Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The regular meeting of the Texa County, Arkansas Planning Commission is called to order. Agendas are available on the rail, so make so please help yourself. We will take the items as they are listed on the agenda. I will read each item and ask the person representing to request come forward to the podium. Please state your name and address for the recording secretary. present any information and make any comments you have about your request. Be prepared to respond to any questions that members of the planning commission may have of you. Thank you. Uh before we start, I just want to recognize that we have a new member to the board, Mr. Steven Cross. Uh he's a local contractor and I think he's going to be a a good addition to the board and with his expertise. So, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you. All right, roll call. Steven Cross here. Anita Picket here. Jason Dupri here. Dr. Hickor here. Chris Owens here. Cory MS is absent. And uh Chairman Anderson here. Uh we have a quorum and we can conduct business. All right. Next item is going to be adoption of the minutes from the previous meeting. Move we accept them as they were presented. Second. Do we have a a motion and second to adopt a minutes? Uh roll call. Uh Steven Cross. I. Anita Picket. Yes.

Jason Dree. Yes. Dr. Hickerson. Yes. Miss Owens. Yes. And Anderson?

Yes. