preliminary LSD Plan submittals. As of 12-11-07, no fire flow information has been submitted.

4. Concrete or approved aluminum monuments shall be placed at the exterior boundary corners and one-half-inch by eighteen-inch steel pins shall be placed at all lot corners. Currently, there are no property corner markers on the plan.

22. Building setback lines as fixed by the County, building lines and any setback lines established by public authority, and those stipulated in the deed restrictions and right-of-way lines.

2. Show pre-developed and post-developed drainage calculations including maps, Tc, Q, etc. New Drainage Report Submitted 12-20-07. Clay Grote reviewed these new submittals and has the following comments: The revisions to the drainage report are good, however please put the report together in one package, please summarize the pre and post development flows in the summary, and stamp and sign report.

Other Utilities - The lot is in the service area of Ozark Electric and Prairie Grove Telephone.

Gary Head moved to table Teen Challenge Ranch of NWA LSD Preliminary LSD Plan. Larry Walker seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of tabling Teen Challenge Ranch of NWA LSD Preliminary LSD Plan.

Engineer/Surveyor: CES (Construction & Engineering Solutions, LLC) - Roger Trotter

Project #: 2005-335 Planner: Courtney McNair, e-mail at cmcnair@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Final Subdivision Approval for Horsebend Estates (Hamm Property). This project is 27.90 acres divided into 53 lots.

CURRENT ZONING: Project does lie within the County Zoned Area; however, Preliminary Plat approval had been granted before the passage of the Zoning Ordinance, therefore zoning is not applicable to the final plat of this project. Future splits and proposed uses within this subdivision will be subject to zoning.

PLANNING AREA: The development is located in the Fayetteville Planning Area. Fayetteville approved the Preliminary Plat on July 10, 2006. The Planning Board granted a variance and Preliminary approval on August 3, 2006.This project received Fayetteville’s Final approval on November 29, 2007. All conditions placed on this project with Fayetteville’s approval must be completed prior to the County signing the Final Plat. See attached report. (pgs. C-4-C-6)

BACKGROUND/ PROJECT SYNOPSIS: The property has access off of Maywood WC #3322 (Res. Dr. Doyne Hamm-gated for emergency access only) and Overton Park Subdivision. The property is owned by BLG Development, LLC and is proposed as a single-family residential subdivision.

*All General Plat Checklist information complete.

BACKGROUND: The property is owned by BLG Development, LLC. The Planning Board approved a variance and Preliminary Plat on August 3, 2006. The variance was granted based on right-of-way width reduction at northwest connection to Gunnison Drive.

Conditions applied to this variance:

1. Dedication of ROW and realignment of this road is mandatory at the time that the property now owned by the Hayward family is developed.

2. The follow note was added to the plat stating the following: “No fencing shall be constructed on the Western side of Lot 27 outside the setback line until the additional needed ROW for Gunnison Drive has been obtained and the street has been realigned to the center of the ROW.”

The Road Department has conducted a Final Inspection of Horsebend Estates, and found everything to be satisfactory. The required maintenance bonds, and Final Inspection fees will be required before the Final Approval is granted, staff will update you at the meeting. The Road Department will allow the As-built drawings to be submitted after Final Approval, but they must be received before the Road Department will sign off on the Final Plat.

The Road Department did receive the Maintenance Bond, the Final Inspection Fees, and the As-Built Drawings, however, some corrections must be made to the As-built drawings, and the bond may need to be reworded. These issues can be conditions of approval.

Horsebend Estates has completed many of the requirements for Final Approval. Fire Flow in this subdivision is 1093 gpm. This flow is acceptable to the Washington County Fire Marshal. A gate was installed at the southern end of the subdivision/ Hamm Road, to prevent entrance from the general public onto the existing residential drive that is not up to County standards for the traffic flow produced by this subdivision. The gate is siren activated and meets Washington County gate ordinance standards. John Jenkins, Fire Marshal has inspected this gate to assure its compliance to code.

Some issues remain to be addressed with the Decentralized Sewer System, but Rhonda Hulse, Public Utility Coordinator, will allow Final Approval to be granted before everything is complete. As-built drawings, a copy of the wastewater operators license for 2008, and certification by an engineer that the sewer system was installed according to plan will be required prior to receiving Rhonda Hulse’s signature.

Staff feels that this project is adequate to approve with these issues to be addressed prior to signatures.

Staff has some additional concern as a result of a visit to the site. The area near the private drive and gate is open to a neighboring property’s yard, and could easily be abused. Will the fence be replaced, or anything else done to prevent people from driving through the yard to bypass the gated entrance?

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends Final Plat approval of the proposed Horsebend Estates (Hamm Property) with the following conditions:

1. Need maintenance bond to Road Department prior to signatures (correct wording).

2. Need As-Built Drawings to Road Department (make all corrections).

3. Need As-Built plans to Public Utility Coordinator (PUC).

4. Need Engineer Certification that sewer system was installed according to plan to PUC.

5. Copy of wastewater operators license for 2008 to PUC.

6. Complete all City of Fayetteville requirements.

7. Fix the fence near gated private road to insure that the gate cannot be bypassed (Planning will inspect before signing Final Plat).

8. Any further splitting or land development not considered with this approval must come before the Planning Board.

9. Have all signature blocks signed on 11 Final Plats - 2 for filing in the Circuit Clerk’s office, 7 for the County Planning office, remainder for the developer.

Splits previously completed on this parent parcel: Parcel #001-15489-000 has two previous splits

Other Utilities - The land is in the service area of Ozark Electric, Arkansas Western Gas, Cox Communications, and AT & T Telephone (SBC).

Streets - The property has access off of Maywood WC #3322 (Res. Dr. Doyne Hamm) and Overton Park Subdivision.

Roger Trotter, CES (Construction & Engineering Solutions, LLC) was present to answer any questions.

Courtney McNair, Washington County Planner, stated, “Horsebend Estates is asking for Final Plat approval. They are located about half way between Fayetteville and Goshen out on Highway 45. They are in the Fayetteville Planning Area. Now, they are in the zoned area, which may have implications for the Phase 2 of their site. Phase 1 had Preliminary approval beforehand, so they don’t need to worry about the zoning regulations. To get there, you take Highway 45 towards Goshen and turn on (WC #345) North Gulley Road and go through the Overton Park Subdivision to get to this site. There is access off of Highway 45 from (WC #354) Shelton through a private drive, but that is gated.”

McNair also stated, “Phase 2 (top part) may be affected by the zoning, but Phase 1 (bottom part) is not. The roads are all in now and look very nice. The gate private drive that is where it is shutoff and they don’t actually have access there. The two access points, one they got a variance for because the right-of-way width is not quite as wide as it should be, but they have included all of the variance language that we’ve asked them to on the plat. It connects to Maywood Road, which is through Overton Park Subdivision. They are on decentralized sewer. They will have a detention pond. The existing house is left on one acre that is Ms. Hamm’s property and she wanted to keep her house there and she wanted access through the private road, so they have given her that, so she does have access and it is for emergency access as well. I do have a concern with the gate, we went out for a site visit and it looks like it would be very easy for someone to bypass this gate and go through people’s yards. Everything else looks very nice; they have all of their signs up. The Road Department was very happy about that.”

McNair added, “They do have all of the variance language on the plat and they have worked really hard with us to get everything on there and worded correctly. The Road Department had some issues; they needed maintenance bonds, final inspection fees, and As-builts. They got their fees and they got the As-builts, but they had one correction. I told Roger Trotter that would be fine to turn in at a later time. They did receive a maintenance bond but George Butler, Washington County Attorney, sent back some corrections that he would like on there and the Road Department has said that it is okay to go ahead and approve that with that as a condition that he makes all the corrections to the maintenance bond. We do have several issues with Rhonda Hulse, the Public Utility Coordinator, about the decentralized sewer system. I haven’t heard from her if she has gotten everything that she needs, but she has made us a very clear list and all of those are going to be conditions of approval; As-builts drawings, a copy of the waste water operations license, and a certification from an engineer that the system was installed correctly. Phase 2 may come under the zoning regulations, they may have to get a Conditional Use Permit if they want to do something smaller than an acre for Phase 2, but that is not going on yet.”

Trotter commented, “We agree with all of the conditions. We’re going to fix the fence, that’s not going to be a drive through. We will complete the fence.”

Head stated, “I have a conflict on this, so I can’t vote, I’ll abstain.”

Walker commented, “Refresh my memory on the maintenance and taking care of the detention pond.”

McNair stated, “Rhonda Hulse regulates all of that and she is not here tonight. Not us on the detention pond. The drip system, the decentralized sewer, is Rhonda and she keeps very careful control of that. I don’t know if we have discussed who is going to maintain the detention pond.”

Trotter commented, “It is maintained by the POA (Property Owner’s Association) at the present time. It will be maintained up to a certain percentage by the developer at which point the POA will take it over. It has a strict set of regulations.”

Walker asked, “Is there any money setback to take care.” Trotter replied, “Yes, there is money in the reserves. There will be when it is approved. All of these regulations kick in at a certain time. The County has a very good set of regulations.”

Larry Walker moved to approve Horsebend Estates Final Plat with conditions. Cheryl West seconded. Motion passes. Gary Head abstained.

All Board members were in favor of approving Horsebend Estates Final Plat approval.

Project #: 2005-120 Planner: Courtney McNair, e-mail at cmcnair@co.washington.ar.us

Richey stated that Twin Springs Estates Phase 2 was to be tabled due to lack of resubmittal (2).

Laney stated, “Juliet, I know that we had a little momentum on retention ponds and we kind of got caught up in all the new zoning and I don’t know where it is at with the Services Committee.”

Richey commented, “I don’t know that we ever actually taken it to Services Committee. I think that we’ve had several discussion groups about it and like you said we got segued on some other tracts. We can certainly bring it back up. Unfortunately, last time we dove into it, I don’t know what a good solution would be. The County is not going to maintain it, I’m pretty sure. I guess that we could require them to be bonded and inspected on some basis like we do these other things. However, when we talked about that in the past then we talked about what kind of liability you would have as the inspector and who is going be inspecting it like say if the County hired an engineer to inspect the detention pond and see if it was working properly and it looked like it was, but then it wasn’t. Would that incur some sort of liability for us? I don’t know. There were a lot of questions that came up last time we talked about it. We can look back into it again. I realize it hasn’t gone away.”

Kenley asked, “Have we had any these come back to bite us yet?” Richey replied, “Not yet.”

Laney stated, “Same issue with decentralized sewer. Theoretically, you have a bankrupt POA that supposed to take care of it or you have a Homeowner’s Association that won’t do anything and you live across the fence that’s weedy and snaky. Public health hazard, basically.”

Richey commented, “We had a couple of things going to County Services. We finally got our new draft FEMA floodplain maps, that have been about four years in the making and this is going to revise a lot of the floodplain in the County. A lot of it hasn’t been restudied, but we have better contour information, which FEMA uses to make their non-studied determinations of where floodplains would be. You’re going to see some of that changing and we will be going through that adoption process here in the next four to five months. If you know anybody who has floodplain on their property who might be concerned about this, they probably would want to know if the floodplain was changing. We did advertise in the newspaper about a year back and had the maps on display. If anybody is interested we would be glad to show them the maps in our office because they may want to revise the insurance that they have before the new floodplain goes into effect and things like that. Just so you know this is all minimum FEMA regulations is what we enforce with a couple of variables. They say that you should have at least one foot of freeboard basically between where the elevation they say the 100-year flood is and where you should build and we do a minimum of two feet, which I think is safe. All of the insurance requirements and things like that those aren’t ours, that’s FEMA regulations. I don’t know if the Board knew that we even regulated floodplain in the County, we do, we try anyway.”

Richey also commented, “Something that came up in the past, we actually have two ordinances on variances and we need to combine them and make them one; that is something that I am taking to George Butler. Basically, the way that the Board rule on it won’t change it will just be cited in one spot.”

Richey added, “Cell towers. We already amended part of our array ordinance where adding an additional array to a tower to make sure that the tower can hold that array and that it is not going to cause it to have some sort of structural failure and now we have been reviewing the actual new tower part of the ordinance and trying to, basically, we don’t have structural standards for that either, so we’re trying to get those in place, so that when we review a cell tower might actually review whether or not it can stand up, which seems important to me and I’m not sure why we’re not doing that now. I think when the cell tower ordinance was written it focused a lot on location of cell towers and making sure that people are putting multiple arrays on towers. It was when the big cell phone boom started and they were trying to make sure that the County was not proliferated with cell towers more than looking at structural issues. That’s just something that we need to add and hopefully it won’t be a big deal.”

Roll call was taken. Members present include: Robert Daugherty, Kenley Haley, Gary Head, Randy Laney, Larry Walker, and Cheryl West.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: (from the February 13, 2008 meeting) Cheryl West made a motion to approve as written. Kenley Haley provided the second. Motion passes.

Juliet Richey, Washington County Planning Director, stated, “Item C on the agenda Joyce Street Cottages LSD Final LSD Plan the developer has asked to table that.” Robert Daugherty made a motion to approve the agenda. Cheryl West seconded. Motion passes.

Owner/Developer: Jewell Butler / Dean Butler

Project #: 2008-027 Planner: Jessie Pettit, e-mail at jpettit@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Preliminary and Final Minor Subdivision Approval for Butler Tracts. The total acreage of the site is 13.44 acres with 4 tracts = Tract 1 – 3.26 acres, Tract 2 – 3.64 acres, Tract 3 – 1.03 acres, and Tract 4 – 5.52 acres.

CURRENT ZONING: Project does lie within the County Zoned area (Agriculture/Single-Family Residential 1 unit per acre), however all land uses are residential and none of the tracts are less than 1 acre therefore complies with Zoning.

The property is located at 23111 N. Hickory Flat Rd. Jewell Butler and Linda Butler currently own the property. The total acreage of the site is 13.44 acres with a proposed 4 tracts, Tract 1 – 3.26 acres, Tract 2 – 3.64 acres, Tract 3 – 1.03 acres, and Tract 4 – 5.52 acres. All of the proposed tracts have access off of WC #99 (N. Hickory Flat Road). This project comes before the Planning Board due having more than 1 tract less than 5 acres, thereby not qualifying for the Exemption process.

The Health Dept. had concern regarding Tract 3 - 1.03 acres and the available space for an alternate area. An inspection was made on the property February 23 and the Health Department is satisfied with the results. See page A-4 for the letter regarding the inspection.

The applicant has satisfied all but 1 minor checklist revision to date. Staff has received 1 adjacent property owner comment sheet back. The adjacent property owner is opposed to the project, no further explanation is given aside from this. No other notable issues have arisen in the review of this project.

Since sending the original staff report, staff has received one additional comment on this project. This comment has been distributed to the Planning Board.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends Preliminary and Final Plat approval of the proposed Butler Tracts with the following conditions being met.

2 Any further splitting or land development not considered with this approval must come before the Planning Board.

3. Have all signature blocks signed on 11 Final Plats - 2 for filing in the Circuit Clerk’s office, 7 for the County Planning office, remainder for the developer.

Other Utilities - The lot is in the service area of Ozark Electric and AT & T Telephone.

1. Any relocation of existing facilities will be at owner’s expense. Any extension of line that has to be built specifically to feed this property will be at full cost to the owner.

2. Please contact me if you have any questions. Contact Greg McGee at (479)684-4634 or gmcgee@ozarsecc.com.

Jewell Butler and Jewell Dean Butler Jr., owners of the proposed project, were present to answer any questions.

Jessie Pettit, Washington County Planner, stated, “The property is located on the northeast corner of Washington County. The property is County zoned agricultural or single-family one dwelling unit per acre. The property is not located in a Planning Area. The property is located north of Highway 412 and west of Highway 303 at 23111 N. Hickory Flat Road WC #99 (the correct address is 23171 N. Hickory Flat Road). The property is currently owned by Jewell and Linda Butler. The total property acreage is 13.44 acres. Currently, the property has a total of five structures on it. The proposal is to divide the property into four pieces. The property comes before the Planning Board due to having more than one tract less than five acres, thereby, not qualifying for the administrative approval process. The proposed Tract 1 – 3.26 acres has an existing structure, the proposed Tract 2 – 3.64 acres has two structures on it right now, the proposed Tract 3 – 1.03 acres has an existing structure. The Health Department did have concern regarding Tract 3 an available space for an alternate area, however, the inspection was made on the property February 23, 2008 (Jimmy Richardson inspected the property) and the Health Department is satisfied with the results. The proposed Tract 4 – 5.52 acres has an existing structure. The applicant has satisfied all but one minor checklist revision to date.”

Pettit also stated, “Staff has received one adjacent property owner comment sheet back (Shane and Christy McCollough at 23142 N. Hickory Flat Road to the southeast). The adjacent property owner is opposed to the project; no further explanation is given aside from this. No other notable issues have arisen in the review of this project. I did provide one additional property owner comment sheet (Howard Goss 22948 N. Hickory Flat Road to the southwest). The late comment sheet that we received voices a concern were poor upkeep of the houses on the property, concern that houses don’t meet standards with water and septic, they had some complaints of dogs in the area, and decrease property values. As mentioned earlier, the Health Department is satisfied with the inspection that took place February 23, 2008 in regards with the septic and the other issues don’t really effect the decision here tonight. Staff recommends Preliminary and Final Plat approval of Butler Tracts with conditions.”

Dean Butler commented, “One reason for this split is so that I can maybe get them better neighbors out there and maybe there will be better upkeep.”

Robert Daugherty moved to approve Butler Tracts Preliminary and Final Plat subject to Staff’s recommendations. Larry Walker seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of approving Butler Tracts Preliminary and Final Plat approval.

Owner/Developer: RGB Enterprises, Inc. – Rick Burden

REQUEST: Preliminary and Final Minor Subdivision Approval for RGB Acres. The total acreage of the site is 14.49 acres with 2 tracts = Tract 1 – 5 acres and Tract 2 – 9.49 acres.

CURRENT ZONING: Project does lie within the County Zoned area (Agriculture/Single-Family Residential 1 unit per acre).

This parcel was originally in Kettle Springs Subdivision, but is no longer shown as such.

The proposed project has access off of WC #212 (Kettle Springs Road) and WC #3238 (Res. Dr. Sharps Mountain).

This project comes to the Board because there have been multiple splits on the property, so it does not qualify for the County’s exemption process. It does meet the County’s zoning requirements and does not need a Conditional Use Permit for the proposed split.

At this time, water service is not available. There is an existing Washington Water Authority water line, but it is at capacity. If a well is used, the Health Department requires it to be located a minimum of 100 feet away from any existing or proposed septic system. This does not affect County approval.

Since sending the original staff report, staff has received one comment about this project.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends Preliminary and Final Plat approval of the proposed RGB Acres with the following conditions:

1. No water service is available. If a well is used, the Health Department requires that it be a minimum of 100 feet from all existing or proposed septic systems.

3. Any further splitting or land development not considered with this approval must come before the Planning Board.

4. Have all signature blocks signed on 11 Final Plats - 2 for filing in the Circuit Clerk’s office, 7 for the County Planning office, remainder for the developer.

Water – The property is in the service area of Washington Water Authority.

Other Utilities - The lot is in the service area of Ozark Electric and Prairie Grove Telephone.

Rick Burden (RGB Enterprises, Inc.), owner of the proposed project, and Eddie Gore, Gore Engineering & Land Surveying, were present to answer any questions.

Courtney McNair, Washington County Planner, stated, “RGB Acres is asking for Preliminary and Final Plat approval. It is located to the south of Prairie Grove in the County and zoned agricultural/single-family residential one unit per acre. It is not located in a Planning Area. It does not need to go through a Conditional Use Permit as it meets the County’s zoning regulations. This site is off of WC #212 Kettle Springs Road which is a small road off of WC #28 Hogeye Road. The site is rural. They are proposing to split the 14.49 acres into two tracts Tract 1 - 5 acres and Tract 2 - 9.49 acres. The reason that it had to come before the Board is because it’s had previous splits and they already have existing acreages below five acres. This one is pretty straightforward.”

McNair also stated, “Water service is not available at this time there is an existing Washington Water Authority line in place but it is at capacity. The only comment during Planning Department review that we had (from the health department) at all was a just for their information kind of comment, which is “if they decide to use a well the Health Department does require that the well be placed 100’ from any existing or proposed septic systems.” They have not stated whether they will use a well. The Health Department didn’t feel that it was necessary for them to show it on the plat because it is such a large acreage they are certain that they can find place for it on that site. All checklist items and other concerns have been addressed and they are aware there is no water available. We have received one comment (from the public- a neighbor) about this project and the main concern was also about dogs on this property and about cattle being chased by dogs. It is not something that you can consider with this approval.”

