Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the planning commission December 11, 2025. We are going to call this meeting to order. And if you will, can we please get a roll call to determinate? Yes, sir. This is a roll call vote for December 202 commission. Commissioner Brown.

Commissioner Bernard Hodes here. McDonald here.

Present. Thank you very much. Just for the record, I think Commissioner Brown and uh Commissioner Bernard, I think they're maybe outside trying to park or find a parking space. So, I think both of them should be here momentarily. So, moving right along here and um uh with the agenda here. I'm sure that every commissioner has got a chance to to read the minutes here. Uh and if there's no questions by any of the uh commissioners, I would love to entertain a motion for the approval of the minutes. Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes as written. Second.

Have a motion and a second. Now, please get a roll call vote. Commissioner Brown. Bernard Hodes. Yes. Macdonald, yes. Person, yes. Russell, I Bter, yes. Vickers, yes.

Minutes are approved. All right, great. And uh next, before we uh hear the reading of the consent agenda, we have a uh very nice presentation here by our own director Webb that will be giving a presentation on, I believe, food deserts. So, if you will, uh the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I also have the chair of the food commission with me, Kevin Shaylen. I'm actually not here as a director. I'm here as the former chair of the state working group on food deserts and as the former chair of the city uh task force on food deserts. In 2022, Representative Tippy McCulla and I met with then Governor Asa Hutchinson to talk about the issue of food deserts in Arkansas. And we want to make sure that people know that that's not a rural problem alone. It's also an urban problem. And when you have to go more than a mile in an urban setting to get access to fresh fruits and vegetables, you are considered to be living in a food desert. Uh we worked very hard at the state level and the city level. And among the recommendations we made were for the legislature to pass a law putting money into um this topic and helping grocerers open grocery stores. But it's not simple to open a brickandmortar grocery store. And we've seen a lot of grocery stores close in the last decade. And so one of the things uh another uh and that bill passed in the 2025 session and we hope to see it funded soon so people will be able to apply for money such as the somebody who was I think at the planning commission a month ago might be able to take advantage of that kind of program. Uh the city of Little Rock um allocated $1 million of ARPA money um to deal with this issue and sometime in the next couple of months we will be rolling out a mobile grocery store. Uh it has arrived in Little Rock. It's absolutely beautiful and we will take that to neighborhoods that are not served by uh grocery stores and where people have trouble getting access to fresh fruits and vegetables. And uh Kevin is just going to mention briefly a couple of the

highlights of the work that we've done. Another recommendation of the city's food desert task force was to have a food commission to help folks just like y'all do through the planning process and we can help them in other ways.

Thank you Kathy Webb. Um yeah, I just want to go over some quick highlights of some of our accomplishments over the 2025 year uh for the food commission. Uh we worked with the uh Little Rock school district school debt. It was at $175,000 and we have uh as a group uh utilized Little Rock Cares as a collective arm and um got that down to about uh we raised an estimate of $50,000 to help with that. Um we also had meetings with Senator Boseman's office uh two of his uh senior staff to discuss the student meal debt. And we've also met uh separately with rep uh Representative McCulla and deputy director of AD and the school nutrition leaders to discuss school meal debt and um not only just for Little Rock but uh the entire state at that. So we also written a letter to Senator Boseman regarding SNAP policy and uh we even met at Central High School one month. uh we took advantage of their wing Wednesday and we had our meeting there and got a nice talk um by uh principal Russo and again Senator Bonesman's one of his senior staff members joined us for that as well. Um, we have uh held press conferences right here at city hall uh to assist Little Rock families who had their SNAP benefits cut during the government shutdown. And uh that included we worked with Edward Food Giant and had purchased over $15,000 in grocery store cards to hand out. Uh this month um we're we're here presenting to y'all and we're going to get uh we're close to working with this this mobile uh grocery store. It's one of our big projects that we're going to try to help assist with in 2026 that uh Director Webb mentioned. So, we're excited about that and building public awareness and hopefully raising some money to assist uh with that as well. Uh, and we've also had a meeting a

couple weeks ago a few of our food mission members uh to help uh learn or we're going to learn and hopefully assist uh with a new brickandmortar store that'll be opening up. Um, and it'll have an urban garden and and it's going to be really great. Um, well, we hope it'll be great. Um, but that was part of our citizen communication as well in our meetings. So, thank you very much. Thank you. And I'm always happy to have coffee with anybody who wants to talk about the food desert issue. My email and my phone number are on the city website. So

great. And and just director, just want to ask questions or Kevin, you can answer this. For any other information, just for the record, is there a website that people can go to or just get on the city uh website and they can find more information about it? City. All right. Great. Excellent. Thank you very much. Thank you.

