Two ordinance amendments were sent to the Bella Vista City Council Monday night after receiving unanimous votes of approval by the Planning Commission during its regular session held at the District Court Building.
The first proposed amendment deals with a section of code pertaining to side setbacks for lots designated R-1 (residential, single family) District lots. Currently, a minimum side setback of 10 feet shall be established parallel to side property lines, unless otherwise stated on the subdivision plat.
The proposal calls for a change to a minimum side setback of 7 feet, 6 inches.
A survey of the other cities in northwest Arkansas -- Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville and Bella Vista -- presented during the Planning Commission's work session held Thursday, July 28, showed in low-density residential districts the minimum lot sizes to be 6,000 square feet in Bentonville; 8,000 in Rogers; 10,000 in Springdale; 35,720 in Fayetteville; and 14,000 in Bella Vista.
The side setbacks for each are 7 feet in Bentonville; 10 feet in Rogers; 8 feet in Springdale; 20 feet in Fayetteville; and 10 feet in Bella Vista.
City planner Megan Workman, who presented the proposed amendment, explained that even though the minimum lot size within Bella Vista's R-1 District is 14,000 square feet, lots platted prior to city establishment are often smaller than what is required. Prior to that time, she said, the 7 foot, 5 inch utility and drainage easement was the guiding principle of residential development placement.
Present-day single-family residential building setbacks often lay over the top of the original subdivision plats and, as a result, there are widespread examples of nonconformity and frequent variance requests.
Workman said the city's topography and septic system requirements change the way homes are designed and therefore developments are routinely pushed forward because of topography or septic situations or both, in some cases.
The second ordinance deals with administrative review of minor modifications. Currently, in residential zoning districts, side building setbacks may be reduced by 2 feet as long as a minimum of 10 feet of separation is maintained between all structures. The roof line edges are included in this minimum separation.
The amendment would strike that current standard.
Under the administration section of the zoning code, a minor modification, or minor variance request, can be utilized to reduce side building setbacks if the site experiences "special circumstances such as size, shape, topography, location or surroundings."
Workman, also the presenter on this ordinance, produced figures that showed city staff received 41 minor variance requests in 2019; 89 in 2020; 105 in 2021; and 125 to date this year.
The commissioners were told during the work session that should City Council approve the proposed amendment to the R-1 side setback, time previously spent by staff reviewing side setback reductions could be halved, and by reducing taxpayer-funded review redundancies in the development process Bella Vista would be meeting many goals outlined in the city's 2040 Comp Plan.
The City Council will discuss the items in its work session scheduled for Monday, Aug. 22, at 5:30 p.m. at the District Court Building.