“ Staff does recommend Preliminary and Final Plat approval of RGB Acres with conditions.”

Gore commented, “I think that it is pretty straightforward like Courtney said.”

Robert Daugherty moved to approve RGB Acres Preliminary and Final Plat subject to Staff’s recommendations. Gary Head seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of approving RGB Acres Preliminary and Final Plat approval.

Location Address: Next to the intersection of WC #87 Old Wire Road and WC #553 Joyce Street

Project #: 2006-152 Planner: Juliet Richey, e-mail at jrichey@co.washington.ar.us

Richey stated that Joyce Street Cottages LSD was to be tabled as per the developer’s request.

Robert Daugherty made a motion to table Joyce Street Cottages LSD. Cheryl West seconded. Motion passes.

19.68 acres and 1 unit / Proposed Land Use: Automobile Auctioning, sales, service, and detailing Facility

Project #: 2008-032 Planner: Juliet Richey, e-mail at jrichey@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Conditional Use Permit Approval for Northwest Arkansas Auto Auction CUP. The proposed project is located on 19.68 acres. The proposed use is for an Automobile Auctioning, sales, service, and detailing facility.

CURRENT ZONING: Project does lie within the County Zoned area (Agriculture/Single-Family Residential 1 unit per acre).

PLANNING AREA: This project is located in the City of Greenland’s Planning Area, and is directly adjacent to the City Limits.

CHECKLIST: The CUP checklist will be sent at a later time with other updates to this staff report.

Several important pieces of information related to this project are currently under review by staff. Because all information has NOT been thoroughly reviewed, this staff report is PARTIAL.

An update with additional comments, conditions, and staff recommendation will be sent prior to the Planning Board Meeting.

H.H.J.J., LLC and Bart Hester currently own the property. The applicant is Kevin Barrentine.

The proposed project has access off of WC #63 (E. Campbell Loop), WC #65 (W. Campbell Loop), and WC #232 (W. Napier).

This project must come to the Zoning Board of Adjustments as they are requesting a commercial use within an area zoned agricultural or single-family residential 1 unit per acre. If this Conditional Use Permit is approved, the applicant must submit for a Large Scale Development Approval, and several of the conditions staff is recommending to you will need to be completed at the time of Preliminary LSD submittal.

This is proposed to be a Wholesale passenger car and pick up truck Auto Auction that will hold auctions once per week, year-round (48-52 auctions a year). They have proposed to auction between 200-300 cars per auction.

The site plan includes (see concept plan) a parking area for auction attendees and employees, a large outdoor staging area (asphalt parking lot) for vehicles (slated to be auctioned), and an auction building (approximately 9,000 sq ft) holding auction lanes and offices.

Water/Fire: At this time, Washington Water Authority has a very small (2”) water line running to this property. A new 12-inch waterline is planned in this area. The 12-inch line should provide adequate fire protection and should provide enough water for other uses on the site (WWA comments include: Developer may be required to cost share in water project in order to get sufficient water to site to allow fire flows). Washington Water Authority will have to analyze the proposed water demand to determine if any additional upgrades will be required by the developer.

As the water line improvements will not be completed for a while, and the developer wishes to begin operation of this business as soon as possible, several conditions are required for temporary firefighting uses:

· Staff will require an agreement signed by the Washington County Fire Marshal and the West Fork Fire Chief that the existing pond (or the existing pond increased in size), and the access to it, is adequate for temporary firefighting until such time that waterline improvements are made, and fireflows are adequate (to be determined by the Washington County Fire Marshal).

· The County must receive a written agreement between Brad Hancock, Bart Hester, and the developers of this site that allows for an easement providing access to the existing pond by the fire departments for temporary firefighting until such time that waterline improvements are made, and fireflows are adequate (to be determined by the Washington County Fire Marshal).

· The volume of the pond must be verified to ensure it is adequate to provide the required amount of water to fight fires simultaneously on both this project property and the previously approved Interstate Equipment LSD (this pond was also approved as a temporary firefighting solution for this project). Staff would like to have this information prior to CUP approval, but will accept it as a condition of CUP approval. This information MUST be calculated prior to Preliminary LSD submittal (the size of the pond will affect the layout of the LSD site plan).

· Cars must be spread out to limit the risk of spreading a fire (only utilize every other parking lane until such time that waterline improvements are made, and fireflows are adequate. Fire Flows will be determined by the Washington County Fire Marshal).

· If a dry hydrant is required (to be determined by the West Fork Fire Chief) the developer must install and have it inspected prior to operation (Final LSD).

· The marked fire lanes and easement road to the pond must be clear of any obstruction and must be engineered to support 75,000 lbs in all weather conditions (will be reviewed at LSD).

· Regular Hydrants and lines should be installed at construction (Washington County Fire Marshal to review spacing and location) in anticipation of the water line update (The pond is to be used only as a temporary firefighting tool).

· Must be able to swing a fire truck into fire lanes. This must be shown on drawings at LSD.

· Gates and building must be equipped with Knox Boxes, and keys must be given to the West Fork Fire Department.

In addition to the auto auction, with this Conditional Use Permit request, the developer is asking for a detailing/carwash facility (sometime in the future). If the Board chooses to grant this use as well, staff would like you to consider some conditions related to this use:

· As concern has been expressed by several parties (Greenland City Engineer, staff, and citizens) about vehicle-related substances that will be part of the storm water runoff for this site (oil, antifreeze, brake dust, etc), Staff would like to require (as a condition) that the applicant use some sort of treatment or filtration for these substances incorporated into the storm water/drainage plan at LSD. Examples could be sand filters at the parking lot, bio swales, or treatment within the detention area. Staff will research this further and report at the meeting.

Sewer: Several areas of this site are “disturbed” (old chicken houses, house foundation, etc.) and the Health Department will not allow a septic system to be placed within these disturbed areas. Most of the site will be asphalt pavement as well, which may affect the location and size of a septic system. According to the developer’s response letter (pg D43-D44), “Based on the information provided by the Arkansas Department of Health, the anticipated demand for a facility of this type would vary depending on the day of the week. Based on 10 full time employees, the demand on Monday and Friday would be approximately 20 gallons per day per employee, or 200 gallons. On Tuesday and Thursday, the number of full time and part time employees in approximately 40 which would equal 800 gallons, plus half of the anticipated 200 customers using 5 gallons per day, or 500 gallons, for a total of 1300 gallons. On sale day, 40 employees, and 200 customers, would equal out to 1800 gallons (this was stated incorrectly in your original packet as 15800 gallons-the correct number is 1800 gallons).” This means that the project would be using 4800 gallons per week equalized to approximately 700 gallons per day. According to the Health Department, the soil conditions will determine the system size, and no surface discharge will be allowed, as this is a commercial site. A holding tank could be an option if the soils work shows unfavorable conditions. (A 3-bedroom house uses about 350 gallons per day.)

The developer has contacted the Health Department, and expects to have the preliminary soils analysis prior to the Planning Board Meeting on March 6, 2008. A copy of the Preliminary soils information must be submitted to the County Planning Office. The proposed septic location and layout will need to be shown at the Preliminary LSD submittal if this Conditional Use Permit is approved.

Roads: This site is bordered by West Napier and NE Campbell Roads, and will increase traffic on Lilly Lane and Napier Road (and possibly NE Campbell) (see preferred route submitted by the developer pg D49). A portion of Lilly Lane is within the jurisdiction of the AR State Highway Department. Another portion is within the jurisdiction of the City of Greenland. Napier and NE Campbell are within the jurisdiction of both the City of Greenland and Washington County.

According to the Road Superintendent, Donnie Coleman, when a road has split jurisdiction, if maintenance needs to be completed, the County will try to cost share the project, but the County will perform the maintenance. Because of this dual jurisdiction, staff will require that along with the offsite improvements that will be required by the County at LSD (improvements to be determined by the Road Department and County Engineer according to County Standards), this project’s developers will also be required to make offsite improvements to roads or portions of roads within the jurisdiction of the City of Greenland (improvements to be determined by the Greenland Engineer and/or Greenland standards.)

As stated above, a portion of Lilly Lane is within the jurisdiction of the AR State Highway Department. According to the developer “We have notified the AHTD of our proposed project. They have not indicated that they will require off site improvements.” The County will require correspondence from the AHTD either via a written letter, email, or a phone conversation with Courtney McNair.

The applicant has submitted a traffic study for the proposed use (pgs D35-D41). The traffic study will be used to determine necessary road improvements (both for Washington County and the City of Greenland). Planning Staff, the County Road Department, the City of Greenland and the County Engineer are still reviewing this traffic study to determine what offsite improvements may need to be made. Staff will have an update for the Board on possible off-site improvements prior to the meeting.

Staff asked the developer to designate the “preferred route” of travel to and from this site (shown on pg D49). As a condition, staff requests that you require the developer to post signs stating “No truck traffic” heading South on NE Campbell and heading East on Napier. Both of these streets have several areas that would be unsafe for truck traffic (see attachments on pgs D86-D90). NE Campbell turns to gravel approximately 1.2 miles from the intersection at Napier. Napier has several sharp turns, one that is “hairpin.”

Any additional expansion “phases” not shown with this portion (at Preliminary and Final LSD) of this project MUST come through the County as a Large Scale Development. As a condition of CUP approval, it is required that both the County and the City of Greenland, at any Large Scale Development submittal (initial LSD submittal and future LSD expansion submittals), will review the road specifications, and can require updates or additional offsite improvements if necessary.

Drainage: The proposed project is showing in concept plan that they will pave a large portion of this site. This could cause a large increase in runoff from the site. The developer is aware that there may be a requirement at Preliminary LSD for detention, off site drainage improvements or both. A drainage study will be submitted by the developer at Preliminary LSD submittal in order for the County Engineer and the City of Greenland’s Engineer to review and make requirements regarding increased drainage issues. Both the County and the City of Greenland will review and make requirements for drainage issues at any LSD submittal concerning this project.

Screening: Staff has determined that instead of border screening, it would be more visually affective if the developer can incorporate tree islands into the auction staging lot to soften the immense pavement area. The developer did submit a concept plan showing a few tree areas, but staff does not feel that this is adequate. Staff will request that more tree areas will be required (staff is preparing sketch documents to demonstrate the softening effect desired).

As mentioned earlier, the applicant could incorporate the use of some sort of treatment or filtration within the tree islands (could be bio swales) staff has requested.

Lighting: The developer has stated that the site will be illuminated with pole lights, all outdoor lights will be shielded, and all outdoor lights will be controlled by a light sensitive switch, meaning lights will be on only during hours of darkness. The proposed lights are shown on the concept plans, and staff feels these conditions will be adequate for the lighting.

Cemetery: It has come to the attention of staff that the cemetery on this site may extend further than the currently fenced area. Adequate research of this must be completed, and the boundaries must be protected. NO part of this cemetery may be disturbed. Public access must not be blocked in anyway. Washington County will require boundary confirmation before ANY construction can commence.

Signage: The developer has indicated that monument type signage will be used. Some restrictions on size are recommended:

Building: The proposed building will be approximately 9,000 sq ft. This is not large enough that the Fire Marshal will require it to be sprinkled. According to the developer, a metal building will be utilized on this site with a masonry (brick, block or stucco) façade on a portion of the building. (See examples provided by the developer on pgs D17-D34).

The nearby Loomis Fargo building appears to be similarly designed (with a masonry façade on all sides of the building from the top to the bottom). (pgs D94-D95)

Staff will request that you require that the front and all other sides of the building, excluding the metal bay/driving lanes, be a minimum of 50% masonry façade. Landscaping must be installed around the building as well.

Hours of Operation: The business will be in operation from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The actual auction will be held generally once a week (proposed for Wednesday at this time).

Type of Fencing to be used around exterior: Chain link fencing will be used to fence the back (auction staging parking lot) of this property.

Greenland Hills Subdivision: This is a project that was proposed and received Preliminary approval from the City of Greenland. The property it is proposed to be located on is just to the East of NE Campbell Loop (across the road from the proposed Auto Auction). It is within the Greenland City Limits, and therefore the County did not review this development. A letter from one of the owner’s of the property is enclosed (pg D77). This letter seems to indicate that this development is “entitled” to build a subdivision on the property mentioned above. Staff has spoken with the City of Greenland and determined that the Greenland Hills Preliminary Plat has expired and is no longer valid (this correspondence is attached on pgs D78-D79). If they wish to pursue this project further they will be required to resubmit for Preliminary Approval with the City of Greenland. So, staff did not consider this subdivision as a surrounding use. This land is, however, zoned for R-1 Residential development by the City of Greenland. (See attached definition of R-1 from Greenland’s code pgs D67-D68).

Community Comments: See comments attached on pgs D69-D79. Staff will bring any additional comments received to the Planning Board Meeting.

Other Environmental Concerns: Robyn Reed, Director of Environmental Affairs, has included the County regulations regarding junkyards (pgs D121-D122) with this report. If at any time, five or more “wrecked, scrapped, ruined, or dismantled motor vehicles” are stored on this site, this project will be required to follow all rules and regulations related to “Automobile Graveyards or Junkyards.”

Below are Updates to staff report that was mailed out prior to the meeting (these updates were presented at the March 6^th meeting)

ROADS: Several concerns were voiced about the Traffic Generation Summary submitted by the developer. The study used 300 cars to calculate the average daily traffic, while the concept plan showed 650 spaces within the auction lanes. The developer stated “The number of spaces shown on the concept plan were merely to reflect the number of cars that could possibly be staged in the area that Mr. Barrentine anticipated paving. The anticipated number of cars to be auctioned, as indicated in the traffic analysis, was based on market research in the area. Additionally, these vehicles may, at times, be staged with a space between each vehicle to allow for viewing of the vehicles without being crowded as well as to prevent damage to the vehicles from customers inspecting the interior and being able to open the doors without hitting the vehicle adjacent to it” in response to staff questions about the discrepancy.

At Preliminary Large Scale Development submittal, staff will require a full traffic study to be completed. The number of spaces shown in the auction lot must generally reflect the “site trip generation” numbers used to calculate the report (some leeway can be given for spacing some of the car for interior viewing). Existing traffic must also be taken into account.

This report will be used to determine the class of road that will be required along the “proposed route” and adjacent to the property of the proposed project. Both sides of each road must be updated to reflect the requirements. The County Road Department, County Engineer and Greenland’s Engineer will use County Standards to determine this required update.

Any additional Right of Way that must be obtained to update the roads will be the developer’s responsibility.

At Preliminary LSD an agreement will be made between the County and Greenland to determine which entity will inspect the roads and how the bond will be issued.

As per staff conversation with Joe Shipman, District 4 Engineer of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, the AHTD does not require upgrades to roads in their jurisdiction. They will work with the developer if the County requires the road to be updated, and they will issue the permits to do work on roads in their jurisdiction. Upgrades to this portion of Lillie Lane will be at the discretion of County Road Department, the County Engineer and Greenland’s Engineer (to be determined at Preliminary LSD).

LOTLINE ADJUSTMENT: This property was divided in 2006 to separate it from a larger portion. The way it was divided resulted in two tracts (Tract 2-A, 9.68 acres and Tract 2-B, 10 acres). This proposed project must complete a Lot Line Adjustment to consolidate the two tracts into one (through both the Greenland Planning Commission and the Washington County Planning Office) prior to Preliminary Large Scale Development Approval, if the project will extend onto both tracts. Another alternative to a lot line adjustment would be for the developer to purchase the property under one Warranty Deed, but the City of Greenland should be contacted before this is decided.

BIO-SWALES OR OTHER RUNOFF TREATMENT: As concern has been expressed by several parties (Greenland City Engineer, staff, and citizens) about vehicle-related substances that will be part of the storm water runoff for this site (oil, antifreeze, brake dust, etc), Staff would like to require (as a condition) that the applicant use some sort of treatment or filtration for these substances incorporated into the storm water/drainage plan at LSD. Examples could be sand filters at the parking lot, bio swales, or treatment within the detention area.

After some discussion, staff has concluded that simple open ditch drainage with vegetation (grasses, native flowers, etc..) will be adequate for filtering pollutants to some degree before water leaves site. Staff feels that these ditches should be designed to capture the water leaving the large auction parking area. Staff will allow flexibility with this condition, for instance – water can be piped part of the way, but the drainage plan will need to incorporate these ditches. This will be reviewed further (to the satisfaction of staff) when full drainage report is submitted at Preliminary LSD.

SEWER: The developer has contacted the Health Department, and expects to have the preliminary soils analysis prior to the Planning Board Meeting on March 6, 2008. A copy of the Preliminary soils information must be submitted to the County Planning Office. The proposed septic location and layout will need to be shown at the Preliminary LSD submittal if this Conditional Use Permit is approved.-Due to weather issues, the developer was unable to obtain Preliminary Soils work prior to this meeting. When this information is obtained (prior to Preliminary LSD submittal) it must be submitted to the Planning Office.

SCREENING/LANDSCAPING: Screening the site of this proposed project is a condition staff considered. As further investigation was done, staff concluded that this site would be very difficult to screen (it is topographically lower than most surrounding property, there is not much vegetation existing onsite, etc…) Instead of screening, staff will recommend a condition that the applicant use trees to “soften” this project.

The developer submitted a concept plan showing some tree plantings within the auction parking area, but staff felt like more vegetation would be appropriate and makes the site more compatible with the surrounding area.

After discussion with the developer this morning, it has been agreed that staff and the developer will agree on a number of trees per square foot of pavement at Preliminary LSD. This will roughly be based on the ratio presented in staff’s recommended planting sketch plan. This number of trees per sq. ft. of pavement will apply to the customer/staff parking area, the auction parking area, and will be carried over to any additional phases added at a later date.

Staff also feels that the tree areas could be part of the pollution control (bio-swales) discussed earlier. The tree wells could be open ditches/swales instead of the typical mounds, and they could be situated to help filter the runoff (located along the natural drainage pattern).

In addition, staff will require that the front portion of the site around the building and customer/staff parking be landscaped.

SURROUNDING CITY ZONING: The property to the North (across Napier) is shown on Greenland’s zoning map as “C-General Commercial.” According to Greenland’s zoning ordinance, automobile sales and car washes are allowed in this zoning category.

The property to the East (across NE Campbell) is shown on Greenland’s zoning map as “R-1 Low Density Residential.” According to their ordinance, uses allowed in this zone include: single-family dwelling, churches, schools other public buildings and open spaces.

ANNEXATION: A petition was filed for annexation into the City of Greenland today. It includes the project property.

Again, the goal of retaining the rural aspects of the county should remain a priority. Other goals to be met in general commercial land use one:

a. Provision of accessible, convenient and attractive commercial locations, while avoiding or minimizing commercial development where inadequate or substandard infrastructure exists;

·The site can be made accessible with road improvements. It is located close to the Interstate.

The water line in this area is scheduled to be updated, and at that time will be adequate.

b. Location of general commercial development at the intersection of major roads for convenient access, and to discourage strip commercial development;

·It is located near the interstate, but the “preferred route” indicated by the developer will need improvements.

c. Identification of areas within the county for future general commercial development;

d. Encouragement of attractive, safe and sanitary commercial development with adequate fire protection, utilities, and access;

· A temporary fire fighting solution has been agreed upon (until the water line update is complete and adequate fire flows are measured).

e. Discouraging the indiscriminate mixing of commercial development into residential and agricultural areas; and,

· There are a few other commercial type businesses located within the surrounding area, but they all have better/more direct access to the Interstate, the majority of this area is residential and agricultural.

In order to realize these goals, the county should take the following actions:

a. Adopt zoning regulations, and update subdivision regulations to guide commercial development;

b. Encourage planned, integrated commercial areas by discouraging spot commercial development in residential neighborhoods and agricultural areas, and the stringing out of commercial development along roads;

c. Adopt a future land use map, which identifies potential commercial locations;

· The Future land Use for this area is shown as Agricultural on the official county Land Use Map.

d. Through zoning, restrict the location of new general commercial development to commercial nodes and/or with certain conditions;

f. Restrict non-commercial, incompatible uses from locating in areas designated for general commercial uses;

g. Assure traffic safety by guaranteeing sufficient off-street parking, off-street loading facilities, and well-located ingress and egress points;

h. Provide adequate physical screening, and open areas to serve as a buffer between the commercial uses and abutting residential areas or agricultural areas; and,

· Staff has made recommendation for softening the site with tree plantings (which could serve as bio-swales as well to help with pollution). The developer has submitted a concept plan showing some, but staff does not feel it is adequate and will be making further recommendation.

i. Encourage attractiveness by designing areas to integrate with residential areas.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approval of the Conditional Use Permit Request for the Northwest Arkansas Auto Auction with the following conditions:

Water – The property is in the service area of Washington Water Authority.