All right, moving right along. Before we go um to the um reading of the consent agenda, we had two uh really good u board members that are no longer with us. Their time has either expired or had to leave for job reasons. Uh we had one Commissioner Todd Hart uh whose time expired and Commissioner Kevin Treble. Uh so they are no longer on the board with us as of now. So, we just want to let them know just for the record, we really appreciate their service and dedication they had to the to the board. We do have a new member that uh just his first meeting is today and uh I think he's very excited. I just met him here today in person and his name is Mr. John Ees. You can kind of raise your hand. So, he's our newest member uh here and today. So, he's hitting the ground running ladies and gentlemen. So, if you can please bear with him and bear with us as well on that. So, definitely welcome to the board. Uh, John. With with that being said, we want to move right along to our uh the reading of the consent agenda. Monty, if you will.

Following is consent agenda for the Little Rock Planning Commission meeting of December 11th, 2025. The first group of items are on for uh deferral or withdrawal. Item one, file number Z10201 is being deferred to the January 8th, 2026 agenda at the request of the applicant. Item number two, S202 is being withdrawn without prejudice at the request of the applicant. Item three, S206 is being deferred to the January 8th agenda at the request of the applicant. Item four, Z 10,229 is being deferred to the January 8th agenda due to notices not being submitted to staff. Item seven, Z558A is being deferred to the January 8th agenda at the request of the applicant. And on item seven, the commission will need to wave the bylaws as a as the request for deferral was made less than five working days prior to this public hearing. Next are the items on consent approval. Item five, Z10,230, a reszoning from R2 to R4, 6505 Juniper Road. Staff recommends approval of the requested R4 reszoning. Item six, Z10,233, reszoning from R2 to03 12612 Lawson Road. Staff recommends approval of the requested 03 resoning. Items 9 and 10 are being moved to the regular agenda. Item 11, Z9407D, Village at Whispering Valley, Revised PD west of Village Run Parkway and north of Big Rock Avenue. Staff recommends approval of the requested PRD revision subject to compliance with the comments and conditions outlined in paragraphs D and E and the staff analysis of the agenda staff report. And item 12 A352, Valerie Place annexation, 14600, 14617, and 14621 Kanes Road. Staff recommends approval of the

annexation and incorporation of the land into the city of Little Rock and the concurrent designation of the land use designation to medium to residential medium for the western portion for the rest western property, excuse me, and zoning classification for that area of MF12 multif family district and the eastern portion for uses under the C1 neighborhood commercial zoning district. And then item 13 is being moved to regular Thank you, Monty. Um, so, uh, we don't have any other, um, questions or concerns by the commission. I would love to entertain a motion, but before we, uh, have a motion, uh, Monty, just a question for staff. Under item seven, do we have to separate that?

Yes, you'll you'll take the your first vote will be to wave the bylaws for item seven and then a vote on the consent agenda. Great. So, yes. So, we have uh two different motions and uh, and two different votes. So the first motion would be for the uh for item number seven here um which would be um the request uh from the applicant to uh to wave by the commission we need to wave their bylaws as a request for deferral because it was made less than five working days prior to the public hearing.

Got it. Mr. Chair, I'd make a motion that our commission wave the bylaws in item 7 Z-5580- A as the request for the deferral was made less than five working days prior to the public hearing and allow the applicant to defer to the January 2026 agenda. All right, I have a second for that. Second. All right, so I have a motion and a and a second for the first uh can I get a roll call vote here for the first approval of the item seven? Commissioner Brown, yes. Leonard, yes. Hodes, yes. Macdonald, yes. Person, yes. Russell, I Samad, yes.

Backter, yes. Vickers, yes. Motion's passed. Item has been deferred. All right. Thank you. Now, I would like to entertain a motion for the approval of the reading of the consent agenda. Mr. Chair make a motion that we approve the consent agenda as read. Second. I have a motion and a second. I get a roll call vote, please. Commissioner Brown, yes. Bernard, yes. Hodes, yes. Macdonald, yes. Person, yes. Russell, hi. Sad, yes. Backter, yes. Vickers, yes. Consent agenda has been approved.

All right. All right. Good. Moving right along. If your item number was on the consent approval agenda, uh you're more than welcome to stay, but at this particular time, you may leave. And uh we will give you just a a moment to uh depart. And while we're doing that, the items that were moved to the regular agenda is item number 8 Z-10228. Item number 10 Z-8092-8. Item number nine is Z-10234 and item number 13, which is Z-10231. If any one of those item numbers are uh was moved to the regular agenda and you're here for that, whether if you're in opposition or if you're in support, uh please stay at this time. And the order that we will go in uh for this will be item number eight, item number 10, item number nine, and item number 13. With that being said, we're going to move right along and move right into it. Item number eight, is the applicant present? Z-10228. Mr. Chairman, item number eight, file number Z10,228. This is a CKM group home special use permit located at 15 Brook Haven Drive. Uh, instead of going into the staff report, I believe the applicant wishes to request a deferral of this item.

