Planning commission signs off on plan for apartment complex south of Mud Creek in Fayetteville - Arkansas Online

FAYETTEVILLE -- An apartment complex years in development near a completed street extension on the northeast side of town had its plan approved by the Planning Commission on Monday.

Commissioners voted 4-2 to approve a development plan for Trails on the Creek, a 324-unit apartment complex on 10.5 acres south of Mud Creek. The residential development will lie north and south of an extension of Sain Street, which recently opened to traffic and connects northeast to Vantage Drive.

The residential units will lie on the west side of the property, near an existing roundabout installed where Sain Street previously dead-ended. The east side, about 6 acres, is dedicated as parkland that the city will own. The southernmost linear-shaped portion of the property that extends about 2,000 feet south will remain wooded.

The City Council in November 2020 approved a planned zoning district for the property. A planned zoning district is a detailed zoning request that includes placement and size of buildings and other features. City staff and developers Lindsey Management coordinated on aspects of the project before then, as the Sain Street extension was included in a transportation bond issue voters approved in 2019.

The property is mostly wooded with portions to the north lying within a floodplain. The project garnered a significant amount of resident attention over the years. Opposition has included concerns about potential impact to the environment and building within a floodplain, as well as traffic congestion and safety.

A future trail included in the city's plans for the area also drew neighborhood opposition. The trail would have gone along the southern linear portion of the property near a neighborhood to the southeast. However, Matt Mihalevich, the city's trails coordinator, said Monday staff think putting the future 6-foot-wide trail farther west would be more appropriate. The ravine would be left as-is and serve as a buffer to the neighborhoods, he said.

Two members of the public spoke to the commission Monday, both expressing concerns over the placement of a trail for privacy and environmental reasons.

Hugh Jarratt, attorney with Lindsey Management, said the plan is to have a trail on the west side of the ravine, not in the "finger" of the property behind houses on Bellshire Drive.

Parks staff asked the developer to provide a 10-foot-wide access drive to the park land for maintenance trucks. The exact placement of the road will get worked out during the project's permitting phase, although plans showed it on the east side of the residential development.

The development likely will only contribute minor increases in flood elevation and velocity, said Alan Pugh, staff engineer with the city. Staff did not recommend flood mitigation measures outside of basic requirements because of concern for potentially taking out more trees, he said.

City engineers asked the developer to place bus shelters over two concrete pads installed at the roundabout. However, the staff report only included one shelter. Jarratt said at the meeting he didn't know about the other one but that his team was OK with it.

Commissioner Andrew Brink made the motion to approve the plan and only require the one shelter because the developer hadn't been informed about the other. Commissioners Jimm Garlock and Mary Madden voted against the motion because they said the other shelter was necessary to catch bus traffic in each direction east and west. Commissioners Quintin Canada, Sarah Sparkman and Mary McGetrick joined Brink in approving his motion.

Commissioners Matthew Johnson and Joseph Holcomb were absent Monday.

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