Other Utilities - The lot is in the service area of Ozark Electric, AT & T Telephone, Arkansas Western Gas, and Cox Communications.

Any other land divisions, commercial structures, or other types of uses not considered with this submittal must come through a separate CUP or review process with the County.

Bart Hester, owner of the proposed project, Kevin Barrentine, (NW AR Auto Auctions, LLC) applicant, and Thomas Hennelly, H2 Engineering, were present to answer any questions.

Courtney McNair, Washington County Planner, stated, “This is a Conditional Use Permit with a multi-faceted Staff report there is a lot of information. I will just try to do my best to be as clear as possible. This project is located just next to the City of Greenland. It is zoned agricultural/single-family residential one unit per acre and that is why they are asking for Conditional Use This is a commercial proposition. It is in the City of Greenland’s Planning Area. It will be coming through as a Large Scale if the Board approves the Conditional Use Permit. Greenland does not review (and approve) Large Scale Developments, they only have subdivision review, however, because it is in Greenland’s Planning Area, they have had review and comment over(The Conditional Use Permit for) this project.”

McNair also stated, “This project is very near I-540. It is on the west corner of Napier and NE Campbell Road and it is adjacent to the City limits of Greenland and Greenland has had some very strong opinions about this site. The current owners of the property are H.H.J.J., LLC and Bart Hester, but the applicant is Kevin Barrentine and he is the one proposing to do this Auto Auction. It has access off of NE Campbell and Napier and the way that the traffic will be flowing is off of I-540 down the access road Lily Lane and then it will turn onto Napier and they propose having the main entrance to the project off of Napier.”

McNair continued to read from the Staff Report. The following are updates to the Staff Report.

McNair added, “They have proposed to auction between 200-300 acres per auction in this presentation. At this time, Washington Water Authority has a very small (2”) water line running to this property. They plan on putting in a 12” water line that was up for bid and the contract was bidded out, but I think there have been some issues, so we’re not certain when that 12” water line will be available. Until that 12” water line is available, there are some fire concerns. We talked with John Jenkins, Washington County Fire Marshal, as well as West Fork’s Fire Chief and have come up with some conditions that we think would make it safe until that water line is available. First and foremost, Washington Water had a comment that the developer may be required to cost share in the water project to help get that to them sooner and they have been made aware of that comment. The existing pond (it may need to be made larger by the developer) will temporarily serve both the auto auction and Interstate Equipment and must be able to hold enough water to fight fires simultaneously at both places at one until the new waterline goes in. If Northwest Arkansas Auto Auction and Interstate Equipment LSD caught on fire at once they can fight fires at both places without losing too much water out of the pond (temporary firefighting until the waterline improvements are made). If they need to increase the size of the pond it will influence their plan layout.”

McNair also added, “Sewer: the Health Department will not allow a septic system to be placed on ‘disturbed’ sites, so the developer will have to find somewhere other than those sites (currently disturbed portions of land on the proposed project site). On 20 acres it doesn’t sound hard, but they are paving most of it. They were going to have the Preliminary soils work done but the weather has been against them, so they will have that before Preliminary submittal. Josh Moore, Washington Water Authority, contacted me today and he said that until the new waterline is in place they have the same line capacity as if it were residential, so the water usage has to remain at a residential capacity until Josh has a chance to evaluate and see how much it can handle at this point. Then when the 12” waterline goes in he said there should be no problem with what they are proposing. He was unaware that they were going to go ahead and up their water usage to this amount.”

McNair commented, “Roads, they do have two entrances shown on their Concept Plan on Campbell, but their main entrance is off of Napier. This site also had some interesting ownership of road issues. A portion of Lily Lane is within the jurisdiction of the Arkansas State Highway Department. Another portion is within the jurisdiction of the City of Greenland. Napier and NE Campbell are within the jurisdiction of both the City of Greenland and Washington County. There are some dual jurisdictions overlapping. We worked really hard with the City of Greenland Engineer, County Road Department, and the developer. We came up with some good solutions and conditions that can make this a less troublesome aspect of the project. We asked the developer to either size down the lot to 300 spaces, if that is the number that they anticipate, or they can leave it at 600 so that they can get 300 cars in there using every other lot, but do their full traffic study at 600 cars, we feel that is necessary. When the waterline comes through all 650 slots will be available. We will give some leeway to the number of spaces that are shown on Preliminary, but not double the amount shown in the traffic study, it can’t be that big of a gap. This will determine the class of road.”

McNair also commented, “There are some concerns on Lily Lane, there is a damaged portion along the preferred route that the developer has marked out; it is like a sub grade failure. We were double-checking with the Highway Department to make sure that was an issue. Staff has also identified a couple of unsafe areas on Napier and NE Campbell to the east and south of the site. There is a very dangerous sharp turn that we’re not even sure that a semi truck could get around. We’ve asked for the developer to post signs that say ‘No truck traffic’ in both directions so that trucks don’t accidentally turn down one of those roads and cause problems because of those unsafe areas.”

McNair added, “The surrounding area has some commercial along I-540 and off of the access road Lily Lane there is not any quite this far out yet, but all up and down Lily Lane there is a small Loomis Fargo armored car business and an old warehouse, but they are still doing something. There is an existing Advocates for the Injured & Disabled business and a Pick-It Construction, Inc. sign. The Interstate Equipment LSD, which would sell farm equipment, has been proposed to go in adjacent to this site. They haven’t really started much yet, but they have Preliminary LSD approval (August 3, 2006) currently. Most of the surrounding area is agricultural and residential in nature. Greenland Hills Subdivision to the east did get Preliminary approval from the City of Greenland, but has since expired so we can’t really consider that as being there, but the area where the subdivision was originally proposed to be is zoned R1 which is low density residential.”

McNair also added, “The concept plan shows that the developer is proposing to have an entrance off of Napier; customer parking and Staff parking. A small entrance on NE Campbell will be gated and will be used for fire access, (that is one of the gates that will require a knox box so that the fire department can access the pond). They are going to have a rather large auction staging area and we’ve talked about how they will have to space it every other one. The main reason for detention because it is going to cause a lot more run-off. There is also a small cemetery (Boone Cemetery) on-site; we need to confirm the boundary extents of this. Several people have told us that some bodies may actually lie outside the current area that is fenced and we want to make sure that we don’t disturb any part of the cemetery. The developer provided some pictures of what this proposed site would be similar to.”

McNair stated, “Lotline Adjustment, we have a situation when Bart Hester split the property in 2006 the applicant Kevin Barrentine is proposing to buy both tracts, so we feel that it needs to have a lotline adjustment so that it makes it one tract to consolidate it into one. It will have to go through the City of Greenland as well as the County prior to Preliminary LSD. They expressed some concerns because we’re not sure of the status of Greenland’s moratorium within the City limits, so we’re going to have to discover if that applies to lotline adjustments or not. Another alternative would be for the developer to purchase the property under one Warranty Deed, but Greenland should be contacted before this is decided.”

McNair also stated, “We’ve had several citizen comments as well as the City of Greenland’s engineer was very concerned about pollutants (run-off). Staff has decided that something such as bio-swale would be good and we’ve talked to the developer and we think that an open ditch drainage system with simple vegetation would be a really good filtering system as it filters naturally through the ground through that open ditch system. I think that we need to go ahead and require this type of filtration so that it helps some citizen concerns and it is going to help reduce the pollutants that are leaving the site.”

McNair added, “On the criteria checklist (g. That the establishment of the conditional use will not impede the normal and orderly development and improvement of the surrounding area for uses permitted in the zone.) The use that the applicant is asking for is quite dramatically different than what is allowed by right. Staff is asking for quite a few conditions that we feel make this project more compatible with the area, but it will still have a large impact on the surrounding areas. Several things related to the project are not entirely incompatible as in they only operate during the day, their auctions are going to be during the day and once a week in the middle of the day, so that they won’t be as effecting many people that way, and they work from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. those are the business hours. Once again this is not a light commercial use, this is not a convenience store with the neighborhood use. This is something totally different, so the Board needs to consider the difference. It is not going to be completely detrimental, but it will be extremely impactful on this area.”

McNair also added, “There is the condition that this project may not operate more than a residential use capacity until Josh Moore with Washington Water Authority determines otherwise.”

George Butler, Washington County Attorney, stated, “The annexation is not a done deal by any stretch of imagination as the American RV situation this thing can be contested and the County Judge’s ruling can be appealed to the Circuit Court which happened to American RV and it was in Circuit Court for many months and went up to the Arkansas State Supreme Court and there is a Federal lawsuit still pending. The long short of it is I think can give very little consideration to the fact that the petition for annexation has been filed because it is a future contingent event that may or may not occur.”

Kevin Barrentine commented, “I would just like to say I think we’ve been very cooperative and appreciate Courtney and Juliet’s work, they have certainly been doing a lot of work in a short amount of time. Hopefully, we have demonstrated our willingness to cooperate and do what we need to do to make this a viable project not only for the County process but also in meeting with the citizens of Greenland and answering their questions and trying to resolve their concerns.”

Butler stated, “We have to have a majority of the entire Board, so four members are okay.”

Tom Hennelly commented, “I am with H2 Engineering representing Mr. Barrentine I had a few comments that I would like to add to this in all the conditions which are fairly lengthy that are associated with this project. The only one that we may have any in contention with at all would be the procurement of the right-of-way for off-site improvements. The only reason for that is if right-of-way for whatever reason wasn’t available we would feel that the attempt to make that right-of-way acquisition would be required but the mandate to require it as it is stated in the conditions is I think probably prohibited if any property owner between us and the interstate were to refuse then we may not be able to fulfill that condition.”

Butler stated, “There is a statutory process that can be gone through to obtain that right-of-way, you have to pay for it.”

Hennelly asked, “That the developer can to condemn it? Butler replied, “Yes.” Hennelly commented, “We would like whatever cost associated with the procurement of that right-of-way to be included in the consideration for our off-site improvements. As you can imagine paving this from our site all the way out to the highway could get expensive and then again having to procure that right-of-way as well and the cost of the property that is within the 540 corridor is obviously much higher than it would be in a normal rural district. We would just like some consideration that it would be part of the consideration for off-site improvements. The only other thing that I may add to Courtney’s report is that the photos that were shown of some other existing Auto Auctions facilities were provided only as an example just to show similar type operations. The building will not look like that it will have masonry front, it won’t be an all metal building it will look totally different than the red top one that you saw.”

Bart Hester stated, “I am currently the owner of the property. When this project goes through I’ll still have four adjacent pieces of property, so obviously I am in support of this project, and I feel like it will be a benefit to my adjacent properties. I just wanted to be clear on a few other items, just south of our property where she said there is a warehouse to clear that up that is actually a manufacturing facility, they manufacture composite woods. Adjacent to us is going to be a tractor dealership and there is an armored car service across from us. Just shortly north of us is a truck stop I feel like as a property owner of that property and other adjacent properties right in with the current use of the property. I am in full support of this passing.”

Bill Groom, adjacent property owner to the east at 473 W. Shadow Drive, commented, “I have been a resident of Greenland for 26 years. I am on the City Council and the School Board out there. The timeline on this thing, two weeks ago tonight we had a meeting with landowners these guys that propose to put this operation in came also to the Community Center, that was pretty much the first time that the citizens of the community had a chance to know what was going on what the proposal was. Less than a week later, which would be a week ago tonight, seven or eight of the landowners that surround this property has signed a petition to self-annex. I know Mr. Butler said that may not have any legal tie, but I would just say to the Board that these are pretty independent minded people that probably took pride that they lived in the County and not in the City and they are concerned enough about this operation coming in next door to them that they have dropped that independence and want to come in to be protected by the City of Greenland. We are also in the middle of a huge Planning process similar to the City of Fayetteville’s 2025. We’re trying to get that little community up to date to where we can have some more diverse economic development where we can bring in good jobs. We feel like the I-540 corridor right there is a real draw. I personally think there is going to be a place for an operation like this, but it doesn’t need to be the first thing you see when you come up I-540. They can go over on the west side of I-540 and they wouldn’t have to have screening or any of that, it would be out of sight. I doubt there is much impulse buying at a car auction, they’re probably going to know where you are if they’re going to come do business. It would just put a serious negative impotence on what we’re trying to plan out there. We’re going to try to do a charrette process to where we get input from all the citizens and again the citizens that are around this area that want to be part of that. The timing on this thing couldn’t be worse as far as that goes, it is just going to torpedo a lot of good effort. I’m afraid that it is going to have some very serious short term and long-term economic ramifications. They stated at the meeting that they are going to contribute nothing to the upkeep of the infrastructure although they are going to be bringing two or three hundred cars in there a week, 15% of those are going to be on car haulers that’s not going to do our streets any good. Staff has expressed concerns about the infrastructure that is already there. They also stated that they weren’t going to employ any locals in the management level it is just going to be entry-level staff. It is not going to do much for us. We’re just going to be going a step backward. I would say to the Board it would be in the City’s interest and the County’s interest, let this Planning process play out. There will be a place for operations like this, but to put it there right now to try to get in before this Planning process takes place is really going to run counter to what’s going to be good for the folks out there.”

Diane Reed, adjacent property owner to the east at 322 S. Scott Avenue, stated, “I am a resident of Greenland, Arkansas and I have lived there for 20 years. I am currently a registered nurse practitioner will soon be board certified adult nurse practitioner. I’m coming from a health point of view. I’m going to read from the letter that I sent to Mrs. McNair. In addition to this letter I brought in approximately 45 signatures with me tonight of citizens of Greenland who are dead-set against this. I regret that I only brought in 45 signatures and the reason is time constraint. I just learned about this the other day I hit the pavement as soon as I could as well as working full time, raising a family, being involved in my community, and my church, I am also studying for my National Boards for my Board Certification to be a registered nurse practitioner or actually a Board Certified nurse practitioner. I can get more signatures that is not a problem, every household I hit in Greenland said, ‘I didn’t know about this, oh my goodness.' (Reed read her letter Attachment A). I don’t think that they went out of their way to inform us of their intent. Tonight we also heard the possibility of having a carwash there, phosphorus contamination which has many other significant chemical indicators for health problems such as kidney stones, metabolic acidosis, and other things. Phosphorous, if I remember correctly is an alkaline, so we’re looking at health problems related to alkaline toxicity. I hope the Board takes this into consideration when you make your decision.”

Brad Hancock commented, “I am one of the owners of the adjacent property to this site. I completely support this business because everyone feels like there is a higher and better use for that area and I agree with that, but business has to evolve it does not just show up overnight, there’s not going to be a Marriott Hotel or a Cabella’s there unless something evolves to make people want to come there. Someone made the comment that at the meeting that they wouldn’t hire any local people for management, that wasn’t necessarily what they said, but I did notice that there are a large number of new homes for sale in the City of Greenland and any people that they do bring in from other areas to be employed there there’s a good chance that they will want to live in Greenland and would be interested in purchasing some of the new homes, so there is a business impact that goes beyond just the immediate comings and goings of the customers that come there. It is going to create a need for ancillary services, which is going to bring more employment opportunities to the area. It is going to require gasoline for cars, it is going to require service personnel, it is going to require restaurants because these dealers come in there from out of town some of them spend nights in hotels and motels, so that creates a demand for that sort of thing. It is a lot bigger economic picture than just a 19-acre car auction. As far as the environmental impact to that the run-off and things from that parking lot probably will be significantly less than the run-off from a Wal-Mart or a Cabella’s, which the Cabella’s came up several times during the meeting the other night. These type cars that they are going to sell at these auctions are a much higher class of car than what most people. If no one has ever been to a dealer’s car auction they don’t truly understand what they are. This will be a lot like a new car dealership only the vehicles that they sell are going to be pre-owned 3, 4, or 5 year old cars, but they’re not like the ones that you see that people go pick up a junker on Friday night to have something to miss around with on Saturday morning. I think the fact that it is a car auction has given it a bad rap from the beginning. I do support the project and hope that the Board approves it.”

John Gray, Mayor of Greenland, stated, “I am the mayor of Greenland I have been the mayor for one year. We’re starting into a Planning process to try to turn Greenland into a very pleasant little town that anyone would be proud to live in. I was elected on one issue I said we needed a plan for the future that I was not satisfied to have Greenland, the Greenland exit which is a beautiful exit, to become just another exit covered with truck stops and fast food restaurants – pit stop anywhere U.S.A. It is too nice a property for that plus the fact that most of these businesses, like this particular one, they said in the meeting since they’re wholesale they pay no local sales tax. When you look at the fact that there is no sales tax no local employment and the fact that when you look at the investment in the rural property and calculate that back to what is the City’s income from their portion of the real estate taxes, we will not even gain enough money to maintain the roads that the traffic into this place will gain, so it is going to be a net loss to our City as far as income is concerned. The type of businesses it will draw, if you notice the Pinnacle Hills exit in Rogers is not covered with truck stops and things like that it is much higher dollar investment, much higher dollar income tax producing revenue. I see that corridor as the economic future of Greenland, and if we don’t reserve that property for the best possible uses that will provide parks, gazebos, and places for outdoor recreation, things to make the City nicer, then we will be missing a very wonderful opportunity. Almost any place can develop into a string of any of you who have driven down from Minneapolis to St. Paul knows it is quite possible to maintain a beautiful freeway system and yet have good strong economic development along it and it doesn’t have to be ugly; you don’t have to look like an extended car lot. I ran on the one issue trying to make Greenland better than an extended dumping yard for used cars and dead cars. We’re trying to change our image from that.”

Kenley asked, “When is your anticipated completion date for the study that you are conducting?” Gray replied, “We have been longer actually getting started on it than I could ever imagine, once we start if it goes like the south part of Fayetteville South Pass was another one, I went to several of those meetings as well. Anyhow, all I’m saying is I think they took in the neighborhood of four to five months to do that once they actually got started with the work, but getting ready to get started is the hard part and hopefully we’re ready to start.” Kenley asked, “So, you’re anticipating 5 months?” Gray replied, “Somewhere in that neighborhood.”

Greg Bowen commented, “I am representing my mother, Virginia Thames at 829 W. Napier Drive to the east, and I grew up right there adjacent to that property the first 24 years of my life. I know a lot of these topics have been covered. When you mention carwash most people pretty much take into consideration knocking the dust off of one, but when you bring in used automobiles the first thing they are going to do is pop the hood and they’re going to wash the motor and transmission to make that look as pretty as possible. Septic system for this run-off and this carwash hasn’t been mentioned. It’s just been mentioned run down the ditch with some grass in it, which is a high impact for the environment. The other thing is if this is such a lucrative deal why hasn’t there been other cities in the community jumping at the opportunity to have these people build this project? The reason why is they chose a rural area, which would be easier to get into, maybe less expensive, but it just does not make much sense to me. We have two gentlemen on the Board that apparently have some interest involved for sitting out on voting for this, so that makes kind of a big concern of mine that maybe there are some other agendas involved here. The other gentleman (Hester and Hancock) that stood up that supported this project which has bought some of this property for a business point of view and the people that are trying to do this project, but there are other people down there also bought property for investment for whatever reason that are not really up on this agreement for this project either. The people of the community are totally dead-set against this because like the Mayor it’s not going to bring any revenue really into it. Another thing that most people don’t realize this is going to be a dealer’s type auction the public is not going to be allowed, if you don’t have a dealer’s license you can’t go to this auction other than maybe to view it. They’re talking about a 9 to 10,000 square foot building, they’re talking about setting up 300 to 600 cars, how are you going to fit that many people in that size of building and be into the Fire Codes? Not to mention the amount of water that will be used and flushed into the septic system, which has not been mentioned yet on capacity per gallons? The household you normally have to have a pretty significant amount of property or do some major perc tests and some drains and whatever is required for a septic system for a normal household, we’re talking a lot of people here on basically a small amount of property that is going to be coming and going. Not to mention the litter problem that will probably come from this, the County is not maintaining the road that they have now. Now, they’re sitting here saying we’re going to fix the road, who’s going to maintain that road because it hadn’t been maintained now? The Rural Water Department from my understanding from some people in the community has been buckling from full capacity and not been really allowing people to hook onto it, which has discouraged building on Campbell Community Loop because they couldn’t get hooked onto water until they get the new waterline in and now they’re saying as long as they keep it at a residential use we’re going to allow that. How are you going to keep that at a residential use when the people that used to live there were a woman, a man, and two sons? I went to school with the two sons they moved off. A man and a woman don’t use that much water for a residential use. They’re talking about a lot of people coming into this area on a certain night pulling hundreds and hundreds of gallons of water through there and usually when you get your foot in the door having this once a week usually it will be twice a week, we’re not going to have but four or five junk cars sitting around, well that’s four to five too many. You can go by any Auto Auction in Lincoln, Gravette, what is now Benton County what used to be Razorback Auto Auction and it looks like they are having an auction 24/7, it’s always just piled up. Everybody can sugarcoat this and sweet talk everybody into agreeing to get this in, but in reality more than likely they’re not going to follow the rules that they say that they are going to follow if you go by the trend. How many other towns and cities have rejected this project? That information hasn’t been available. They want to do it in a rural area because they think that they can basically get away with it. The people of the community are just totally against this particular project.”