All right. Our applicant, please state your name for the record. Kasha Pabian. Okay. Miss Pabian. Um, so you would like to defer? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. And you would like to defer until January or February? February. Okay. All right. Um, if there's no other questions, anything from any of the commissioners here, I would entertain a motion for the applicants deferral until February. Mr. Chair, I make a motion that we accept applicants request to defer their item Z-10228 to the February meeting. Second. I have a motion in a second. May I please get a roll call vote? Commissioner Brown? Yes. Bernard, yes. Hodgees, yes.

Macdonald, yes. Parson, yes. Russell, hi. Smad, yes. Baxter, yes. Vickers, yes. Item eight has been deferred to a February 2026 plan of commission meeting. All right. Uh, thank you very much for coming in. Thank you. All right. Moving right along to item number 10 Z-8092- A. Is the applicant present for this? All right. Monte, if you will provide item number 10 Z 892A, Snell Northcut Electric POD 13401 Kanes Road. Also on this one, I believe the applicant wishes to request a deferral.

All right. Thank you. Applicant, please state your name for the record. Brian Dale with Joe Whiten Associates representing this application. We'd like to request a deferral to the January hearing. All right. Thank you, Mr. Dale. Uh, all right. And if none of the commissioners have any other questions, I would love to enter entertain a motion for deferral for the applicant until the January meeting. Mr. Chair, I make a motion that we approve applicants request to defer their item Z-8092- A to the January meeting. Second. Have a motion and a second. May I please get a roll call vote? Commissioner Brown, yes. Manard, yes. Hodes, yes. McDonald, yes. Personson, yes. Russell, hi. Smad,

yes. Backter, yes. Vickers, yes. Item 10 has been deferred to the January 2026 meeting. Thank you, Mr. Dell. Thank you. Moving right along to item number nine. That's Z-10234. If the applicant is present, please make your way to the podium. And while you're doing that, uh, Monty, can you please provide the reading?

Sure. Item number nine, file number Z 10,234, Apex duplexes conditional use permit. This is the 3800 block of Elim Street on the west side and the southwest corner of Elim Street and West 39th Street. The applicant is requesting a cup to de to develop a total of 100 1.07 acres for seven duplexes. The property is comprised of seven platted lots located along the west side of the 3,800 block of Elim Street and at the southwest corner of Elim Street and West 39th Street. The applicant proposes to develop these each duplex uh one duplex on each lot. Each duplex will be 1,089 square feet with a 6.7 foot front porch facing east towards Elim Street. Section 36502 requires three off- streetet parking spaces per duplex. Each duplex has a parking pad shown on the site plan consisting of four spaces with access from Elim Street. Each duplex will meet the setback requirements of section 36255 of the code. Also, each duplex building will not exceed a height of 35 feet. The applicant notes typical building materials will include concrete slab foundation exterior siding predominantly being board batten vinyl siding with potential for some brick accent accents on portions of the building. To staff's knowledge, there are not standing issues associated with this application. Staff feels a proposed duplex for each lot is an appropriate use for the subject properties. Staff feels the proposed use will have a minimal impact on the general area and therefore staff recommends approval of the proposed cup subject to compliance with the comments and conditions outlined in paragraphs D and E and the staff analysis of the agenda staff report.

Thank you, Monty. Uh applicant, please state your name for the Thank you. Hi, I'm Kendall Grooms. I'm the attorney for the applicant Apex. I think I've appeared in front of y'all for this client before. Uh I don't know why we got moved. We didn't ask for a deferral or anything. So, there may be an objection or something that somebody's uh wanting to speak on it. Otherwise, I can reserve my time to see if there's anybody. Actually, you're correct. There are a couple of cars in opposition. Uh so, if you'd like to defer your time, I can bring you back up afterwards. Okay, that's totally fine. I'll respond to any concerns that we've got. Thank you. I had foot surgery, so I'm moving a little slow. Not a problem. Matter of fact, if you want to sit right here, you can sit in one of these seats up right up front. Thank you.

