Rezoning city site approved

Downtown housing to take place of vacant water utilities facility

BENTONVILLE — Several property owners spoke Tuesday in favor of a rezoning allowing an apartment complex with commercial space to be built where the city’s vacant water utilities facility sits downtown.

The Planning Commission approved 6-0 rezoning the 6.2-acre property at 608 S.E. Third St. from heavy industrial to downtown mixed-use residential at its meeting Tuesday. Commissioner Richard Binns was absent.

Commissioners also approved three other zoning requests around the land. The half acre at 401 S.E. D St. is to be rezoned from single family residential to downtown mixed-use residential. The 2.2 acres at 303 S.E. Third St. and the 0.7 acre at the corner of Southeast Third and Southeast D streets are to be rezoned from single family residential to downtown high density residential.

Bentonville Housing LLC made the requests and owns the land, which totals about 10 acres. The company’s address is 700 S.E. Fifth St. Suite 1, the same as RopeSwing Group, a hospitality company whose managing principal is Tom Walton.

The downtown mixed-use residential is the highest-density zoning for downtown. It permits a maximum building height of 50 feet and allows small-scale office and retail space, said Tyler Overstreet, city planner.

The high-density residential allows a maximum building height of 40 feet and only residential units.

The downtown mixeduse residential zoning had special appeal to the 6.2-acre site because of the ability to have commercial space, said Brenda Anderson, representative for Bentonville Housing.

Those spaces will help support the residential units, and the residential units will help support those spaces, she said.

It also has the potential to be a transitional area between the Market District to the south and southwest and the neighborhoods and downtown square to the north, said April Seggebruch, a downtown resident and business owner.

A few, including Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce leader Graham Cobb, said the rezonings would allow for needed additional housing options for those who work downtown. It also helps in recruiting and retaining employees, they said.

Michael Clark, 22-year resident on Southeast Third Street, said housing permitted in the requested zonings would help make downtown more accessible to various demographics, which is needed to have a neighborhood with a variety of residents.

Clark also encouraged commissioners to be mindful of making the area safe for pedestrians and cyclists as it becomes more densely populated.

Alex Brice, resident of Southeast Third Street, said he wasn’t opposed to rezoning 608 S.E. Third St., but wanted to make sure the apartment buildings had architectural style and weren’t going to be “just a box with windows.” Apartments with architectural style will help maintain surrounding property value, he said.

Brice and his wife, Keely, wrote the Planning Department in opposition to the rezoning at 303 S.E. Third St. before Tuesday’s meeting and also spoke against the rezoning at the corner of Southeast Third and Southeast D streets a the meeting, expressing concern about maintaining the historic quality and the communal feel of the neighborhood.

They both moved to Bentonville from larger cities, Keely Brice told commissioners.

“We didn’t want to live next to a large-scale apartment building,” she said. “We wanted to know our neighbors.”

The rezoning at the corner of Southeast Third and D streets received both opposition and support during its public hearing, which was the first of four. The rezoning at 608 S.E. Third St. was the last of the public hearings, which largely received support.

Commissioner Scott Eccleston said he was excited to see public support and charged Anderson with making sure the important aspects they mentioned — safe infrastructure and appealing aesthetics — were incorporated into the development plans.

“I’ve taken notes, and I don’t disagree with anything I’ve heard,” Anderson said.