McNair stated, "Robyn Reed, Environmental Affairs, is here and she can discuss this maybe a little better than I can carwash in run-off is required to be separately contained it will not go into the same stormwater system as the rest of the run-off from the site. It is basically a secondary containment."

Laney commented, "Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm assuming tonight we're talking about the use and there will be a later presentation for a Preliminary Large Scale and a Final that will address all of those kind of things in much more detail."

Laney replied, "They will be approved the State, so lets stay with the topic which is the use of this land for this kind of thing. If it gets approved as to use, what I'm saying is the Arkansas Environmental Protection (ADEQ)group all of that will be addressed. We're just here to try to talk about the use. Lets stay with that instead of getting into too much scientist prosperous treatment stuff."

George Tate, adjacent property owner to the northeast at 610 W. Napier Drive, stated, "I have been a landowner in that area for 50 years or better. I'm with several of the others who are definitely against it. As far as the City of Greenland it will bring nothing to the City of Greenland. As far as the upgrade of the property around it, it will be nothing but a downgrade to it. If anyone has been around a car auction, yes it is very nice to start with. Three to five years later it is nothing but a glorified junkyard."

Brent Tate commented, "My dad, George Tate, and I have owned that land down there since back in the ‘60’s. We've heard a lot of issues about roads and run-off and things of that nature. One issue that we've kind of touched on is the City of Greenland's citizens were kind of caught off guard by this whole thing. We had a meeting in the Town Hall not too long ago that everybody is all fired up about. The people that wants to put this through they've checked the boxes and jumped through the hoops as far as that goes, but as citizens in that community we're kind of caught off guard by this and feel like we haven't really had a chance to prepare. The one lady that spoke (Diane Reed) said that there would be no problem in getting more signatures on a petition to keep this thing from going through and I can promise you that is a real deal. The citizens out there are as nervous as they can be that this thing is going to go in. We don't want our land prices or our property value to dwindle or drop down. We just feel that it is going to be detrimental to the area. What you are seeing here are picture perfect of these diagrams you are getting 100% best scenario presentation and like my dad said there is a lot of promises that are going to be made. The bottom line is not every car is going to sell there's going to be cars sitting around up there and right now this junction in time for the City of Greenland is so critical. If you go up and down I-540 you see all the other towns have had the chance to progress and to build up and get themselves looking nice where it is a nice attractive town off the highway, but if you get a business like this that sits the tone in the car industry business. The citizens out there are just really worried about what the long-term ramifications are going to be of it."

Donna Johnson, adjacent property owner to the northeast at 251 S. Napier, stated, "My husband and I, Frank, live on south Napier. We've lived in Greenland now for 11 years we moved there from Springdale. One of the main reasons that we moved to Greenland from Springdale is because Springdale is getting very well overpopulated. We looked at Greenland as a small community to raise our family. I'm very familiar with the area in which Lily Lane is and up in that area. For myself and my family and the neighbors around us we go up that way and we exercise a lot, we ride our bikes and our children ride their bikes, we walk, and one of the main reasons is because there is not that much traffic up that way and it is quiet and it is beautiful up that way and we'd like to keep it that way. I would also apologize for just getting a few signatures against this project. I had an illness in the family and just last night was the first chance I had to go out. I assumed that most of my neighbors received the same letter that I did in the mail about this car auction. Once I talked to a lot of my neighbors, they had not received the notification in the mail, very few of us did. I for one don't think that this car auction should slide up under the table and just jump out of nowhere and lay this in our lap. I feel like that we should be given some time and I'm also concerned about the environment and the run-off myself. When they build all the houses below us on Wilson myself and Mr. Tate and a couple of other gentlemen own the land up through there. We have deer and lots of other animals up through there that we are also concerned about. We don't want to see anymore land destroyed or anymore animals chased away for anything like this, but my family and I are very against this."

Richey commented, "I wanted to remind the Board that this is zoning and its Conditional Use and it is subjective to a degree. We have the checklist items that we can consider."

Walker asked, "Randy will you clarify us on Conditional Use as we talked about it earlier when we began the Conditional Use format?" Laney replied, "Yes, I think that we can clarify that we are zoned for residential and Ag and anything outside of that has to come in for a Conditional Use Permit, and so this is a Conditional Use which means that we can place conditions upon that use once that use is approved then we will have a Preliminary Large Scale Plan which will go through all the details of what it is going to look like and how it is going to be configured. These are all Preliminary ideas and then there would be a Final, so there would be at least one more if not two more hearings after this."

Walker asked, "In that did we not talk about compatible things that were surrounding to make our decisions?" Laney replied, "Yes, and transitions and all those kind of topics."

Haley asked, "Juliet, I just need to ask probably a remedial question just for us being new, can we consider what the City of Greenland is doing as part of the impact of our decision?" Richey replied, "It is something that you can consider, basically, State law says that we have to consider any plans that are in place by another jurisdiction be it local or federal or whatever. Greenland is working on plans right now their Future Land Use Plan shows that whole area to be just simply agricultural. The Future Land Use Plan that they have in place right now is several years old, it was done I think in 1985, and they are working on updating it and they have been working for quite some time to get that process done, however, their adopted plan calls for that area to be agricultural, so as far as adopted plans that is what we can consider. They have also reviewed and commented and the Board got the letter from the Mayor and they do have comments and concerns. George, I might have you to elaborate more.

George Butler stated, “ I think that you can look at what the community says and I think that you can look at their adopted plans, but it is not." Butler stated, "Controlling, they are certainly things that you can look at."

Richey added, " I think that it is kind of a hard area, it is an area that has some commercial in it, but it is also an area that feels very rural at the same time when you're out there. It is also confusing I think somewhat because on the City's zoning map right now they have the area that is just adjacent to it that is zoned commercial where something like this could essentially happen by right on that piece of property, right now they have a moratorium, but that is what it is zoned for, but they also have residential right there. I think that like many corridor areas, the I-540 corridor is an area that is going to have commercial and it's going to transition to residential. You're going to have a mix in that area."

Haley asked, "So the storage facility that is on the west side going south, is that in the City of Greenland?" Richey replied, "Yes it is in the City, I think that is zoned their general commercial as well, but they do have a moratorium on right now because they are trying to revitalize not only their Future Land Use Plan but all their zoning within their city."

Walker asked, "You could be able to see this proposed property from I-540?" Richey replied, "Yes you can, I-540 is actually quite a bit higher in elevation and it kind of looks over that area when you drive north."

West asked, "Juliet, we had several people say that they didn't know of this project, who are you required to notify?" Richey replied, "Our ordinance requires us to notify within 300' of the boundaries of the project and we did that and then the Mayor of Greenland when he worked on arranging a community meeting I think that he notified more landowners, but probably not over a half of mile away."

Hennelly stated, "I would like to add that we also requested the Mayor to call that meeting so that we could notify the citizens of Greenland and subsequently he sent that letter out, but that was at our request to do that, so that we could get as much input from them as possible."

Walker commented, "I go to Tulsa a lot and I'm no car dealer, but I drive by that huge auction there and it has always looked neat to me and it has never looked offensive and it has been there for a long time and anytime that an interstate goes through an area, you would have to expect commercial use of the property to eventually happen. I'm a rural person; I understand what everybody is asking. There was comment made that sometime commercial use is going to come to this corridor. Economically I don't see how you would build gazebos and parks and make it economically effective,"

Larry Walker moved to approve Northwest Arkansas Auto Auction Conditional Use Permit with conditions. Kenley Haley seconded. Robert Daugherty and Gary Head abstained.

Walker asked, "On the conditions is the developer going to rebuild this road to the capacity that is required? I didn't really quite get that in the Conditional Use." McNair replied, "I would ask Donnie Coleman, Washington County Road Superintendent, Shawn Shrum, Washington County Assistant Road Superintendent, or Clay Grote, Washington County Engineer, to maybe elaborate if you want to know the specifics, but they will be required to make improvements from Lily Lane all the way down adjacent to their property to ensure that the road will handle the traffic."

Richey stated, "We're requesting that these upgrades to the roads be made to our regulations. The regulations that Washington County already has in place to look at off-site improvements as they are required for a project as for their traffic, so these are based on our regulations that are in place. The reason we wanted to talk about it so much is because we have all these different jurisdictions involved and we want to make sure that we settle it at Conditional Use that the areas that are just Greenland roads and things like that along this route can be improved as per our regulations. If our regulations say that it warrants improvement then it will be improved."

Walker commented, "By the developer." Richey stated, "Correct." Walker asked, "Then maintained by who?" Richey replied, "Maintained by whoever's jurisdiction it is, so it would be maintained by the City of Greenland, the County, or the Highway Department."

All voting Board members were in favor of approving Northwest Arkansas Auto Auction Conditional Use Permit. Motion passes.

Richey stated, “I told the Board at the last Planning Board meeting (February 13, 2008) that I would show you a map showing the development for 2006 and 2007. We've been mapping our development. For 2007 all the lot splits that we do in the County and some of them are really small and they not going to show up that well. I think it is nice to see it in a map view to see that we do have things happening all over the County, we have more things that happen closer to the cities and far away, but we do have quite a few lot splits, that is what administrative approvals are. As you can see a much larger majority of those happen quite close into the cities. I just kind of wanted to go over that with the Board, I think it is interesting to see it on a mapping perspective."

Richey stated, "We actually didn't get that copied today because we were copying everything else at the last minute."

Richey stated, "We left the corridors unzoned in the County, we started some discussion in the County Services Committee about zoning those some sort of agricultural and single-family by right, but then also possibly some types of commercial by right. We haven't ironed out what those would be or anything."

General discussion of commercial zoning along corridors. Board members are in favor at looking at this.

Roll call was taken. Members present include: Kenley Haley, Gary Head, Larry Walker, Robert Daugherty, and Cheryl West. Absent: Randy Laney.

Robert Daugherty acted as chairperson due to Randy Laney, chairperson, not present at the meeting.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: (from the March 6, 2008 meeting) Gary Head made a motion to approve as written. Larry Walker provided the second. Motion passes.

Gary Head made a motion to approve the agenda. Larry Walker seconded. Motion passes.

Location Address: Next to the intersection of WC #87 Old Wire Road and WC #553 Joyce Street

Project #: 2006-152 Planner: Juliet Richey, e-mail at jrichey@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Final Large Scale Development Approval for Joyce Street Cottages LSD. The proposed project is located on a parcel containing 10 acres with 27 built single family units, and 13 additional proposed single family units, for a total of 40 single family units.

CURRENT ZONING: Project does lie within the County Zoned Area; however, Preliminary LSD Plan approval had been granted before the passage of the Zoning Ordinance, therefore zoning is not applicable to the final LSD plan of this project. Future splits and proposed uses within this subdivision will be subject to zoning.

PLANNING AREA: This project is located in the City of Fayetteville’s Planning Area. The City of Fayetteville does not review Large Scale Developments. However, they do regulate decentralized sewer in their growth area to some degree, and have put stipulations on the system proposed in this LSD (that it should be gravity). Please see attached March 12, 2008 letter from Fayetteville Engineering.

Roads- The proposed project has access off of WC #553 (E. Joyce Street.) An interior private road is proposed.

Sewer- this project uses decentralized sewer. The sewer system is built, and the ADEQ Permit has been approved.

UPDATE: The ADEQ Permit for the decentralized sewer system has been received. All that remains to be addressed are some minor checklist items, grading, seeding and sodding.

Water – The property is in the service area of City of Fayetteville Water.

Other Utilities - The property is in the service area of Ozark Electric, AT & T Telephone, Arkansas Western Gas, and Cox Communications.

Below is a complete list of all items that need to be addressed prior to the signing of this LSD Plan. Some items are minor in nature and can be conditions of approval if larger issues are resolved prior to the meeting. The more crucial of these items that need to be in place prior to Planning Board approval are also listed above.

The following items must be added to the plans as per the Washington County Land Development Submittal Checklist:

· Add note to plan: Any further splitting, use or land development not considered with this approval must come before the Planning Board for a separate approval.

· Please note that the Circuit Clerk is not accepting plats that are over 18" x 24" for filing purposes.

1. Any relocation of existing facilities will be at developer’s expense. Any extension of line that has to be built specifically to feed the subdivision will be at full cost to the developer.

Mike McDonald (Hometown Development, LTD), owner of the proposed project, was present to answer any questions.

Juliet Richey, Washington County Planning Director, stated, “This is Joyce Street Cottages Final Large Scale Development approval. It is on Joyce Street (WC #553) out in the County near the intersection of Joyce and Old Wire (WC#87). Before it was cottages, it used to be a paintball facility. It is approximately 10 acres and the agenda says 45 units, but it is actually 40 units. I think it was originally proposed to be 45 units. It has a community sewer system, which has received ADEQ (Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality) approval and they have all of the information in to Rhonda Hulse, Public Utility & Asst. Grant Administrator, for the financial part of the monitoring that the County does. This is built in the style of a Horizontal Property Regime where the Property Owner’s Association (POA) will essentially own all the land together and then you buy the homes individually, you don’t have your own lot per say. The streets are private. Because this is a Large Scale Development and we don’t have building permits in the County, it is fine for them to add future additional units. We have said that the plans for those will need to be looked at by the Fire Marshal either in the County or the City and approved by him before those can be built just because the buildings are so close. In this development we had some issues on the front end when the other ones were built, the ones that are existing now, so we just need to make sure that all those meet Fire Code before they are constructed and they have agreed to that and the note is on the plans. We had a couple of unresolved issues when the Staff Report was sent out; one was the ADEQ permit - that is in place and their sewer is good to go. They do have a couple of things; they have some grading, seeding, and sodding that need to be completed. They were trying to do that this week but the weather has been rather prohibitive, so we’re going to make that a condition of their approval. Staff recommends approval with conditions. The main one is condition #1 (Have all erosion control measures in place, and complete seeding, sodding, and grading. They still need to seed and straw disturbed areas, grade between a couple of cottages in the back to achieve positive drainage, and sod the drainage ditch that runs behind the cottages in the back). Condition #3 (Please note the March 12, 2008 letter from City of Fayetteville Engineering. This letter states what measures must be taken by the developer prior to future connection to City Sanitary sewer (at the present, the development will have its own community sewer system). The letter says that when sanitary sewer comes from the City in the future they will have to have inspections from the City to make sure that they can tie onto that. They did create this to be a gravity flow so that they can switch onto sanitary sewer when it becomes available. The remaining comments are just small checklist items that we need to have them show on the plans. They gave me a new set of plans today and there maybe a couple conditions addressed on there. They are all minor things.”

McDonald commented, “I represent the developer and the investors who are owning and marketing these homes in there. As Juliet stated we’re in agreement with her conditions of approval and we’ve worked with her to try to address everything that has come up out there. I think we got it all taken care of except for the items that she noted.”

Larry Walker moved to approve Joyce Street Cottages LSD Final LSD Plan with conditions. Cheryl West seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of approving Joyce Street Cottages LSD Final LSD Plan.

Juliet Richey, Washington County Planning Director, stated, “Current Development is updated every month; things between Preliminary and Final that are happening.”

Butler stated, “Basically, all the lawsuit said was you should not have issued the Conditional Use approval and I responded and said, ‘Yes, you should, yes, your decision should be upheld.’ The Circuit Court hears the case de novo, you can have a jury trial; they just hear it as if nothing happened here, it is kind of a quirk in Arkansas law. I think it is going in front of Judge Smith (actually it is Judge Lindsey). I don’t know the date yet. I filed my response. There has been no response filed yet by Northwest Auto Auction though I know they are named as a party; I can’t tell from looking at the docket whether if they have been served yet. Depending on whether or not there is going to be a jury trial or not it can come up pretty quick. If there is a jury trial it can be delayed. It is unusual for that to happen, but in fact I didn’t realize this until Juliet and I were discussing a Supreme Court case and in the case it just mentioned in passing that the jury had granted a variance and there was a lot of uproar about that. Sure enough, the zoning enabling legislation for Cities and Counties both provide for jury trials not only are they both appeals to de novo, but you can have a jury. I don’t know if that is going to happen or not in this case.”

Richey stated, “Corridor zoning those are the unzoned corridors that we are looking at we’re going to try to present to County Services next time a pretty detailed inventory of what’s in those zones right now. We’re doing kind of documentation with aerial photographs and going out and looking. Right now we’ve been looking at between Prairie Grove and Lincoln and Greenland and West Fork and next week we’re going to look at 412 west of Tontitown and then probably the week after that 412 east of Tontitown. We still have Highway 16 west. It is taking us a little while, but we’re trying to be pretty thorough. They requested kind of more detail of what was there before they feel confident making the decision, which I think is perfectly acceptable. In the mean time it is not zoned, it is definitely not inhibiting businesses, it may be somewhat detrimental if there are areas that have a lot of residential, but we don’t have a lot of stuff going on right now. I think it is better to take it slow and try to do it right the first time.”

Richey commented, “Temporary uses, that was something that we discussed like people that rent out their land for Bikes, Blues, and BBQ for everybody to come camp and pay like $20.00. We’ve had some questions on time limits on things like that in the past. It’s not something that we want to regulate, we don’t want to go out and issue special permits for all those places. They already have to register with the Health Department. We don’t want to regulate those as far as use goes. George and I put together an ordinance that basically says that you can do it four times a year no more than 15 days for each event and we’re not going to regulate you at all if that’s what you’re doing.”

Richey added, “We have a couple of regulations that the Fire Marshal, John Jenkins, wanted to look at for firework stands. Mostly those are regulated by State law and the State actually sets up a window of time in which you can sell fireworks and really the main thing that we added to that was it you not keep fireworks stored in a tent or some other sort of temporary structure more than two weeks before or two weeks after that timeframe that the State lays out, just so you don’t have a lot of unsecured fireworks sitting around. That should go to Quorum Court for first reading a week and a half from now (April 15, 2008).”

a. Replat Lots 659 & 660 Wedington Woods, Unit 6 Preliminary and Final Plat Approval

b. Replat Lots 6 & 7 Robinson Mountain Estates Preliminary and Final Plat Approval

c. A+ U Pull it, Inc, Automobile Recycling LSD Preliminary LSD Plan Approval

d. West Evangeline Tower Extension to 190’ Major Modification to an existing Communications Tower Approval

e. West Evangeline Tower Extension to 190’ CUP Conditional Use Permit Approval

Roll call was taken. Members present include: Robert Daugherty, Kenley Haley, Gary Head, Randy Laney, Larry Walker, and Cheryl West.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: (from the April 3, 2008 meeting) Gary Head made a motion to approve as written. Kenley Haley provided the second. Motion passes.

Gary Head made a motion to approve the agenda. Larry Walker seconded. Motion passes.

Project #: 2008-072 Planner: Jessie Pettit, e-mail at jpettit@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Preliminary and Final Minor Subdivision Approval for Replat (lot-line adjustment) Lots 659 & 660 Wedington Woods, Unit 6. The total acreage of both of the lots is 4.18 acres.

The proposed replat / lot-line adjustment requests that lot 659 and 660 be altered in the following manner from the original plat of Wedington Woods, Unit 6.

The property is located at 14495 Dogwood Drive and 14471 / 14459 Dogwood Drive. Lot 659 which is proposed to decrease in acreage is owned by Ted and M. Lee Robirts. Lot 660 which is proposed to increase is owned by David and Lois Loghry.

The project comes before the Planning Board because it is in a platted subdivision that is not within a Planning Area/ Growth Area therefore cannot be processed administratively.

The applicant has met most of the requirements, an administrative variance will be required for the building within the building setback, mailing fees need to be paid, and growth area text should be removed from the plat. The property is not in a Planning Area / Growth Area.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends Preliminary and Final Plat approval of the proposed Replat Lots 659 & 660 Wedington Woods, Unit 6 with the following conditions being met.

1. Pay mailing fees of $41.73 for adjacent property owner notification, as per Ord. No. 2007-71, applicant has been provided a copy of the invoice.

3. Any further splitting or land development not considered with this approval must come before the Planning Board.

4. Have all signature blocks signed on 11 Final Plats - 2 for filing in the Circuit Clerk’s office, 7 for the County Planning office, remainder for the developer. The Circuit Clerk is not accepting plats that are over 18" x 24".