Uh the first car we have is uh Sandy Becker. Okay, good evening. Um, the reason for my objection is insufficient knowledge. This is a large development that is uh literally within 10 and something feet of where I live. And so because I did not have uh enough information and what was sent to me and I'm this is just not as a prison but was just basically the purchase I was received official notification but was basically showing that the the transfer of ownership from other owners to it but there was not enough explanatory information in there to uh be able to gauge the impact of it. things like what the setbacks and things um what would been ideal and I'm not trying to rehearse history is if so there could have been some sort of communication of okay this development is here and uh some sort of informationational one and if it was done I missed it okay if it was done I'm not saying it wasn't so that's our objection is not knowing uh how this development actually will physically fit on this particular land and did not have access uh to the uh how the the different duplex units would be set up and what the purpose of the uh request for what's the word uh conditional use was related to objection simply due to lack of sufficient information to be able to understand what this development will impact our neighborhood. And so, uh, we would like the opportunity to be able to better understand what this is because it's a major thing within one block of us. Okay.

Oh, thank you. Makes sense. Thank you very much. Thank you. And our last card on this is, I believe, is it Hugh Romero? Yes.

And please come to the podium, please. Uh so my objection was basically the same thing. Not enough information was given. We were just we just received the letter through the mail and you know viewing the uh the uh plans on the uh screen above here. I agree with the gentleman that just spoke. You know not enough information was given in the letters. Seeing the uh the schematics of the plan of how everything's going to be built. I mean really more information need is needed on you know basis of how it's going to impact the neighborhood. Really honestly um I kind of agree what the gentleman was saying previously. That's pretty much it.

Thank you very much. All right. With that being said, I think we had a couple of different questions from them. It's kind of insufficient knowledge. It would be kind of I guess more of a a knowledge factf finding mission for

sure. I appreciate the comments and I I do want to say we did submit the required notices to the persons within certain number of feet. Those were sent to the staff recommendations. I know those don't always like the notices themselves don't always include information. Sometimes it's a little bit of information that we have with our application. Sometimes it's you know 200 pages. Y'all have seen these u before. Also I I wish y'all had reached out to my office. my information was on there. I would have been glad to have that discussion. But the staff has reviewed all of this. The staff actually had a sit down meeting at one point after we submitted the original site plans because they had questions and concerns, similar questions and concerns of, hey, how do we make all of this work? And Ryan Brooks, who's one of the representatives of Apex, went and sat down with someone at staff. I'm not sure which one of you that it was that he sat down with, but it was not long after we filed the application. They went through they requested a revision of the plans got an understanding of what the project looks like. Uh we then later on got additional questions in relation to whether we were you know things like the lighting and the stuff that comes up standard those questions came back uh we sufficiently answered those questions uh through Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Brooks who are the owners of Apex as well as getting additional uh revisions to the site plans done and resubmitted those to staff. To my knowledge, based upon the staff's recommendation for approval, the staff has gone through all of the different site plans for the sites, they're convinced that so long as we stick within the uh recommendations and the conditions outlined in paragraphs D and E of that analysis that they had, uh, as well as the other city codes, you know, the fire department gives us certain restrictions that we have to have in the development. We're prepared to do all of that and I think that's why the staff recommended approval. So, that's where we are.

All right. Um, so go ahead. We have a question here. I'm open the floor up here uh to the commissioners here. Mr. Grooms, do you have any renderings to provide the to the people that came here? Like any renderings, digital renderings of what the property may look like? I don't have any with me. Um is there a website?

So, their their standard they they build a I'm not going to say it's modern looking, but they build a very high-end. It's not something that it's junky materials, cheap materials that they throw up. Uh I know several of the committee members were here. We had a very contested hearing about some duplexes down at uh Mount Mountain Vista Vista Point I think is what it was. There were renderings in that. That's the type of thing that they build. Uh it's a nice sighting usually garage or parking. It looks like on these they're actually doing exterior parking with the porch on the front. So they try to stay very organized. They're very good builders. They build a lot of different houses and duplexes um throughout the Little Rock area. We recently got a conditional use permit approved for duplexes out towards the University and Asher uh area in that and they're working on duplex projects over there. So they I don't have renderings, but they do build very high quality homes. It's not something where they try to throw it up overnight.

I I I completely understand. I really think that um to to suffice any type of digital rendering, is there a website that somebody can go to to just look and see what it looks like? I think that will probably solve a lot. Sure. just try to get that stuff posted, right? We'll do that. Good information. Any other questions from um why is the parking in front? That's just what they proposed to do and that's what the city approved. Is there not access to the alley? I'm not even sure if there's an alley or not. There's one alley in the back

that that is just the site plan that was developed in conjunction with the city that was approved um as a development in a predominantly workingclass residential neighborhood. Uh I would never support a design like this with parking in the front. It's bad design. It's bad for the street front. It's bad for pedestrians. It's bad for the neighbors who are single family homeowners whose kids probably play in the front yard, ride their bikes. Parking needs to be in the back. Noted.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner. I'm just going to speak up. I I fully agree with Commissioner Russell's comments. I mean, this is this is an opportunity to obviously bring bring some some new residents in this community and it's disappointing to see the parking in the front and um you know, I wish I wish the developer were here so that we could run that by them to see if that was something that they would reconsider. But it's I mean, I definitely want the duplexes to go in there. I think there is a housing shortage in Little Rock. We all know this here. But the parking in the front is just it's poor design.

