Planners send lot splits to City Council

The Planning Commission met Monday night to discuss a couple of lot splits that will be going to the city council next week.

The first proposed split is near the intersection of Arkansas 340 and Rogers Road. The 9.67-acre lot straddles Arkansas Highway 340.

Sarah Bingham, associate planner with Community Development Services, said that staff suggests approval on the condition that outstanding issues be addressed -- specifically that utility rights of way be dedicated.

The second lot, on Jack Crabtree Road, was already thought to have been finished. The property owner, senior planner Jennifer Bonner said, believed the lot had been split and applied for a building permit.

"Literally their building permit is held up by this plat that should have been done a while ago," Bonner said.

These will be topics at the next City Council work session, which will be Tuesday, Jan. 17, rather than the usual Monday. The change is to avoid meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

After the lot splits were discussed, Community Development Services director Chris Suneson mentioned a pair of items not on the agenda.

The first, he said, was that his department is now seeking a new building inspector. This, he said, was in the 2017 budget approved by the City Council, and should help his department meet the growing inspection load.

The second, he said, is that the city is accepting applications for master plan proposals until Jan. 20.

This, he said, is critical to the city's health, and can't be done in-house because the city simply does not have the manpower. Contracting the work out, he said, is fairly typical.

When a contract is accepted, he said, he expects to have a great deal of public involvement.

"We're excited about that," Suneson said. "You will be invited to several public meetings to address that."

General News on 01/11/2017