The parcels involved in this proposed replat are as follows: parcel #552-03279-000, lot 569, Wedington Woods Unit VI and parcel #552-03280-000, lot 660, Wedington Woods Unit VI.

These parcels have had no previous splits since it has been platted into Wedington Woods Unit VI .

Other Utilities - The lots are within the service area of Ozark Electric, AT & T Telephone, and Cox Communications.

If you do any work in right-of-way need permit. If you put in tile County needs to size it.

If any construction or grading is performed a stormwater permit will be required. Please see included letter and information sheet.

1. Any relocation of existing facilities will be at owner’s expense. Any extension of line that has to be built specifically to feed this property will be at full cost to the owner.

Ted Robirts, owner of the proposed project, was present to answer any questions.

Jessie Pettit, Washington County Planner, stated, “I’ll try to make this brief, I know that you are on a time constraint. Lots 659 and 660 are located on the northwest part of the County. The property is in the County zoned area, agricultural or single family one dwelling unit per acre. The property is not in a Planning Area. The property is located north of Highway 16 west of the City of Fayetteville. Both of the lots have access off of WC #2161 (Dogwood Drive). Ted and M. Lee Robirts own Lot 659 and David and Lois Loghry own Lot 660. There are two existing structures on Lot 660. There is one existing structure on Lot 659. The request is for Preliminary and Final Minor Subdivision approval for a replat / lot line adjustment. The reason that this is coming before the Board is because it is not in a Planning Area and it is in a platted subdivision. The total acreage of both of the lots is 4.18 acres. The original acreage of Lot 659 is 2.04 acres the proposed adjusted is 1.46 acres. The original acreage of Lot 660 is 2.14 acres the proposed adjusted is 2.72 acres. The applicant has met most of the requirements and an administrative variance would be required for the building within the building setbacks on Lot 659. The mailing fees will need to be paid, but he has met all of the other requirements. Staff recommends Preliminary and Final Plat approval of the proposed replat of Lots 659 and 660 Wedington Woods, Unit 6 with conditions.”

Gary Head moved to approve Replat Lots 659 & 660 Wedington Woods, Unit 6 Preliminary and Final Plat with conditions. Robert Daugherty seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of approving Replat Lots 659 & 660 Wedington Woods, Unit 6 Preliminary and Final Plat.

Project #: 2008-076 Planner: Jessie Pettit, e-mail at jpettit@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Preliminary and Final Minor Subdivision Approval for Replat Lots 6 & 7 Robinson Mountain Estates. The total acreage of both of the lots is 13.13 acres according to the replat survey. The total acreage of both lots according to the final Plat of Robinson Mountain Estates is 13.18± acres. There is a slight discrepancy in acreage totals between the two.

The proposed replat/ lot-line adjustment requests lots 6 and 7 be changed in the following manner from the original plat of Robinson Mountain Estates.

The property is located at 11211 Mountain Spring Drive and 11285 Mountain Spring Drive. Lot 6, which is proposed to increase, is owned by Dale Eldredge. Lot 7, which is proposed to decrease, is owned by Jarrett McLelland.

Both of the lots have access off Mountain Springs Drive, WC #5007 which is a private road.

The project comes before the Planning Board because it is in a platted subdivision that is not within a Planning Area/ Growth Area therefore cannot be processed administratively.

*See page 3 “Additional Information – splits previously completed on this parcel” for a more detailed account of development associated with these properties.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends Preliminary and Final Plat approval of the proposed Replat Lots 6A & 7A Robinson Mountain Estates with the following conditions being met.

1. Pay mailing fees of $44.94 for adjacent property owner notification, as per Ord. No. 2007-71, applicant has been provided a copy of the invoice.

2 Any further splitting or land development not considered with this approval must come before the Planning Board.

1. Have all signature blocks signed on 11 Final Plats - 2 for filing in the Circuit Clerk’s office, 7 for the County Planning office, remainder for the developer. The Circuit Clerk is not accepting plats that are over 18" x 24".

The parcels involved in this proposed replat are as follows: parcel # 414-10010-000, lot 6 of Robinson Mnt. Estates and parcel #414-10011-000, lot 7 of Robinson Mnt. Estates.

These parcels have had no previous splits since it has been platted into Robinson Mountain Estates in 1997 (Project # 1997-061).

Lot 7 came before the board September 7^th, 2006, requesting a variance from private road improvement and requesting access off East Black Oak Rd, WC #57. A note on the final plat of Robinson Mountain Estates, prohibits lot 7 and other lots from accessing WC#57. Both variances were denied, please refer to minutes from Planning Board September 7^th, 2006 for a further explanation of these requests.

Other Utilities - The lots are within the service area of Ozark Electric and AT & T Telephone.

Streets- The lots have access of Mountain Springs Dr. – Private Road. The property also has some frontage on WC #57, Black Oak Road, although as per Final Plat of Robinson Mountain Estates- access is prohibited on WC #57.

No comment received – Health Department does not typically comment of plats with less than four lots.

No stormwater permit required by Washington County at this time. Must comply with all ADEQ rules and regulations.

1. Any relocation of existing facilities will be at owner’s expense. Any extension of line that has to be built specifically to feed this property will be at full cost to the owner.

2. Please contact me if you have any questions. Greg McGee (479) 684-4634 gmcgee@ozarksecc.com

1. All existing overhead power lines on the property have an existing thirty foot easement.

Jarrett and Chanika McLelland, owners of the proposed project, and Dale and Brooke Eldredge, owners of the proposed project, were present to answer any questions.

Jessie Pettit, Washington County Planner, stated, “This is the same situation where we have a lot line adjustment that is in a platted subdivision that is not within a Planning Area that is why this is coming before the Board. It is also in a zoned area (agricultural or single family one dwelling unit per acre). It is also not in a Planning Area. The site is north of Black Oak Road (WC # 57) on Mountain Springs Drive (WC #5007 which is a private road). Final Plat Robinson Mountain Estates was approved in 1997. The applicant has completed all requirements aside from paying mailing fees. Staff recommends Preliminary and Final Plat approval of the proposed Replat of Lots 6A and 7A Robinson Mountain Estates with conditions and those were just the mailing fees. The original acreage of Lot 6A was 7.24 acres the proposed adjusted acreage was 7.55 acres. The original acreage of Lot 7A was 5.94 acres the proposed adjusted acreage was 5.58 acres.”

Laney asked, “I want to make sure we do it right, in your comments you just said Lots 6A and 7A, but the agenda says Lots 6 and 7 which is it?” Pettit replied, “That is the way that the surveyor has it written on the survey that was submitted.”

Laney asked, “If we get a motion how do you want to do it?” Pettit replied, “As the survey states (6A and 7A).”

Robert Daugherty moved to approve Replat Lots 6A & 7A Robinson Mountain Estates Preliminary and Final Plat with conditions. Gary Head seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of approving Replat Lots 6A & 7A Robinson Mountain Estates Preliminary and Final Plat.

Project #: 2008-074 Planner: Courtney McNair, e-mail at cmcnair@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Preliminary Large Scale Development Approval for A+ U Pull it, Inc, Automobile Recycling LSD. The proposed project is located on a parcel containing 17.955 acres.

PLANNING AREA: This project is located in the City of Lincoln’s Planning Area. The City of Lincoln does not review Large Scale Developments.

Splits previously completed on this parent parcel: Parcel #001-08950-000 has seven previous splits (two are for AR State Highway Commission). Project #1998-052 is a lot split to divide Parcel #001-08950-001 19.93 acres into 9.197 acres and 10.317 acres. Project #2006-203 is a lot split to divide Parcel #001-08950-002 5.87 acres into 3.07 acres and 2.8 acres. Parcel #001-08980-000 has five previous splits (two are for AR State Highway Commission). Project #2006-167 is a lotline adjustment between Parcel #001-08950-002 and Parcel #001-08980-000. Project #2006-208 is a lotline adjustment between Parcel #001-08980-000 and Parcel #001-08994-000. Parcel #001-08994-000 has two previous splits (one is for AR State Highway Commission).

Daugherty – Goshen Farm, LLC (Robert Daugherty) currently owns the property. The applicant for this project is Four Square Properties, LLC (R.D. Hopper).

This proposal is asking for approval for an automobile recycling center and auto parts sales (auto salvage yard). The proposed project includes three existing metal sheds, an office trailer, a vehicle storage area, a future expansion vehicle storage area, a tire chopper, and tire racks on 17.955 acres. The site has been used previously as an auto salvage yard that was not in good condition. The current owner has cleaned up the site, but several issues still remain for the applicant to address.

As mentioned above, the site takes access off of a State Highway, therefore, the County Road Department does not comment on the road condition. The engineer for this project has stated that traffic is not expected to negatively affect the highway, and should future traffic issues related to the proposed business arise, a traffic study will be completed.

The current entry drive frequently washes out and is inadequate for emergency vehicles (and transport trucks bringing salvaged cars to the site). Proposed driveway improvements showing its ability to support emergency vehicles must be approved by the Fire Marshal. All driveway updates must be completed prior to Final LSD Approval. (John Jenkins, WC Fire Marshal will inspect). In addition to the turnarounds shown on the entry road, emergency vehicles must have a clear fire lane around the outside of the vehicle storage areas (as shown in earlier plans, the most recent plans show this blocked by lanes extending further to the east), these must be 20 feet wide. (One around the perimeter of the proposed vehicle storage, and one around the future expansion area should be shown, with a 20- foot break in-between the two areas. -See Fire Marshal or Planning for more information.) - This has been updated on the latest digital copy of the plans received (4.30.08). Planning will need hard copies to review as well.

Several environmental concerns have also been addressed for this project, and others will be completed prior to Final LSD Approval. Robyn Reed, Director of Environmental Affairs, will approve the specifications for the metal fencing that will screen the vehicle storage area from the highway, and has received an application for a Junkyard and Automobile graveyard (which will be signed off on once screening is in place and approved.)

There are also several fire safety issues with this project. John Jenkins had requested a siren activated gate be in place in case of fire, but the ordinance allowing this does not apply to Large Scale Developments at this time, and the developer does not want to provide this type of gate. Prior to Final Approval, an agreement must be made to insure fire access is in place.

In addition to the gate, there is also concern over the existing fire hydrant. The hydrant (located across Highway 62 from the project) does not operate correctly at this time. This hydrant must be in working order and inspected by John Jenkins prior to Final LSD Approval. The developer has stated that the hydrant will be repaired by “others”, but staff feels more information is needed. Prior to Preliminary approval, the developer must provide information on who will be repairing the hydrant and when the repairs are expected to be complete.

At this time, the developer has not submitted any fire flow information to staff. This is required prior to Preliminary Approval. Before staff will recommend for approval of the Preliminary LSD gallons per minute (GPM) flow (actual or calculated) must be submitted and approved by the Fire Marshal. – (4.30.08) Fire Flows were submitted, and confirmation that hydrant is operation was given. Fire Marshal will accept the numbers.

Also prior to Preliminary approval, the developer will need to submit the preliminary soils work submitted to the Health Department. –Preliminary work was submitted, and HD stated that according to the numbers, a septic system should be feasible for the site.

In addition, staff has listed concerns that must be addressed prior to Final LSD approval.

UPDATE: Staff Recommends for Preliminary Approval of A+ U Pull it, Inc. Automobile Recycling LSD with the following conditions:

Some of these issues may have been addressed in latest digital file (4.30.08). Staff did not have enough time to adequately review these plans prior to the meeting.

Some conditions that must be met prior to final approval (others may be added after review of Final LSD submittal):

Other Utilities - The property is in the service area of SWEPCO Electric, Prairie Grove Telephone, Arkansas Western Gas, and Cox Communications.

R.D. Hopper (Four Square Properties, LLC) owner of the proposed project, and Caleb Henry, Ozark Civil Engineering, Inc., were present to answer any questions.

Courtney McNair, Washington County Planner, stated, “This project is located in the western part of the County and it is located in one of the County’s unzoned corridors which is something that we have discussed previously about maybe the possibility of zoning those at sometime. Right now, it does not fall under any of our zoning regulations, so we can’t consider that. It is in the Lincoln Planning Area, but as it is a Large Scale Development, Lincoln does not review this type of development. They have not said anything negatively or positively about it; we offered a review and they had really no comments. It is in between the Cities of Prairie Grove and Lincoln on Highway 62. It is just across from the intersection where Highway 45 turns south. This area was previously used as a salvage yard. The current owner has cleaned it up. There are three existing metal sheds on the property. One of the metal sheds is designated to have a tire chopper, which is where they chop the tires into four pieces so that they can be disposed of more easily. Any of the tires that are in good condition they propose to re-sell as part of the auto salvage part of this Large Scale Development. If they chose to do a future expansion area they want to add more vehicle storage units there, but they haven’t said when, it could be quite awhile in the future. They just wanted to reserve the right to go ahead and show the proposed future expansion area. We had a few concerns left of the property being in kind of bad shape, which was taken care of. The existing drive is in need of repair it is not going to support emergency vehicles as it is right now. There is a pretty big ravine. The existing culvert definitely needs some repair. John Jenkins, Washington County Fire Marshal, is going to look at that, after they get it fixed, at Final approval. We also had some issues with the fire flow on the hydrant, but we were confirmed that it does flow and John Jenkins said that it was adequate for this development. The septic approval the Health Department did say that everything looked good and if everything on the application was correct then they should be feasibly able to put a septic system on the site it is a big property, so they should be able to put a septic system on this property for this use. Robyn Reed, Washington County Environmental Affairs Director, has some regulation on this because it is an automobile graveyard and they have already filled out everything for her and she will sign off on the application once they complete everything that they need to do for her. There is one remaining issue that will need to be addressed at Large Scale, which is the fire safety issue. We haven’t specified exactly what type of gate, the applicant has proposed of using a keyless entry pad and John Jenkins and the Lincoln Fire Department are going to have to get together and just say, ‘Okay, we all agree to the entry pad.’ It is not something that the applicant hasn’t done it’s just something that needs to be agreed upon before Final approval. Right now, Staff recommends for Preliminary approval of the A+ U Pull it, Inc, Automobile Recycling Large Scale Development with conditions. I just received the newest plans; I haven’t had time to review them, so some of this may already be completed. We do have a list of some of the things they can expect at Final LSD, but those don’t apply right now because they’ve mostly completed everything they need for Preliminary.”

Henry commented, “I am here with the applicant as well. The only thing I would really like to add is that we have been in touch with the City of Lincoln. The applicant has met with personnel there and he has met with the Judge and discussed the matter, too. I believe that the Mayor (Rob Hulse) and the Public Works Director (Chuck Wood) of Lincoln have positive take on this as well. We haven’t really encountered any resistance there.”

Laney asked, “I noticed the screening what’s anticipated, I didn’t see it drawn in on the plan? What are you anticipating for screening or buffer?” Henry replied, “Solid panel metal fence.”

McNair stated, “Robyn Reed will have to approve the metal fence, too, as part of the automobile junkyard.”

Brian Franzen, (Evangelists for Christ, Inc.) adjacent property owner to the northeast at 17088 and 17130 West Highway 62, commented, “My wife (Gail Franzen) and I have been residents adjacent to that property for 37 or 38 years. We are definitely opposed to this project. We want to go on record as being completely opposed to it. I would think that as much diligence is put into locating a landfill that the same thing would be done for a salvage yard. It used to be a salvage yard there and it has just been recently cleaned up. Just past that area is a very scenic area. Most of you have driven by there and seen the bluffs and probably seen wildlife. We just don’t want to see it come there.”

Gary Belew, adjacent property owner to the southeast at 17247 and 17253 West Highway 62, stated, “My wife Ginger and I live across the street from this. It has been cleaned up in the last few years. There is enough junk up and down that highway going into Lincoln that I am definitely opposed to a salvage yard being there and not just for the fact of the ugliness of it, but mainly the environmental. When I see the name U Pull It, that to me sounds like unprofessional people out there that are going to be pulling parts off of a vehicle and spilling environmental pollutants; grease, gasoline, transmission fluid, and when it rains like we’ve had it runs right down and underneath that highway and down the slope behind our house going straight to Bob Kidd Lake. The environmental factor let alone the ugliness of the salvage yard I can realize there is a need for that, but I don’t believe it needs to be in that particular spot 17 acres of junked vehicles with tire choppers people pulling equipment off of vehicles. I’m just definitely opposed to this project and I appreciate the Board member excusing himself.”

Haley asked, “What if this operation is not successful they leave the country, what happens to this property?” Juliet Richey, Washington County Planning Director, asked, “You mean like environmental wise?” Haley replied, “Yes.”

Robyn Reed, Washington County Environmental Affairs Director, commented, “If it was left, I think that would be more of a question for George Butler, Washington County Attorney. I don’t know if there are instances where the County would come in and clean it up and try to recover our cost. Now, if this is abandoned or it is junked up we would contact the owners and require them to clean it up.”

Richey stated, “You’re saying if there is nobody to clean it up. It’s not going to be allowed to open until they meet the screening requirements. There are certain environmental rules that ADEQ (Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality) requires about draining fluids out of cars for salvage purposes and things like that. There’s a whole gamut of things that they have to adhere to and probably the owner or his engineer can tell you more about that.”

Laney commented, “I was wanting to get an understanding of the sort of cascading regulatory situation so if you all can help educate us. I know it is never quite simple, there are probably three or four agencies involved and I know that these neighbors would like to know that for sure.”

Hopper, stated, “I am the owner of Sonny’s Auto Salvage in Jacksonville, Arkansas and also the owner of Four Square Properties which is proposing this site here. I am the past President of the Arkansas Dismantlers Association. We worked hand in hand with ADEQ and we also work hand in hand with the legislature part for the State of Arkansas and the Senate. We’ve had bills passed through to help our industry and we work hand in hand with them. ADEQ has done workshops at Sonny’s Auto Salvage to help train other dismantlers how to do things in a professional manner. Before we proposed this the first thing I did was went to the City of Lincoln and showed them a presentation of my current salvage yard and asked the Mayor (Rob Hulse) and Chuck Wood (Public Works Director) if they would like to have something of this type in their community. We have a very professional fence, we have drainage systems, storage tanks, we do everything very professionally and they both said that they would be excited about having this in their community because of the cash flow and the tax base that this would show and the professional way that my current business is being run and all of the things that I had from the local Fire Department, letters from ADEQ, we have Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, water runoff, we do yearly samples of water runoff which is sent in to ADEQ we have to do that on a yearly basis if any of those fail they come and shut the doors and figure out where the water is being contaminated we currently do that. We also quarterly have a consultant that is a former employee for ADEQ that comes in and analysis the business on a quarterly basis and gives us approval and writes notes on things that we need to be doing or we need to improve on. We do that and then we put them in file. ADEQ is scheduled to come to my current business next month for a review of all of this information. So we are very strictly under the eye of ADEQ all the time we work hand in hand with ADEQ. We also did this same presentation after we got approval from the City of Lincoln we went to the County Judge, Jerry Hunton, and Juliet attended that meeting, she was nice enough to come to that meeting, and we showed him the slideshows of our current yard we showed him Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, we showed where we have people that are certified to come and pick up the oil and things of that nature so that everything is disposed of properly. I also showed them pictures of our tire cutter to where there are only two salvage yards in the State that has this cutter that cuts tires into four pieces and you can throw them in your dumpster and Waste Management comes and picks them up and they go in a landfill and they pose no problem neither fire or mosquitoes. The County Judge told us that as long as we ran this business the way that we currently run the one that we are. The Judge lives right up the road he said that he would be keeping an eye on us because he would drive right by everyday as long as we ran it as professionally as we did our current yard that he would be approved of it and wished us luck on it also. So, after that point we proceeded to come up to this point, but we’ve been trying to inform everyone. I met with a lot of the neighbors, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to meet with these people to show them my presentation and let them know. I’ve seen pictures of what this property looked like with the previous owner, if I’d seen that I would be scared of someone coming onto that property also if I thought that they might be doing it in the current way. We’ve tried very hard to inform everyone of what we are doing and be subject to all laws and do everything the way we’re supposed to.”

West asked, “If I remember right that is on a slope there, is the fence going to be tall enough to actually cover that because the yard there before was very noticeable?”

Hopper replied, “Right, yes it will be. Now, if you are coming from Fayetteville to the property the first part of the property you see is a bluff. Half of the property is so high that you can’t even see the first half from the highway, but the last half is the part that you can see up into the property. We’ll have a 10’ fence we will back the fence up far enough to conceal the cars. There is a proposed parking lot for the customers to the left there will be no storage cars and the fence will be backed up far enough to conceal anything. The fence is backed up from the highway and from the fence forward there will be nothing stored in front of that fence forward there. Where the cars will be is about where you can start seeing it from the highway we’ll have a very tall fence in that area. We will have the cars that we will pull parts off of completely concealed from the highway. They were talking about fluids running out of them there is a process that these cars when they come into the yard they’ll come through a process where all fluids will be removed from these cars; windshield washer fluid, brake fluid, gasoline, all fluids will be removed from these cars. Tires will be removed from them. They will be drained before they are placed on the yard for anybody to touch them, so they will be completely bone-dry before anybody lays a hand on these cars.”