Well, what I was going to suggest is if there were concerns about design, we can defer to January 8th. We can redraw the plans. I don't know about easement issues. Like I've, you know, I'm an attorney. I'm personally working on a project right now um across the freeway down Broadway where it's one of those there are many many subdivisions just like this where you've got an alley that has parking. Well, what we've run into is the alley itself has never been dedicated. And a lot of these people, a lot of developers now have bought these properties. They were historically longtime families that had owned the property. People have died or moved away or whatever it may be. Well, now we've had to undertake to communicate with 12 different land owners to try to see if we can get easements for the land owners down within that alleyway to cross it. Otherwise, if they try to put their parking in the back, they're technically trespassing across other people's property as they're going down. There's liability concerns with that. I'm not sure as part of the development process if they realized that was an issue or not and why they went in the front. But like I said, I'd be glad to defer this to the January 8th meeting. We can send out additional notices. We can work on uh an alternate plan. We can investigate if there is an easement issue and if that's why u the parking's in the front and not the back and we can bring that back to the attention of the board. And then the interim, the people that are here commenting can call me. We can get in contact with the client. We can have a meeting. We can send documents to them. That would be totally acceptable.

All right. Good suggestion. Before um we do that, if you're asking for a deferral, I think we have a couple more questions from commissioners. Commissioner Brown a question, but a comment. Um I don't have the architectural perspective of some of my colleagues here, so I'm not going to comment on the parking front or back, but you you're making it sound like they need to reach out to you about this. I would encourage you, yeah, to to be proactive in that. And I will say like we never predict how we're going to vote, but I will say as a developer, particular when folks have concerns like this and we're looking at the file here and there are no renderings. Reaching out to the community proactively sends a lot better message than what I think has been the the message.

Yeah, this client usually has a habit of going door to door and talking to the people in the area. Um, I don't know if he did this on this one or not because they've been busy with the one that we just got approved with those construction projects and so I haven't talked to him about whether they went door to door, but they do have a habit of going door to door and talking to the neighbors about the projects. Yeah. And I know I know Chase. I'm I'm really surprised he submitted this. I'm disappointed because I do know the work that he Well, and I'll talk to him about that for sure.

But what I would like to do right now is before they leave, if they'll approach me, I'll give them my contact information. and we can get in touch. Uh that's what we're talking about being proactive as well. I don't want you guys to walk out of here until you get my contact information. Uh it is listed on the application and they could obviously call the city, but we'll take that step out and they can just get the information directly from me and we'll communicate with Chase and Ryan. I do I do want to double check with staff real quick. What's the um if it is deferred, what is the cuto off date for the applicant to get new documents to staff for review? if there is a substantial change and if so does that necessitate a new application

for the for the January agenda because of the holidays we are already working on staff reports for that um I think we would prefer deferral to the February agenda that's acceptable that's fine I know when we did I wanted to throw that out there just so that you weren't put in a in a

B well and what I was thinking too is when we originally had when requested the meeting and then we got the notice of here's the questions and we need to see these revisions on the plans. It was the next Monday we had the plans revised and back to them. So we can turn around that information quickly to them. But if the cutoff has already passed or is approaching with the holidays, I haven't spoken to them about like Chase and Ryan about their schedule and whe and their architect whether he or their engineering architect whether they're even in town in the next couple weeks to get that knocked out. So if we need to do the February agenda just to be safe, that's acceptable. That's we would prefer that. That's fine. We'll do that. All right. So, you would like to defer until the February meeting? That'll be fine. Thank you. All right. If I can get a motion, Mr. Chair, real quick. Uh, I know we defer. No, go ahead.