Laney asked, “The operating hours, what do you anticipate, if I was a neighbor I would want to know that you weren’t there in the middle of the night chopping tires?” Hopper replied, “Oh no, it will be like 8:00 – 5:30 Monday through Saturday.”

Laney commented, “This is a Preliminary approval, so with that general direction then very specific if you haven’t seen the presentation that he’s (Hopper) got should it pass you’ll see a very detailed before it gets Final approval, I just wanted you to know about the process the way it works.”

Walker stated, “I’m thinking about who to ask if something happens and you leave your project. Does the County require a bond or anything to cover cleanup?” McNair replied, “No, the only thing that the County does bonds for is roads. They don’ t have to construct any public roads in this instance.”

Reed commented, “We do have a process we passed a law to cleanup any kind of a property. That it falls under that general rule that if you have a trashy place that the County can clean it up and send you the bill.”

Hopper commented, “There is a cradle to grave responsibility from whoever creates the mess. We’ll be responsible for anything we do from the beginning to the end, we’ll be totally responsible for it.”

Laney asked, “Does ADEQ require any bonding from you all?” Hopper replied, “No sir.”

Ginger Belew, adjacent property owner to the southeast at 17247 and 17253 West Highway 62, stated, “I do agree with my husband’s concerns on the environmental issues. We have a lot of wildlife in that area. The one thing I know that we will be getting more information concerning the meeting in Lincoln with the City Council because we have not seen that or know anything of that. That property can be seen when you’re coming from Canehill, which is Highway 45 if you were to go south on Highway 45 plus there is a very definite highway, that is a very dangerous intersection there. Being living on Highway 62 I know that personally we’ve been there for a long time. One thing that I want to bring to your attention is that I actually contacted Washington County about a property that is down the hill from us which the water runs into Bob Kidd Lake and it is gated, but the person that owns the 10 acres, you can’t see it very well in the Summer because of the woods, but it is so close to the culvert and the water that flows to this public recreation area. I talked to a young man at Washington County concerning this health issue and he said that because it is a State Highway that it had to be dealt with on a State level that there was nothing that they could do here. He was very aware of it and there are empty trailers and there are a lot of heavy metals on this 10 acres and it is just a junkyard. I don’t know that anybody lives there; we see the gate open sometimes, there seems to be a ‘For Sale’ sign although it has not been cleaned up. I did contact the State a couple of years ago and nothing has been done, that is something that’s a real concern. That is down from this property where the water does run, so I don’t know if that is something like you’re talking about cleanup and does the County have responsibilities in bonding and all of that, I think it is very important to find that out before it does become an issue or go any further because it is hard to deal with the State level much harder than the County.”

Reed commented, “I can clarify the screening that we are going to require. The ordinance requires that the screening be uniform in color and height. All the junk has to be completely screened from road view, which would be Highway 45 view. I understand that they are putting a10’ fence up; so it’s not a set height it’s just a height that’s tall enough to screen it from the view. We don’t allow chicken house metal anymore because I know that has been used a lot in the past.”

Margaret McDaniel, (Evangelists for Christ, Inc.) adjacent property owner to the northeast at 17122 and 17124 West Highway 62, stated, “I believe my husband (Rodney McDaniel) wrote you a letter (Attachment A). As far as the fence goes it wouldn’t matter how high it was because we are up high. We can see over any fence if it was 20’ high I think we can still see over. Especially when you are coming from Highway 45. To me it is such a sad situation that Arkansas has so many of these dumpy places. I don’t care how clean you all will keep it. I know if I asked each one of you (Board members) do you want to live next to a salvage yard; you would say, ‘No.’ I just hate to see a scenic road like this just destroyed for no reason. Plus, our property value going down. Who is going to buy property next to a junkyard? It has always been a junkyard from 1970, that’s when we moved there, it’s been a junkyard the entire time except for the last two or three years when it was cleaned up. I thought it would be a wonderful place for pasture – cows anything but a junkyard.”

Laney commented, “We will conclude our public comment. I think it is important to note the zoning requirement this is an unzoned area of the County. As Mrs. McDaniel said no I wouldn’t want a junkyard next to me, but I don’t have any authority to deny it if it is done within the rules, I can’t make up the rules as we go and nobody on this Board can. You’re right I don’t think that any of us would want one next to us, but if you’re in an unzoned area this is the problem we faced on a regular basis. We do have some zoning except for these corridors, which I think is being discussed, but that’s not going to help you all. I also suggest I assume that Mr. Hopper is a businessman that wants to be accepted in the community and if you meet with him and want a tree in front of the screen, but I understand what you are saying if you are up above you will have to put a roof over it not to be able to see it and that is not feasible, so it’s not going to be a dome, I’m sure of that.”

Walker asked, “This is an unzoned area?” Laney replied, “Yes, the corridor all the way between the City of Lincoln all the way to Farmington is unzoned.”

McNair stated, “Now Prairie Grove and Farmington touch, but in between Prairie Grove and Lincoln is unzoned.” Laney commented, “Just not in either city.” McNair stated, “Yes, that was decided because of these areas tended to be in more transition towards commercial than the residential (and agricultural) feel of the rest of the County. Right now, Juliet and Seth Fleming, intern, have been working really hard to get an inventory so that we can take this to the Quorum Court and start discussing maybe what these zones should be.”

Walker asked, “Who has authority over it, anybody?” Laney replied, “It is like what the County used to be, we had no zoning in the County. We’re back to the old Wild West on this one.” Walker asked, “Because it is in that corridor.” Laney replied, “Yes.” Walker asked, “It is excluded from the zoning?” Laney replied, “Yes.” Walker asked, “So, neither city has any…?” Laney replied, “Lincoln doesn’t do Large Scale, so that’s why it is here.” Walker asked, “We can’t go by our Conditional Use criteria for this piece of property than right?” McNair replied, “No, you have to just go off of the Large Scale ordinances that we have and based on the Large Scale ordinances this is what they haven’t completed that needs to be done for Preliminary are the conditions that I have listed. There are several things before Final that need to be done, but still can’t do it on an objective.” Walker asked, “If we approve the Preliminary and zoning in the corridors happen, grandfather in?” Laney replied, “It would be exempt.”

Richey commented, “In the past the Quorum Court has exempted anything that had Preliminary approval, that is where they drew the line. If they hold the same rule then they will probably do the same thing. It’s probably going to be six months or so till we get that zoning done because we’re trying to look critically at these corridors and make good decisions because we feel like some commercial should be allowed in them while some should require a Conditional Use. We’re moving as fast as we can, it just takes time.”

Gary Head moved to approve A+ U Pull it, Inc, Automobile Recycling LSD Preliminary LSD Plan subject to Staff comments. Kenley Haley seconded. Larry Walker and Cheryl West voted against it.

Walker stated, “I’m going to vote against it and mainly because I mean the lady (Margaret McDaniel) is right, would I want it next to my place? What does it do to my property value? It is different to me then the Greenland (Northwest Arkansas Auto Auction) car deal. That to me doesn’t devalue your property and that is in a commercial type area. I just don’t have a good feeling about it. My problem is in ten years from now and we’ve all seen auto salvage yards, I’m not going to call them junkyards because there is a place for auto salvage yards. If something happens to this and I see it becoming a burden on both the landowners around it and also the County. If there was a bond required for someone to put up some money for this to be cleaned up; then I wouldn’t have as big as a problem with it. Right now, I have a problem with just okaying this with no cleanup guarantee.”

Laney commented, “We’re in the same spot we were on the mining if you recall. We voted against that and then it was pointed out that we didn’t really have any grounds to vote against it, so morally I understand where you are coming from.”

Walker stated, “I got to vote morally. If they want to go to the Judge and let the Judge override it then that’s what’s it going to have to be on my part.”

West commented, “I’m going to have to stand with Larry because in my mind the way it looked before and I think in any direction you come you’re going to see it and I would not want that in my neighborhood, I’m sorry.”

Haley stated, “I agree with both of them, but I don’t think that we have a choice, we’ve been down the road before.”

West commented, “We’ve been down the road and I’m like Larry though you got to stand with what you believe. I think there is too much gray area in this.”

Randy Laney, Gary West, and Haley Kenley were in favor of approving A+ U Pull it, Inc, Automobile Recycling LSD and Larry Walker and Cheryl West were opposed. Robert Daugherty abstained. Motion passes.

d. West Evangeline Tower Extension to 190’ (Major Modification to an existing Communications Tower Request)

Owner/Developer: Brenda (Hathorn) McCamey / Smith Communications, LLC – Dave Reynolds

Project #: 2008-075 Planner: Juliet Richey, e-mail at jrichey@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Major Modification of an existing approved communications tower. The tower is currently 150’ in height, requesting to be expanded to 190’ in height.

CURRENT ZONING: Project does lie within the County zoned area (Agriculture/Single-Family Residential 1 unit per acre). This portion of the property currently has a CUP allowing a 150’ monopole communications tower.

Item E on the current agenda requests a CUP to increase the height to 190’. If this passes, then the zoning will be compliant for this tower request.

PLANNING AREA: This project is located in the City of Tontitown’s Planning Area. Documents were sent to Tontitown for review. Tontitown had no adverse comments regarding the placement of a cell tower in this area at the February CUP hearing, and as per an email sent to us on April 17, 2008, they have no issue with an extension in tower height.

The construction of the 150’ existing monopole communications tower on this site was approved administratively on March 28, 2008.

According to Washington County Communications Tower regulations, a tower may be administratively approved if there are no residences within 400’ plus the height of the tower. As the tower was originally proposed to be 150’ in height, and the closest residences were 550’ and 551’, the tower application was approved administratively through the Planning Office.

AT&T and Smith 2-way Radio have now requested to raise the height of the tower to 190’ (Please see letters on pg E-10 and E-11). They need the additional height to accommodate new cell technology that they were not using in 2006 when the initial site study was completed.

According to our regulations, if you cause an existing tower to… increase in height more than twenty-four (24) feet for towers at two hundred fifty (250) feet or less in height … then this is considered a “major modification” to the tower, and must be reviewed through the regular tower review.

Because there are residences with 400’ plus the of the NEW proposed height of the tower, then the major modification no longer qualifies for administrative review and is before you as a board for approval.

The tower (with the new height added) still meets the minimum standards set by the County for setback from public roads (requirement: 20’ plus the height of the tower) and surrounding residences (requirement: no residences with 150% of the height of the tower from the base of the tower).

Also, all property owners within 300’ of the parcels on which the tower lies have been notified of the expansion and the public hearing.

Staff recommends approval of the major modification to the existing tower with the following conditions:

· Adhere to all conditions and requirements laid out in the approved Conditional Use Permit

· The monopole is not expandable past 190’ in height without an additional Conditional Use Permits

· Each antenna should be permitted as per County ordinance (usually this is an administrative process)

· All recommendations and plans provided with this application in reference to the tower and foundation must be adhered to

· The tower shall be maintained and operated in accordance with all County regulations as per Chapter 11, Article 13 of the Washington County Code of Ordinances.

· The applicant should provide another copy of the plat to staff for stamping and approval. Plat should indicate new height.

Gary Head moved to approve West Evangeline Tower Extension to 190’ with conditions. Larry walker seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of approving West Evangeline Tower Extension to 190’ Conditional Use Permit and tower modification.

(Item E approved first (Conditional Use Permit), Item D (Major Modification to an existing Communications Tower Request) approved next).

e. West Evangeline Tower Extension to 190’ CUP (Conditional Use Permit Request)

Project #: 2008-075 Planner: Juliet Richey, e-mail at jrichey@co.washington.ar.us

REQUEST: Conditional Use Permit Approval for West Evangeline Tower Expansion CUP, previously approved February 13, 2008 as a 150ft monopole type cell tower capable of accommodating 3 Carriers and expandable to 5 carriers total in the future. The applicant is requesting that the tower height be extended to 190’. The proposed project is located on two parcels containing 37.1 acres with one existing cell tower.

Brenda (Hathorn) McCamey currently own the property. The proposed project has access off of WC #863 (Clearwater Road).

The current 150’ tower is located on a lease area on 37+ acres that is currently approved to allow the use of a 150’ monopole tower. The topography of the area is wooded and steep. The tower is setback 400’ from the County Road, and the closest residence is approximately 550’ from the tower site.

The top of the tower will be visible above the tree line to some extent. The applicant, Smith Communications, will be bringing a graphic representation of what this extension might look like to the meeting. A photograph of a monopole style tower is shown on pg E-23

There are two existing residences that are 550’ and 551’ away from the base of the tower. The tower manufacturer has included a letter addressing the nature in which a tower of this type (monopole) could fall if there was a structural failure, pg E-22. From the letter it appears, that there should be no health safety concerns regarding existing structures located in the area.

The applicant has also included letters from Smith 2-Way and AT&T regarding the reasoning for this height change. See pgs E-10 & 11.

Staff has received no negative comments from adjoining property owners at this time. Please see attached CUP Criteria Checklist for additional CUP info.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends Conditional Use Permit approval of the proposed West Evangeline Tower Expansion CUP with the following conditions being met.

2. Any other land divisions, commercial structures, or other types of uses not considered with this submittal must come through a separate CUP or review process with the County.

3. Must gain approval of major modification to an existing tower process and adhere to all Washington County Cell Tower Ordinance Standards (also must include structural statements for tower and foundation).

4. Must be a monopole type tower approximately 190’ (or less) in height. No antennas attached later should extend to the height where lighting is needed or required on the tower or antennas.

INFRASTRUCTURE: Water – Water service is not applicable for this project.

Other Utilities - The lot is in the service area of Ozark Electric and AT&T Telephone.

Randy Laney had another meeting arrangement and Robert Daugherty took over as Chairman.

Juliet Richey, Washington County Planning Director, stated, “First up we have a Conditional Use Permit request so this is a zoning request, and this is somewhat it’s subjective. This is a tower that the Board approved Conditional Use in February 13, 2008. It is on Clearwater Road (WC #863) out in the County off of Wheeler (WC #84). It is in the City of Tontitown’s Planning Area and we did ask them for comment and they said that they were fine with it. Basically, what they are asking for is an extension in height of 40’ to this tower; while the Board originally approved the Conditional Use Permit for 150’ tower. Basically, what happened was there was a study done for this site for a tower and cell coverage in this area in 2005 and 2006. Basically, they did that study based on the equipment that they were using at that time for cell phones which didn’t include a lot of data transfer like text messaging, e-mail, and internet that people do over their cell phones pretty frequently now. They went ahead and got this tower going and then once they constructed it they realized that nobody ever updated their files for tower height to include the type of instrumentation that they use for the data transfer. There are some letters from AT&T (included in your packets), which I’ve already read that uses a lot of technical jargon, but essentially the way that the signal propagates or spreads out is different than the regular cell phone signal and it needs to be higher in the air to work well because of all the foliage and the trees and the height and the elevation change in this area. They’ve come back asking to extend it 40’ taller than it is. It is still the same type of tower; a monopole. Even with the 40’ extension in height it’s not going to require that it be lit at night or during the day, which is something we get a lot of complaints about cell towers out in the County. It is going to be taller than it was; however, Staff feels that the tower is there anyway and we’re looking at trying to provide people in this area with service that they can use and that is going to be helpful for a few years to come and it is not going to be required to be lit. It’s basically just going to be taller and we feel like it is an acceptable use for the tower. Staff recommends for approval they must adhere to all previous Conditional Use Permit conditions that are not pertaining to the tower height and those include it only applies to this tower and this area that other people will need to be able to co-locate on it, so you don’t have additional towers in the area. If they want to do any other land divisions, commercial structures, or any type of uses not included with this they need to come back through. The next agenda item (Item D) they need to gain approval of the actual tower modification and they’ve submitted all of the structural studies and everything for that. It can’t be higher than 190’. Sometimes when the antennas are put on there, the antennas are going to stick up a little higher could be than the pole, but nothing can go to a height where it changes it to where lighting is needed or required which would be 200’. I don’t know if that is a FAA regulation. Once it hits 200’ then it has to be lit at night during the day, so we need to make sure that doesn’t happen because I feel like that could have some impact on people’s lives in the area.”

Reynolds commented, “This is kind of an embarrassing situation if you will. Smith 2 Radio will own the tower. What happened as Juliet described is this has been in our building plan since about 2005 to 2006 and we had done all of the engineering studies and things that were required at that time with the proper equipment and it’s been sitting in the file cabinet on the corner of my desk since then. December 2007 AT&T came to us and said, ‘We’d like to go ahead and start that project and do that.’ It’s been bumped out a couple of times now that area has grown enough where these services and the coverage is needed there. They came to us and said, ‘Go ahead and start.’ We did that with the plans that we had and with the criteria that we had sit and came and asked what we needed. Once we got everything done and started on it and told them what we were doing. They went back and they redid their work and realized that low and behold if we’re going to put UNPS technology out there which is the newest 3G technology. I’m sure everybody if you don’t have it you’ve seen a commercial for it and you know somebody that does have it. It lets you do the data and the texting and a lot of the video type services over your cell phone. To do that they went back and they redid their studies and they said that they needed to be about 40’ higher to cover the area with the same intensity in the same area that they were going to need at 150’ with the previous GSM technology. The tower was designed eventually to be extended in the hopes that someday somebody besides AT&T needed that tower site. We originally designed it and built the foundations for it. We built it to be extended to 190’ and that was designed and engineered into everything. We had no idea that we would be here this fast. They do need it, basically, what this does is requires us to add another 40’ section on the top of the tower. It doesn’t need to be lit. It won’t disturb any more ground or anything like that. We’ve been to the State Historical Society and gave FAA and everyone else all the Federal permits that we need. All of that came back with no effect and they approved all our new permits. I wanted to tell you this story and how it happened and why we’re back this soon. It will still provide co-location space for other tenants if they come. They won’t have as good service possibly as AT&T, but they should have been there first.”

Gwendolyn Mattice, adjacent property owner to the north at 17886 Clearwater Road, stated, “I live in the property just next to where the tower is it would be just north of there. I’m not really opposed to a tower there. I just think that this technology that has been around for quite awhile. I was wondering if it came to originally say I noticed that it was approved for the 150’ tower was approved in March (February 13, 2008) of this year I am wondering why this height extension was not applied for as 190’ originally and if that would have passed through the Board normally under the Conditional Use project. I didn’t mind 150’ it does stick up over the trees and when I saw that there was 190’, I was like okay something else is coming on, when is it going to go over the 200’? I’m really glad to hear that it’s not going to have lights on it because that would shine right down where we are. We are about 550’ away and the two years ago when the surveyors came and ran across our house when they were surveying that was the first time that we learned that a cell tower might be going in, I think that was about a year and a half or two years ago that they came through surveying. I’m just surprised that they didn’t have a request for 190’ tower originally and I would just rather not see it go up that high, but I just wanted to make my thoughts and concerns known.”

Daugherty asked, “When the proponent was explaining why they are asking for the additional 40’ did you understand why that is?” Mattice replied, “Yes, that the new technology, it seems like that new technology has been here for quite awhile and that they should have originally asked for 190’ tower or made an addition or requested from you before your approval of 150’ and no higher to go to 190’.”

Daugherty commented, “I think that some of that technology has just become available lately, but they can address that better than I, of course, but I think that is the reason for the extension request.”

Richey stated, “The knowledge wasn’t presented to Staff at least until after we completed the approval. I talked to your husband (John Mattice) a little bit the other day and I told him I don’t know how to measure whether someone has done something in good faith or bad faith. We have had several Cingular towers before that switched over to AT&T and we’ve never had this issue with them before so it’s not something that they have done in the past. I don’t know how we would ever know; all I know is the way that things are presented to us. I understand what you are saying. They’ve actually had to go through double processes this way and from a Staff’s point of view I think that anything under that 200’ that we’ve probably would have recommended for the Conditional Use Permit because lighting like I said is something that we get a big complaint about in the County and I think it does start to impact people’s livelihood to have those lights on all the time. I don’t think it would have changed in Staff’s perspective, but I can’t speak for the Board, so I hope that helps.”

Gary Head moved to approve West Evangeline Tower Extension to 190’ with conditions. Larry walker seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of approving West Evangeline Tower Extension to 190’ Conditional Use Permit and tower modification.

(Item E approved first (Conditional Use Permit), Item D (Major Modification to an existing Communications Tower Request) approved next).

Richey stated, “We didn’t have time to get that out to the Board. I can e-mail it to you if you like.”

Richey stated, “As far as I know they are still waiting for a response from the developer and they haven’t gotten that, so there is no Court hearing or anything set.”

Richey stated, “The annexation was approved by the County and it is up for approval by Greenland I think next week. They just said that they are going to wait and see how that went.”

Head commented, “It really won’t matter because the guys left, just so you know.”

Richey stated, “We talked about this a little earlier, the progress of the corridor zoning discussion. I am sorry that is not done yet. We’re trying to do it as fast as we can. The Quorum Court has made several requests, which I think are reasonable, they want to see, basically, a broken down inventory of what is going on in those areas because they are a mixed residential and commercial. I think what we are looking at doing right now is we’ve gone out in each of those corridors we’re looking at what is on each lot whether it is residential and if it is commercial we are writing down the type of business and I think that the way that we are going to present it to the Court and you can tell me what you think about this, there is going to be residential and then we’re going to break it into two categories of commercial that is existing, light commercial and heavy commercial. Auto salvage would be something that is heavy commercial, where as light commercial is going to be like June’s Hair Shop, etc. Probably mini storage and automobile intensive uses are going to be in the heavy commercial. Probably what we are going to do is say (what I think right now) that I think that we will residential single-family and we haven’t really discussed multi-family at all whether that is something that they want allowed by right in those corridors like apartments and duplexes and then probably lighter commercial would be allowed by right. Things like salvage yards, mini storages, and things like that would probably require some sort of Conditional Use.”

Haley asked, “Juliet, my only suggestion, and I don’t even know if this is feasible, but on like the auto salvage I think my concern, obliviously, and several others would be not only the neighbors, but when you have that right along a highway is there any way that that can be setback? Obviously, the business is not dependent on a traffic flow and I don’t know if that is possible or not.” Richey replied, “Things like that could be addressed in a Conditional Use and we could make standards for that certain type of use that would have to be pushed back. I think you are right, I think you could have signage by the road, but there is no need for your cars to be stored.”

West commented, “It looked like the fence was going to be just right there.”

Haley stated, “We’ve all seen it. If it is off and protected by forest or trees it would be less intrusive to a highway.”

Walker commented, “It’s always going to be somebody’s land, it doesn’t matter where it is at.

Walker asked, “If that had been zoned how would your office and we were hearing it for a Conditional Use.” Richey replied, “I don’t scrutinize it on the same level that we do if it is zoned. We don’t even look at the surrounding uses and uses within a half mile, we don’t even look at any of that at Large Scale because it is not something that we can consider. I don’t go through that same process so I couldn’t tell you that really.”

Head commented, “In my opinion, in this case, was that has been a junkyard since 1970 and they bought property there after the junkyard, so this is a lot better then what it has been or what it could be tomorrow morning since there is no zoning there. At this point they at least know exactly what’s going to be there and this guy is going to be held accountable to a little higher standards. I was in the same truck with the rest of the Board when we voted no on the guy getting run out business with his poultry business with blasting caps going off next door. I know we sort of lost that, but I don’t think those guys have built anything there either. I don’t think that they are ever going to get right-of-way from the neighbors to build a road in there like they have to, to get in there, so some things like that work out for the best.”

Walker stated, “This is a tough deal because you know your property values are going down.”

Head commented, “I don’t agree with that because those property values in my opinion haven’t changed when they lived next door to a junkyard in the first place, but that is a commercial thoroughfare. They are living on a commercial piece of property. The best use long term probably for somebody in this room’s grandchildren will be commercial not for residential. I don’t think it hurts their values; that’s my opinion. Their value is no different as a junkyard; it is better as an auto salvage with screening and some regulations.”

Daugherty stated, “Technically, there’s a lot more stuff around them that needs to be cleaned up on both sides, I mean it really does. I hate that for them, but in one sense time and money will take care of it.”

Head commented, “Value of the property will eventually take care of it because it will be worth more to be fixed up then it is what it is now. Interestingly, those old cars and all that junk steel are worth so much money right now. There are guys driving all over the country with stuff picking that up and buying it. Hopefully, that’s going to clean up a bunch of this stuff in the County that’s sitting on lots.”

Daugherty stated, “In fact, they are stealing it now. If you’ve got good scrap you better build a fence around it because it’s going to be stolen. I’ve had something stolen.”

Haley commented, “All that said I think all of us are very protective of Washington County and how it looks and the flavor of it; so whatever we can do to make that better. It’s a tough process.”

Daugherty stated, “You need the businesses, you need the tax base, but it is hard to blend it all in with the beautification part of it, too, so there is a real balancing act there.”

Richey commented, “Seriously, that is one of the reasons those corridors were left like that because it is a complicated issue and you don’t want to eliminate all those types of commercial development.”

Walker stated, “I thought when they were left the cities would have control over them.” Richey commented, “The cities can’t do anything.”

Haley commented, “If I remember correctly, too, this is years ago one of the reasons, too, that they were left unzoned the people in those areas were very vocal that they didn’t want it zoned. I was very involved in that.”

Head stated, “You should have been on the Planning Commission then. We had a meeting at Greenland School and I didn’t think that it was real safe to be leaving. The problem is people who don’t want zoning don’t understand that they need it worse than anything because that is the only thing that protects them. You can’t tell someone that that thinks rules mean that you’re telling them what they got to do to their property and that’s not exactly true.”

Richey stated, “Temporary uses, we talked about this last time, it has been approved. If you want to do the camping four times a year fifteen days at a time all that, it’s not regulated. That passed through Quorum Court last time. Fireworks stands, Washington County Fire Marshal, John Jenkins, got a new checklist passed for that that allows him to go around and check things more easily and for those to be registered, which is probably a good thing.”

Richey commented, “I wanted to let you know that the floodplain maps in the County are changing and they will be effective May 16. We just found out from FEMA a couple of weeks ago that we were under the impression that if you had say been in an area that did not have floodplain before and you built your house there and then FEMA then put you in floodplain that you could still come in at the zone that they call zone X, which is outside the 100 year floodplain, you can still come in at that rate and be grandfathered into that zone because your structure was built then. Like everything, it’s not as simple as it seems and that’s only relevant if your structure was built after 1991, which is because that is the year that Washington County joined the flood program. If you have a structure that was built before 1991 and you weren’t in the floodplain before and you are now, but unless you buy flood insurance before these maps take effect on May 16 then you can’t get the lower zoned rate. We just found this out and I was not aware of this. We have spent the last three weeks, all the girls in our office, we’ve gone through all the whole unincorporated part of the County and tried to pinpoint where all the structures are that are going to be in the floodplain and we’re sending everybody letters. I don’t know what to say, I hope that it helps people because we were flabbergasted, and if we had known before we would have sent these a year ago when we first got our Preliminary maps, but we didn’t know.”

Head stated, “I don’t know if everybody knows, but if you either refinance or you go to sell your property and the next person buys it, the bank requires flood insurance. It’s not like you can go ‘I don’t want any because I have been here 100 years and it’s never flooded’ that’s not an option. If you refinance it or you buy it to finance it then any financial institution will require that you buy flood insurance it is not an option for us we don’t get a choice. FEMA requires it we require it.”

Richey commented, “FEMA notifies no one. They requires us we ran an ad in the paper like a year ago that said that they’re changing, but at the time I figured, well, when you go to refinance you’ll find out, but you’ll still get come in at that old rate, but that’s not it. You have to know preemptively and purchase that insurance before it changes. We done our best to notify everybody we could, it’s really difficult to determine because before we had the paper maps and now it is digital and we tried to scan in our paper maps and make them overlay the best we could, so part of it is probably going to be erroneous. I’m sure there are some structures that we think weren’t before, but we’ve done the best we can and we’ve worked really hard to try to notify people and I don’t know if you’ll get calls from people or not. We sent them a long letter that tries to explain everything and then when they call back individually we can try to get them a close-up of their structure and where we think it is and we gave them a piece of paper to take to their insurance agent. Another problem with flood insurance is apparently insurance agents are kind of clueless on how it works it is a Federally backed program. A lot of times we tell people to go talk to their insurance agents anyway and their insurance agents say, ‘You can’t get flood insurance because you’re not in the floodplain,’ which all that is untrue, so we printed out like a part from the insurance code for these people to take to their insurance agent and say, ‘Yes, I can get it, here’s the grandfathered clause straight out of the code that you’re supposed to know,’ which I don’t know if some of them don’t or whatever.”

Daugherty asked, “They have till May 16?” Richey replied, “Yeah I know, they only have like two weeks. We started all of this last week and just Saturday I read in the Northwest Arkansas Times that Benton County went through all of this last year and there are a lot of people who are really upset now because they didn’t know that it had changed. Hopefully, we can avoid some of that in Washington County. I’m sure people are still going to be angry.”

Head stated, “If they do a really good job in the newspaper they’ll get you lots of phone calls.”

Richey commented, “All of these people should have gotten letters in the unincorporated areas, and this includes the cities, too. I don’t know what the cities have done; if they’ve notified anybody or not. We’re trying to get the word out and we’re trying to do the best we can with the maps that we have. A good piece of information is we had to look at all structures we looked at the Assessor’s database for structures, so it could be that they have a shed in the floodplain and that’s what got picked up. It’s so hard for us to tell from aerials whether it is a small house, big barn, or whatever. Any structure that showed up we sent them a letter. Don’t panic yet if you get a letter, maybe it’s your barn.”

Roll call was taken. Members present include: Randy Laney, Gary Head, and Kenley Haley. Absent: Robert Daugherty, Larry Walker, and Cheryl West. Quorum not present.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: (from the May 1, 2008 meeting) The May 1, 2008 minutes could not be approved since a quorum was not present.

Kenley Haley made a motion to approve the agenda. Randy Laney seconded. Laney stated, “In absence of a quorum I’m going to approve the agenda, make the approval stand.”

Juliet Richey, Washington County Planning Director, stated, “Our intern, Seth Fleming, went out and did an inventory of land use along the unzoned highway corridors and we presented this to the County Services Committee last week (May 27, 2008). I was wanting to go over it with the Board tonight and kind of tell you where we are headed and then just get some feedback from the Board about what you think about where we’re headed. I know that some of the Board members know certain parts of the County better than I do and would like to know if you have certain thoughts on certain parts of the County.”

Richey commented, “The first corridor we will look at is the Highway 62 between the City of Lincoln and the City of Prairie Grove. Right inside Lincoln is the Apple Orchards. Right outside Lincoln’s City limits there is a Used Car Lot (Owen Used Cars), Septic System Manufacturer (installation/pumping) (Moore Brothers Septic Systems, Inc.), and a lot of residential and agricultural. There is also, of course, the site we approved last month (May 1, 2008) for the Salvage Yard (A+ U Pull it, Inc, Automobile Recycling LSD).”

Laney asked, “Is LATCO Wood Truss out of the city? Right past the Apple Orchard the big industrial user.” Haley stated, “You go to the top of the hill and it flattens out.” Laney commented, “Between the junkyard proposed and the Apple Orchards.” Richey replied, “I know what you’re talking about. The one that makes trusses, etc. No, that is in the city.” Laney stated, “It is, so immediately after that must be the end of the city because that corner down there is out of the city. LATCO Wood Truss ought to be right across the highway and to the left a little bit from the Septic System Manufacturer.” Richey asked, “I thought it was right after the Apple Orchard. Is it not?” Laney replied, “It is, so is the Septic System Manufacturer.” Richey commented, “I meant on the other side.”

Richey asked, “The trusses is inside Lincoln, right?” Fleming replied, “I believe so. I believe it borders the Used Car Dealership (Owen Used Cars).”

Haley asked, “Juliet, let me make sure, because this is going into Lincoln, right?” Richey replied, “Yes.” Laney stated, “There is a big curve. It goes back south, Highway 62 goes west for a bit and then it curves back south and then you have the Apple Orchard. You’re not showing the curve back south that’s just that long straight stretch.” Richey commented, “Yes, it is in the City of Lincoln.”

Head asked, “They don’t have a Planning (area) outside of their City limits?” Richey replied, “They don’t look at Large Scale Developments, but they do look at subdivisions. In the middle part between the City of Lincoln and the City of Prairie Grove, basically, there is the Solid Waste District.” Laney asked, “It has no frontage or does it, it is not visible from the road?” Richey replied, “No, you just see the road going back in there.”

Richey stated, “The used car lot, septic system place, Solid Waste District and across from that is the propane place, a beer store, a small salvage yard, a flea market (that I think is now going out of business), a bait shop, and a body shop.”

Laney commented, “There is a vet by the body shop.” Richey stated, “We didn’t label everything on there just because it was getting too crowded. What we tried to do is kind of divide it up into what we just kind of thought of as light commercial and heavy commercial, and I’m sure we probably have different ideas on what is light and what’s not, but generally we labeled uses heavy industrial that if you live next to it, it would be a major impact on your life. Where as light commercial would be a use that might not have so much impact.”

Laney stated, “That Honkey Tonk by the beer store people would argue with you (on its use designation).” Richey commented, “I actually figured people would probably argue about the beer store itself.” Laney stated, “It’s a Honkey Tonk next to the beer store. The package store is there, but next to that is one of the oldest in kind of interesting reputation Honkey Tonk’s. I’ve seen a lot of blue lights there in my life.”

Richey commented, “As far as this corridor goes, you have quite a bit of commercial activity going on near the City of Prairie Grove and then you have some going on near the City of Lincoln and then there are some kind of wildcards in the middle with the Solid Waste District and the propane place and then everything else is just residential and agricultural. When it comes to zoning these corridors I’m not sure what the pleasure of the Court is going to be. I would kind of like to get some feedback from the Board, too. I think that over time this will be a corridor that develops more commercially just as things slowly grow, but I don’t know if in the interim what the Board thinks about giving protection to some of these people especially like in this area (middle of the corridor).”

Laney stated, “We just went through this humongous boom time and none of those uses you referred to, other than the brother’s building a better septic place, but other than that that is the only improvement other than the transfer station, which was a public thing. We just went through a boom time and nothing has happened there all of those buildings have been there for years, so when you say develop over a long period of time it’s going to be a real long time because it didn’t even develop in this last huge boom. I can’t see any rationale for not zoning it much like we have the rest of the County, myself, residential and agricultural. This particular corridor, now other corridors may have a different…but this one has just been… going down the list: flea market, the bait shop and there is a church next to the bait shop. There has been kind of that bait stuff there and a convenience store, which is next to the bait shop. The convenience store is about ten years old. There’s nothing there that is new. The idea that it is a developing corridor is …”

Richey asked, “So, do you think that we should make all commercial uses though in this area to be Conditional Use? What about where you have like a piece of agricultural land between these two kind of commercial uses? Do you think that we should keep that as well, because what we have been talking about is maybe doing residential and agricultural by right and then maybe allowing some forms of commercial by right and making heavier ones Conditional Use.” Laney replied, “I understand the theory, but if you go look at the flea market it has no walls and its not winter tight, its just a shed that sells stuff around it. That bait shop you walk in it and its barely airtight. You think of commercial there’s very little real commercial. That one Store is a pretty nice building and it will be there for awhile, and the Shamrock has been there forever, and the little salvage place next to it has been there forever. I know what you’re saying if there was more of it; I just don’t see it out there. Maybe I’m missing something.” Richey commented, “No, I don’t think so and that’s one thing that I wanted to get from the Board.”

Laney asked, “If we went with the same rules that we have now which is residential and agricultural come see us if you got a different use. People, if they’re smart, just buy things on a contract that said Conditional zoning and come in here. What feedback did you get back from the Service Committee?” Richey replied, “We didn’t really get a lot of feedback from the Services Committee. They basically just want me to come with a recommendation to them.” Laney asked, “Does the issue of having an unzoned slice even an issue?” Richey replied, “No, they do have an opinion on that and the opinion is that does not need to be unzoned. Actually, it seems like the prevailing opinion is not only should that not be unzoned, but that these possibly should have been zoned before anything else. I understand that rationale; it was just at the time we were doing it, this was the best way to do it. I think there is definitely support for zoning, but I didn’t really get any direction at all from them.”

Laney asked, “What other possibilities would there be?” Richey replied, “You can zone for limited commercial and make other uses Conditional Use, but maybe in this corridor it is not appropriate. One thing that we discussed and we’ll talk about as we go through these is that none of these corridors are alike at all. We left them all out because they were major highway corridors with potential for commercial growth, but they are not at all alike, so I don’t think that any of them need to be treated exactly the same.”

Laney asked, “What are limited commercial uses?” Richey replied, “You could say will allow flea markets and convenience stores. Basically, you would list the uses that would be allowed by right and then everything else would be Conditional Use and to me you would have to list specific uses, which is what a lot of zoning ordinances do anyway.”

Laney stated, “Some of it is for uses and some of it is often for visual preservations and etc. If we would have had our existing zoning there (in the corridor), when the situation that came up the other night (A+ Salvage Yard), they would have came in asking for Conditional Use, and therefore, our ability to grant that (use) with a lot more limitations and we would have had more options than our existing situation.” Richey asked, “Yes, the County Services Committee told me; we talked about this and I said there are areas even within here that could be zoned limited commercial and then areas that should just be left like the rest of the county residential and agricultural only by right. Actually, what they told me to do was pinpoint those areas and bring them back to them with a recommendation. I guess what I am asking the Board for is that I would like to get some feedback from the Board because you know the areas. So, you think that this area should be residential and agricultural by right and everything else is a Conditional Use?” Head replied, “I think that it is going to develop commercially in the long run. What’s the long run? I don’t know. What I honestly believe is before we ever have to deal with it, the City of Lincoln is going to end up having to get in the Planning business.” Laney commented, “Somebody will annex it and it will be closed off (to us).”

Head stated, “Honestly, I think that we’re being put in the situation of having to plan for the City of Lincoln when we need to try to initiate some things in Lincoln where those guys start thinking about ‘Hey, how do we want our City to look when you come in on the main thoroughfare?’ I think that we’re being put in a tough situation; frankly, there’s not that much room between the City of Lincoln and the City of Prairie Grove. Eventually, I think somewhere in the middle Prairie Grove ought to take some responsibility and plan their half and I think that Lincoln ought to plan their half, but if I were Lincoln and that is the major way in, I would want to design what I wanted to present as my entrance into my city. If it were me, and I don’t know if there are some people in Lincoln that have been thinking about doing, I don’t know where they are as far as the City’s concern, but, my goodness, that’s how everybody is going to be going to Lincoln for the rest of our lives and for gosh sakes if I were in Lincoln I would want to control that. How do we want our (Lincoln’s) entrance to look?”

Laney commented, “I think that Gary makes a good point that if we brought it into the rest of the zoning and the Cities decide to expand and do annexation out through there. Back to the point about how long will it be before it develops, probably if we just zone it like the rest of the County that would go until it does develop, which is when it means tax base which means that’s when the City wants it; that’s kind of how it goes.”

Head asked, “We brought everything into the County that was zoned A1 or R1?” Richey replied, “Yes, agricultural or single-family one unit per acre.” Head stated, “I would do that here. Understand, if anything, I would strongly encourage both of those cities (Lincoln and Prairie Grove) to consider that land between the two of them how they want it developed.” Richey commented, “Lincoln has a Land Use Plan and it is reflected on the map, and it is pretty old (I think) and actually that maybe something that we want to try to do with this zoning or at least approach them about it; maybe you don’t have the time or the resources to update your whole Land Use Plan, but maybe you should really think about this area because their Future Land Use Plan is something that we consider when we do a Conditional Use Permit request and if they have something that really reflects what they actually want to do that’s not just a document that somebody cobbled together ten years ago. I don’t remember when Lincoln’s was done, but that’s what some of them (some of the cities’) tend to be. If they were updated then it would make a lot more sense.”

Laney stated, “That’s what I think about this corridor.” Haley commented, “Just do something.”

Richey stated, “Old Highway 71 between the City of Greenland and the City of West Fork you have the river, some old storage units, a lot of floodplain, and a lot of agricultural land. The floodplain takes up quite a bit of it. I assume the old storage units that at some point they’re going to be torn down and to me that don’t really reflect anything else that is kind of going on there.” Laney commented, “That doesn’t scream out for much more than the other one in my view because I know those businesses are pretty much just little lean-to’s or little metal buildings that somebody has put up and the use hasn’t changed over time.” Head stated, “I think that you have a use by right by whatever you’re using today and if you bring it all in the same we’ll hear a lot less conversation about why did you decide to make commercial next to my house?” Laney commented, “Nothing here screams out other than the old salvage yard. Those neighbors and that salvage yard have coexisted for …”

Head stated, “There is no way that I-540 corridor is not going eventually be commercial. To take that fight on today when you’ve got one city we’ve already seen trying to shut down everything they need to go plan what they can control themselves. If they leave it up to us, I think that our interpretation probably is going to be maybe different for a different reason, but the fact is this that these cities that aren’t controlling their ingress / egress to their cities, in my opinion, they should strongly consider that.”