Yeah. I want to answer questions and make sure that we know all the issues before we come back on February and what we need to address. I just know Mr. Becker had his hand raised. I want to make sure that you have an opportunity to speak what you need say what you need to say even though they're deferring. Yeah. Mr. Becker, did you did you want to speak to this gentleman? Have a question about something. Please come to the mic, sir. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You said something about uploading. Uploading to where would it be? Where staff has access? Is it a public one? You see, I hear uploading, but how do we get the information is the question. You mentioned uploading. But

I was saying I was saying that the staff has access to they have the documents. It's a it's public like a Freedom Information Act request where when you get these notices, you can contact them. They can give you copies of application documents that have been submitted, those sorts of things. Okay. I we can cut that out and you can just come directly to me and I'll get it all to you. Are you the number that's listed here? I'll give it I'll make sure and give it to you before we No, but it's that my question is that's you. That's me. And what we please Kendall Grooms. Okay. Okay. Mr. Becker. Yes.

I I was going to say what we're going to do and I was going to ask attorney Grooms here. Could you please make sure you get with not only Mr. Becker but also Mr. Romero and any other constituent or neighbor in here uh afterwards to make sure they got your contact information, they can contact you and making sure because we we like community involvement and definitely since you're being proactive here and making sure that the uh the neighbors are uh have involvement or at least knowledge of We'd be glad to do that. We'll do it out in the hall when we're done so we don't interrupt you guys. Thank you. Thank you. By the way, there are others here from the neighborhood as well. It's just uh some of us got elected to speak. No, I understand. I understand. Okay. But there's more and there's a few who could not make it today because of the timing. Oh, no. We really appreciate that.

I'd be glad I'd be glad to talk to any of them and work it out. All right. So, we do have I think a motion deferment. Do you mind if I before you make Do you mind if I check my calendar for the February date? What is the February hearing date? The second Tuesday of February. Thursday. The second excuse me, the second Thursday about y'all shifting to Tuesday. So, that would be February 12th. February 12th, 2026. I'm good that day. I can make it work. Okay. Mr. Chair, I make a motion to approve applicants request and item number nine, file Z-10234 to defer consideration of their agenda or their plan until the February meeting.

Second. Have a motion and a second. Uh, may I get a roll call vote, please? Commissioner Brown. Yes. Bernard, yes. Hodes, yes. Macdonald, yes. Person, yes. Russell, hi. Samad, yes. Backter, yes. Vickers, yes. Item has been deferred to the February 2026 planning commission meeting. Thank you very much, commissioners. See you in February. Thank you. All right.

All right. Thank you. And while we're waiting for kind of a momentarily for departure of the last item, uh if the applicant for item number 13 is present, please make your way to the podium. And while the applicant uh is making their way to the podium or is the applicant present? What is the number on? Item number 13, Z-10231, uh the Hopper ST str. All right. And while the applicant is making their way, uh can I please get the reading uh for uh item number 13?

Item 13, file number Z 10,231, the Hopper STR2* 2 PDC located at 705 South Oak Street. The applicant is requesting to reszone the 0.15 acre property located at 705 South Oak from R4 to PDC to allow use of the property as a short-term rental too with a maximum stay of 29 days. The owner will not reside at the residence. The home is a duplex. Each side will be rented out separately. The residence is currently vacant. It's not being used as a short-term rental. The property is occupied by a 1785 foot one-story duplex. There have been no department of planning and development enforcement cases, nor any police reports for this property. Currently, the city of Little Rock has 132 approved STR1s and STR2s. Staff is supportive of the requested resoning to allow two short-term rentals. Staff feels the resoning of this property will have no adverse impact on the surrounding properties in the general area and recommends approval of the PDC subject to compliance with the comments and conditions outlined in paragraph E and the staff analysis of the agenda staff report.

Thank you. Applicant, please state your name for the record. It's RD Hopper. Initials RD. All right, Mr. Haro, here um there is one card that is in opposition. You're more than welcome to present now or defer your time and come back afterwards. Your choice. I I I'd say let's hear the concern so we can address it. All right. Great. You can have a seat on one of these front rows here. All right. And we do have one card here and I believe it's Mr. uh well Juan Lewis. I'm sorry. Is it Evan? My apologies. No problem. Excuse me for the record. Evan Lewis. Mr. Lewis.

Hello. Thanks uh for hearing my concerns. Stiff Station doesn't need another rental property, period. I mean, US is going to build a hotel within two blocks of this property. It's unneeded. As soon as that as soon as that hotel comes up, then it's just going to be an empty house. There's no there is no off- streetet parking. So, when people come into town, where are they going to park? You know, there's no off- streetet parking. Um, I don't see that a short-term rental helps a housing shortage either. So, I'm asking that you not approve it. And there we do there are other people here in opposition and I've spoken with other neighbors that weren't available to come. Um, so it's not just me that doesn't want it to happen. Thank you very much. All right. So, we have no other card on foul. Um, so at this time, I'm going to have the applicant to come back up here.