Laney commented, “In the prospects of Greenland developing commercially on old 71B or industrial that is probably pretty remote, so I would say take it in like everything. That floodplain is going to stay agricultural for some time. Commercial of West Fork kind of stops at the top of the hill, which is in their city. I would say bring it in like the Highway 62 corridor.”

Richey asked, “Do you have any thoughts on whether or not we should consider allowing more dense residential by right along these corridors? The reason that I say that is because they are next to major highways and usually they have a lot better utility infrastructure and things like that, it is just something that I have been thinking about and whether that’s relevant and maybe not right here, I don’t know if it is relevant right here, but something to think about as we go through. Do we want to create a place where we encourage people if they want to do smaller lots then here? I’m not saying make them really small, maybe third of an acre.”

Laney stated, “I’d love to see incentives to create more concentrated neighborhoods, thereby, preserving greenspace, but I’d think that you’d want a more wholelistic approach and not just single out…” Richey commented, “like straight-line corridors.” Laney stated, “Gary is starting to think about values of properties and you would be creating kind of a windfall if you just selectively did it on corridors. Corridors that maybe other spots, I don’t know how you would do that. I do like the idea of providing a place for more dense residential development in the County.”

Richey commented, “I wonder if it would be more appropriate, like you said, not just like a long corridor, but closer into some of the cities like maybe after we finish this corridor zoning maybe that is something that we can do is try to pinpoint areas where it makes sense where there is existing sewer all those different things that is adjacent to…” Laney stated, “Even if it is not existing, but you point closer to where the edge of the cities to keep the density theory is already relatively dense encourage to further development around those already dense areas, even if they have to extend the waterline and I don’t have any problem with that, but just more concentrated, I like that concept.”

Richey commented, “The reason that I brought that up this last is because there is an addition, the Homestead Addition, that has maybe less than 10,000 square feet they may be more like 8,000 square feet lots.” Laney stated, “They’re teeny, I remember. The lady was afraid that her horses would get spooked.”

Richey asked, “Highway 412 west of the City of Tontitown and the County Line, what does that look like to you?” Laney replied, “Looks kind of agricultural to me.” Head commented, “There’s not much to do with that. Topography is going to be too difficult to develop.” Laney asked, “The City of Tontitown ended where Sonic is?” Fleming replied, “I think it is pretty far out now.” Head stated, “The City of Tontitown slips off where the speed limit changes for going out of town it is way out there by where they were going to put you remember they were going to put the dirt pit (Mining Operation LSD) where the new road and old road ‘Y’, it is beyond old Highway 68.”

Laney commented, “I don’t see any reason not to bring that one in.” Head stated, “Just bring it in agricultural and residential.” Laney commented, “Like the rest of the County.” Richey stated, “Right, there is only one residence.” Head commented, “That topography is pretty rough.”

Richey stated, “Highway 16 west between the City of Fayetteville and the County Line.” Head commented, “Same.” Laney asked, “Where does that turn to County?” Richey replied, “It’s past (WC #31) Harmon Road almost to the Fire Station.” Laney stated, “Fayetteville has taken care of that.” Head commented, “There’s not much that you can do.” Laney asked, “How far does the corridor now go? Is it all the way to the natural forest?” Head replied, “Yes.” Laney commented, “So, it is all unzoned now.” Richey stated, “That’s right, which is ridiculous.” Laney commented, “I would bring that in for sure. That is dirt pit country right in there.” Richey stated, “This is beyond the other one that we did a few months ago (February 13, 2008) where Les Rogers extended his dirt pit (Elkhorn Springs Road Dirt Pit Expansion LSD).” Head commented, “A lot of that is low though, and there would be some of it that won’t ever be able to be developed because it would be so expensive flood wise.” Laney stated, “I would say residential and agricultural.” Richey asked, “That’s the Fire Station and what is next to it?” Fleming replied, “It’s like an abandoned convenience store, it looked like they were fixing it up, but it wouldn’t have any use right now.”

Courtney McNair, Washington County Planner, commented, “The man who owned the dirt pit property has actually come in and said that he is opposed to residential in that area. He wants to leave it either unzoned or commercial. We’ve already had a complaint on that side of it.” Laney stated, “I think we should bring it in like the rest of it.” Head commented, “Once that dirt pit has been utilized for dirt then what’s going to happen is he’ll be in here wanting to make a subdivision.”

Richey stated, “Highway 412 east between the City of Springdale and the County Line. This has the most commercial of anything.” Laney asked, “Where is the end of the City of Springdale?” Fleming replied, “Right by the Tractor Supply Company.” Laney commented, “Springdale should do like Fayetteville just annex that highway out through there if they want to control more.” Head stated, “Springdale does have an exceptional Planning Area, and I couldn’t imagine that they wouldn’t want some…” Richey commented, “They’ve actually just recently redone their Future Land Use Plan.” Head stated, “Can we ask you to send a letter to Lincoln, Prairie Grove, Springdale, and Tontitown and ask them to study this and in two months send us their wishes for the way they would ask us to zone, otherwise, we’re going to bring it all in R1 and A1 because my indication would be to bring it all in agricultural or residential and use by right by what you’ve already been using it for, particularly Highway 412, but we would like to have your opinion to us so that we can consider that before we’re asked to vote. If they don’t respond then we’ve done our part, we’ve asked. I would be very surprised if the City of Springdale doesn’t have real opinions about what they want on entrance to their city.” Richey commented, “They show some commercial on Highway 412.” Head stated, “Maybe even they should come here that night and tell us what they want.” Richey commented, “Springdale shows red on their Plan which is general commercial along Highway 412. They also show the higher density residential than we would have, of course.” Laney asked, “Does the red go to the Highway 412 Bridge?” Richey replied, “No, it does not go nearly that far.” Head stated, “They stop before you start down the hill to the old Tri-city.” Richey commented, “It might be interesting to honor what they want as commercial.” Head stated, “Yes, that is what I’m asking is tell us what you would like. I feel a lot better if the City of Springdale, a mile outside (the city limits) still has to go to them anyway.” Richey commented, “For subdivision.” Head asked, “That’s it?” Richey replied, “Yes.” Head asked, “So, commercial they won’t have any say so.” Richey replied, “In a Conditional Use they would (have review and comment) because we take it into consideration.”

Laney asked, “Does that (contacting the cities) mess up the timing when the Services Committee want to act?” Head stated, “It should make their deal easier if they had the cities’ input.” Richey commented, “What we may be able to do like Springdale I know that this is a very current Land Use because they just updated it like two months ago. We should be able to get something back from them relatively quick, so we may be able to act on certain parts and not the whole thing.” Head stated, “I think that as soon as we get it back, I think we act on it. I think that we ought to give Prairie Grove and Lincoln the opportunity to think about what they want between the two of them and respond to us. Rather than we just zone it.” Laney commented, “I’m just trying to think of the perspective of people that live out there. I don’t live in the city, so why are you asking them?” Head stated, “What is your wish? It certainly seems to me that if the City of Lincoln would want to have an opinion about the way it is going to look driving from Prairie Grove into Lincoln.” Laney commented,” Do you have an opinion because we want to take it into account if we were to make any recommendations, but lacking any input we’re going to do the A1 and R1 if we don’t hear from them.” Head stated, “Tontitown the same way. I think that is the way to say it is our intent would be to do the same as we’ve done on everything else unless you have input that would ask us to reconsider because you think we should have commercial or you think we ought to have higher density residential as Juliet mentioned. Show us what you think or your input is and then lets talk.” Richey commented, “I think it is a good idea, I was thinking that we could even go further to me we could even look at some of the particular design standards and stuff that Springdale has and even possibly implement them in that area.”

Head stated, “If I’m a Justice of the Peace from that area (District 13 Joe Patterson) I would feel a lot better voting when it is brought before me if I know my constitutes if they had some say-so on what was brought before the County.” Richey commented, “We’ve also talked about speaking to landowners especially in these areas that I think that could go more commercial, I would be very interested. I am also interested in knowing what the people see for their future. Are they interested? I am sure that there will be some people that are like I want to stay here forever, but there are probably some people, Highway 412 has been widened, that are probably seeing the writing on the wall and they’re like when I’m ready to go I want to sell this as commercial, so to me their input is valuable.” Laney stated, “I think the balance is that you don’t want to end up with people that will have a viewpoint that I don’t want to go some City Hall to tell me what to do because I don’t get any of their services and so on and so on. We might go too far to adopt their design standards because you’re kind of getting the stick without the bait, but at least I think having, again, their opinion is a worthy thing to have. I don’t know if I would be comfortable going beyond that.” Head commented, “And again I suppose if it comes back that they don’t really have an opinion then my inclination would be go the same as we’ve done all the rest of them and then it would be a battle if somebody tries to go in there and try to do commercial and they’re going to open themselves to all the conversations that we had the other night on the same ordeal. That’s okay if that’s the way it should be, I just feel like if we ask them and they comment then we get it and if we ask them and they don’t comment then maybe that means that it is not as important as I think it is.”

Richey stated, “The rest of Highway 412 east, east of the lake. This is not in the City of Springdale’s Planning Area; they (the City’s Planning area) only goes just over the lake.” Head commented, “There are going to be commercial opportunities now all the way to the City of Huntsville (Madison County) with that road going to be widened nice and big, there’s going to be a lot of things that are going to move out there probably gas stations and truck stops, I’m saying long term obviously.”

Richey asked, “What do you think since Springdale doesn’t really I don’t know that we’re going to get a lot of comment on them east of the lake. With Highway 412 being widened, do you have any opinion on allowing some commercial by right in that area?” Head stated, “Its commercial by right, right now.” Laney commented, “The existing use.” Richey stated, “I’m asking you about future.” Head replied, “There are a lot of residences, I feel the same way about it as I do the rest.” Laney commented, “Yes, me too. You just hope you got a Planning Board that can handle it ten years from now.” Head stated, “Fortunately, it won’t be me.” Richey commented, “You’ve been on the Board eight years.” Head stated, “I’ve been on the Board eight years and I don’t ever remember having No Business before (on the agenda) and that kind of tells you about the economy I suppose. That will help, I suppose, absorb some of the existing inventory that we have in excess.” Laney commented, “I would say leave this one like the other one and I think at some point in the future that will want to be addressed. We kind of taken the first dose of getting zoning everywhere else, now this is the second dose.” Head stated, “In five years you know what will happen, Springdale will take that in.” Richey commented, “That’s all I have on that.”

Richey stated, “If you want to know what’s happening, we did put the Current Development in the packet. Let me know if you have any questions.”

Richey stated, “As far as I know when I talked to George Butler, Washington County Attorney, about this last week somebody never responded and so maybe the whole thing is being dropped maybe by the neighbors, I don’t really know. We haven’t heard anything from the guy.”

Head commented, “The guy is gone. He responded to me as you know I stayed out of the deal because we were being asked to look at the opportunity to finance it, so he responded to me that he didn’t want to try to put something where nobody wanted it. His plan, unless something changed, is that he’s still living in another state not planning on coming here. There should be no reason for any further argument, although, they need to get busy and get to planning it sounds to me like, do some annexation and planning.”

Richey stated, “I think that they (City of Greenland) are voting. That annexation was released from the County and I think that they are supposed to vote on it on Monday, June 9, 2008, to take it into the City of Greenland.”

Richey stated, “We’ve been doing some lot splits. We’ve been working on one that was supposed to have been on the agenda tonight (Wallin Mountain Estates – Kerb Properties), but they had a lot of complications with some missed up deeds and property lines and it is just a small four-lot private road subdivision. We’ve had a lot of cell tower antenna array submittals; T-Mobile and Verizon are moving into the area. We’ve been doing a lot of those.”

Randy Laney moved to adjourn. Gary Head seconded. Motion passes. *Don’t have the authority with no quorum*

Roll call was taken. Members present include: Robert Daugherty, Kenley Haley, Gary Head, and Cheryl West. Absent: Randy Laney and Larry Walker.

Robert Daugherty acted as chairperson due to Randy Laney, chairperson, not present at the meeting.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: (from the May 1, 2008 and June 5, 2008 meetings) The May 1, 2008 minutes could not be approved since a quorum was not present at the June 5, 2008 meeting. Kenley Haley made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Gary Head provided the second. Motion passes.

Courtney McNair, Washington County Planner, stated, “We are going to have a shortened discussion of corridor zoning.” Cheryl West made a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Kenley Haley seconded. Motion passes.

3.62 acres and 2 lots (request to place more than one single family home per parcel)

REQUEST: Conditional Use Permit Approval for Marilyn Combs CUP. The proposed project is located on three parcels containing 3.62 acres. Ms. Combs and her son, Tim Thornberry (and Tammy (Thornberry) Maqueda), are requesting to place an additional single-family home on their properties, which adjoin each other. The home will consist of two manufactured homes together to make one home. They are requesting to place this additional home on their properties for the use of Ms. Combs’ daughter (Tammy (Thornberry) Maqueda) and family. There will only be one family residing in the home.

CURRENT ZONING: Project does lie within the County zoned area (Agriculture/Single-Family Residential 1 unit per acre).

Marilyn Combs (owns one parcel- 1.62 acres) and Tim Thornberry and Tammy (Thornberry) Maqueda, her son and daughter, (own two parcels- 2 acres) currently own the property. The proposed project has access off of WC #42 (Durham McCord Road).

Marilyn Combs purchased the two manufactured homes (to combine to make one larger home) for the use of her daughter, Tammy (Thornberry) Maqueda. At the time she purchased these homes and moved them onto her property she was unaware that she would need to split the land into a separate piece to accommodate this situation or obtain a CUP. We found out about the situation when she applied for an address for the new home.

Although an administrative family split could be completed through our office to accommodate the creation of an additional once acre lot, Marilyn Combs wanted to pursue this option first due to one property being tied up in a mortgage, and possibly complicated on which for her to perform a split. An administrative split would also require an additional survey of the properties. Ms. Combs chose to pursue a Conditional Use to allow multiple single-family homes instead.

Soils work has been done on the site, and the 1.62 acre piece (Marilyn Combs) will accommodate the proposed septic system and alternate area in addition to the existing home and septic already in place. The full septic permit will need to be approved by the Health Department prior to septic construction (this is listed as a condition of the CUP approval).

At this time there have been no complaints, inquiries, or any type of response from the neighbors notified of the CUP hearing.

There are mixed types and qualities of housing in the area (see pgs A9- A13). Staff had some initial concern regarding the possible diminishment or impairment of property values in the area, however, no such concerns have been expressed by any surrounding property owners, and the proposed CUP property (manufactured homes) are in good repair and conditions are recommended by staff be placed on the CUP to help keep it that way. The proposed structures appear to be compatible with other mixed types of structures in the area for the most part.

Therefore, staff will recommend approval of this CUP with the conditions listed, however, if neighbor comments are received prior to at the meeting regarding some of these issues, it may warrant further discussion at the time of the meeting.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends Conditional Use Permit approval of the proposed Marilyn Combs CUP with the following conditions being met.

2. Only one family may live in the manufactured homes joined together to create one home (this has been stated as the intention of the owners all along).

3. When joining the homes together to create one, consistent and proper building materials should be used

4. When joining the homes together to create one, Arkansas building codes must be adhered to, and all bedrooms must have windows large enough to be used as ingress/egress in case of a fire.

5. Septic tank must be fully approved by the Health Department and installed prior to occupancy. Septic tank and alternate area should be fully contained on Marilyn Comb’s property.

6. As a portion of one of the manufactured homes (approximately 2’- 3’) lies on Tim Thornberry’s property, if either property (Marilyn Combs’ or Tim Thornberry’s) is ever sold to anyone other than themselves or the daughter, then the home must be moved within the property line of Marilyn Combs’ property (1.62 acre tract) at that time, or a lot line adjustment must be completed to accommodate the home all on one parcel of land.

7. Any other land divisions, commercial structures, or other types of uses not considered with this submittal must come through a separate CUP or review process with the County.

INFRASTRUCTURE: Water – The property is in the service area of Mount Olive Water.

Other Utilities - The lot is in the service area of Ozark Electric, Windstream Communications, and Arkansas Western Gas.

Marilyn Combs, Tim Thornberry (Marilyn Combs’ son), and Tammy (Thornberry) Maqueda (Marilyn Combs’ daughter), owners of the proposed project, were present to answer any questions.

McNair stated, “I am going to initially apologize Juliet Richey, Washington County Planning Director, was ill today, this is her project, so if I make any mistakes George Butler, Washington County Attorney, is here to help me and the applicant is here as well. This is located just south and east of the City of Elkins off of Highway 16. It is not in the City of Elkins Planning Area, but it is zoned, which is why it had to come through for Conditional Use. It is down Durham McCord Road (WC #42) where the old Durham Store is right off of Highway 16 right behind it.”

McNair also stated, “It is actually two pieces of property owned by a mother, a son, and a daughter. The mother owns the 1.62-acre piece and the son and daughter share the two acre piece. What they’ve done is they have purchased two mobile homes and they are sitting on the site and this would be a home for the daughter to live on. The mother and the son already have residences here for their use and the total acreage of this site is 3.62 acres, so generally what we would do is do a lot line adjustment and have it come through as a family exemption because they do have enough (acreage) to meet zoning, however, there are some minor discrepancies, deed issues, and there is a mortgage and so they would have to re-write the mortgage if they did a lot line adjustment, so that’s what they wanted to try and ask for the Conditional Use Permit for first and see if the Board thought that it was okay before they had to go and try and re-write a lot of the legal stuff.”

McNair commented, “The name is wrong on here it is Marilyn Combs is the mother and Tim and Tammy Thornberry both of them are Thornberry. The daughter has just gotten married and it is now Tammy Maqueda. The only reason that we found out about this was applying for a new address, which is something that we have been running into more and more often since we realized that we needed to check on the address applications not just for floodplain, but also for acreage and for existing homes, and that is something that we’ve been doing fairly recently. The soils work has been done so the septic area will fit for the mobile home. It is just going to be one family living in two mobile homes they are going to connect them. There have not been any complaints from neighbors. We still haven’t heard any objections to any of this. The general nature of the site is a rural very open area. The lot sizes that we are looking at aren’t unusual; there are several smaller lots (one to three acre lots) around this area. Staff feels that this would actually be a better way for you as a Board to go about approving this because as a family lot line exemption, not looking at the hardship it would cause on them to have to get it all re-written, but because you would have no jurisdiction over asking for conditions about how those two mobile homes are joined or how the septic works. With this we’ve at least been able to review it and come up with several conditions (Condition #4 When joining the homes together to create one, Arkansas building codes must be adhered to, and all bedrooms must have windows large enough to be used as ingress/egress in case of a fire) Fire Marshal has asked for large windows so that they can be used for fire escapes. (Condition #6 As a portion of one of the manufactured homes (approximately 2’- 3’) lies on Tim Thornberry’s property, if either property (Marilyn Combs’ or Tim Thornberry’s) is ever sold to anyone other than themselves or the daughter, then the home must be moved within the property line of Marilyn Combs’ property (1.62 acre tract) at that time, or a lot line adjustment must be completed to accommodate the home all on one parcel of land) If at anytime Tim’s property or Marilyn’s property is sold a lot line adjustment must be done then to correct this problem it cannot be left as it is in the future, so that is why Staff feels that you should approve the Conditional Use Permit with conditions.”

Gary Head moved to approve Marilyn Combs Conditional Use Permit with Staff’s suggestions. Cheryl West seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of approving Marilyn Combs Conditional Use Permit.

McNair asked, “The Board has an option do you want to elect the people who are not here for chairperson and vice-chairperson or would you like to table this? Does anyone want to be that’s here?”

Gary Head moved to elect Randy Laney as chairperson. Cheryl West seconded. Motion passes.

Cheryl West moved to elect Robert Daugherty as vice-chairperson. Gary Head seconded. Motion passes.

All Board members were in favor of electing Randy Laney as chairperson and Robert Daugherty as vice-chairperson.

McNair stated, “Juliet has been sitting up meetings and going and speaking with each different city. I would give a synopsis of that; I didn’t find her notes, but she is doing that.” Daugherty commented, “Okay, that is great.”

McNair stated, “We’re still kind of slow, but we’re going to get more of these little Conditional Uses, that we now have started looking at on our address applications. I know that we have a few coming up next month that are that way, too.”