Uh, I am a res. Oh, I'm sorry. Was your Did you fill out a card? I I I came and at the last moment I wasn't available. I wasn't able to fill out a card. So, that's why Oh, okay. You came out the time of start and that No, I I definitely understand. Um you know normally we do not we try to follow it very strict because we try to keep order uh in here. Um but um for the sake of Mr. Lewis here uh if you want to come up we will allow we just give you just a quick 30 seconds if you have something that you want to add that Mr. Lewis did not specify in uh we want to give you just a brief uh moment. Uh my name is Please state your name for the record.

My name is Lavell Crump. Uh I am an owner in the neighborhood. Uh and much like Mr. Lewis, uh I feel the same way. I don't see that stiff nation stiff Station needs another rental, especially considering the fact that the hotel will be built uh not long from now. Uh there are other short-term rentals in the area already. Um they're well done. However, um it does bring down the uh property value. So, uh, and of course I'm a first-time home homeowner. Uh, all my eggs are in this basket. Uh, and I'd like them to continue to retain value. Um, that's pretty much all I have to say. Uh, Stiff Station is a great neighborhood. It's an up and and rejuvenating neighborhood, and I'd like to see that continue and move forward. I have history with it because my father uh before he passed uh years ago owned property in this neighborhood as well. So, it's nostalgic for me. I also played uh soccer uh at the fields not far from here uh which is not only now a ball field, but it's also a community um garden. Uh so, Stiff Station is really having a rejuvenation. I'd hate to see that turned around or blocked by it becoming a transient environment.

Thank you very much. Mr. Harper. All right. So, at this particular time here, I think you heard a couple of oppositions. If you'd like to u answer any of those. Yeah. Talking about the uh no off streetet parking.

Uh and if you can elaborate it at the at this point, the floor is yours. Okay, I've got a picture here where there is both A and B on the sides. We talked to Amelia and the city planning. I met with them. Uh this is a deadend street. If you'll see right past the house, the road stops. It's a dead-end street. There's no sidewalks on either side of the road. Uh but there is two cars. There's parking to get off the street for B on two on the front where you can get completely off the street and there is two parking places for a here beside the house. So there's areas to park four cars completely off the street. Uh uh I don't know if they've looked at this, but it was shown to the planning and they thought it was accept acceptable. There's a deadend road, so there shouldn't be any foot traffic walking down each side. Uh there was a a problem with a manhole cover there, and I called the city and they come and replaced it just in case there's someone in that area. Uh I've hired uh professional landscapers, so they've came in and trimmed all the trees that you see here so it looks nicer. This house has been used for rental for the last 10 years from the person that I bought it from. It was primarily and most of the houses, the house across the street is a is a duplex also and being rented. And there's people updating a lot of these houses in this area, but if you drive down Oak Street right now, they all say four rent and four lease signs in the front of them. So for the hospital uh as far as they said is a need in the area before I purchased this area I got the rental record for the last two years and it had a 75% occupancy rate is the reason one of the reasons I decided to purchase it. We

also had foundation issues on it. I've spent a lot of money on getting the foundation reflooring all new furniture. So, uh, uh, when we do anything, me and my wife, we're just small business owners that's trying to get in the rental property. We're bringing it up to, uh, a higher standard than it's been for the last 10 years before we bought it. We've done landscaping. We've poured sidewalks for a better in safer entrance for sign B. And uh, and uh, we plan to be a part of this community. I only live I live in Cab, so I'm close enough. If there's any concerns, I'd be glad to give my neighbors, these neighbors, my phone number if there's any concerns or any problem, you know, I'll just be a cell phone call away. And uh we've complied with everything that we've been asked to do. We've sent out the letters and uh we've presented it to the people at the planning. Uh they thought it was a good idea and we're going to do our best to be a part of the community and make sure that this is a safe place to stay. Primarily this has been for students for the last 10 years. It's been students and traveling nurses have kept this at 75% occupancy rate. But oftent times there's people that's coming into town to get treatments at the hospital and they need a place to stay for a week or two while they may have a family member at the hospital. This is very easy to get out older home that's very easy to get in and out of. And uh we think that we'll be able to fill in the gaps between the traveling nurses and the doctors that come in for school that may have six months. We're hoping to fill in the gaps with people that might have a a person staying at the hospital and we give them a a safe and economical place to stay which is only one block from the hospital. But uh so uh I think that addresses some of their concerns and uh

I'd be glad to answer any other questions that you have. Okay. Uh Mr. uh Harbor, you said safety, which we all agree safety first. Uh Yes, sir. If we can all have that in a perfect world, uh I want to talk about uh what about do you have like security u alarms or video monitoring? Uh any of those initiatives that you have already taken for the property as of yet? When I say video monitor, meaning like a ring. It could be something like a Ring doorbell or something like that.

We are planning to have a Ring doorbell. Uh part of the uh the planning process is after this is approved, we bring in the the the fire uh inspector and we put in all the uh security for that. So, we will have a Ring doorbell put in at that time. And we will have the carbon monoxide uh sensors and the fire alarms. We've updated the doors. There were doors that were older and didn't open and close well and windows. We've already replaced all the the doors and everything. So, for fire safety for escaping, but uh I've got children and uh and family. I will definitely make sure that it'd be a place that I'd want my family to stay in in safety. So, we'll put safety first. I run a auto recycling facility for 30 years where we took cars apart every day. So, I'm very familiar with safety process and procedures, but uh we'll make sure all safety concerns are met. If there, like we heard, there hasn't been any problems or calls. This has been a rental for the last 10 years. There has not been any calls or police or problems in the house right across the road from us. A duplex have been rented also, but I'll make sure that if there a a problem does arise that I'm accessible to be able to take care of and address it. Anyway, I'd be glad to come back and address it here or anywhere I need to.

All right. At this particular time, I want to open the floor up to any of the commissioners that have any particular questions or comments for you. Commissioner. So, just a question of clarification for staff. The uh applicant has met with all of the statutory requirements, code requirements for an STR2. Yes, sir. That is correct. And they are asking for no variances, no waiverss, no requests of any kind, just a regular STR2. Thank you. Any other questions or comments from any other commissioners? Uh if not, I would love to entertain a motion.

Mr. Chair, I make a motion to approve applicants request and file Z-10231 for the request for PDC resoning subject compliance with the comments and conditions outlined in paragraph E and the staff analysis of the agenda staff report. Second. I have a motion and a second. May I get a roll call vote, please? Commissioner Brown, yes. Bernard, yes. Hodes, yes. Macdonald, yes. Person, yes. Russell, I SAD, yes. Baxter, yes. Vickers, yes. Motion's approved.

Motion is approved. Thank you very much. And uh thank everybody for coming out on this item uh as well. And that was actually the last on the regular agenda. Do we have any other new business? I stand I would like I was commission we do we want to give the full commission at least just a quick update on the um zoning audit.

Yeah, I was Yeah, I was just going to give just a kind of brief summary just let them know here. Commissioner Russell is on on there. We actually had our first meeting here and um you know, Commissioner Russell had a lot of good input and we have you know several people that's obviously in this room was in the meeting. Commissioner Russell, did you want to add any kind of notation on that for the update? I think you had some really good sure uh points uh at the meeting.

So currently uh chat GPT is my best friend. Um, so I'm running the zoning code as well as several other sections including the definition section through doing an analysis for any redundancies, conflicts, um, overlap, missing definitions, ambiguous definitions, just sort of trying to make a list of things that we can take quick action on um to, you know, just provide some I think very necessary updates uh to the to the code it or to the ordinance itself. But then after that um you know once that process is done I think some some deeper conversations can be had about form uh and and content of the ordinance itself.

Well thank you very much Commissioner Russell and uh like I said we had u of course Brad and Monty and um I think the whole staff was there um on it. I think Jeremy, you was in the room, weren't you? I think Hannah was there in the room as well. So, we had we had a really good uh team and support, but if anybody else have any any commissioners, if you always have some um you know, any thoughts, comments, uh you know, things that you may have, don't hesitate to, you know, email us, email the group because we definitely want more input, you know, more support with this. And I think, you know, the subcommittee we have now is, you know, obviously doing a great job. I know Hannah was in there, she asked a lot of great points as well. And so we just want to see this move forward, modernize it, and um hopefully we can get this done here in the maybe in the first first or second quarter of next year. Mont also with with with respect to

I'm I'm being a little bit more optimistic. Maybe 2020. I was that I was being a little bit more facitious, but um but we're moving. We're progressing, I think, very well with our first meeting just passed. if you will. With respect to that committee, I think you have three three commissioners on that committee. Now, uh you can have up to five. So, if there are a couple more commissioners that wish to to uh attend and and uh see what's going on, you can have a couple more.

No, that is a good point. If you do have interest in it and want to be on the subcommittee, please email um and let us know. I mean, the more the more the marrier and um and and that really will help us move forward. But I mean, we had a very good first meeting and uh I mean, I think we're going to build up on that. So, uh with that being said, uh are there any other news, public news? And I say we have our good esteemed city attorney back there. He just walked in. So, really appreciate that. And if there's nothing else, I hope everybody have a very happy happy holiday, a happy Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, happy Quanza, and uh very happy new year. And if there's nothing else, I will say this meeting is ajourned.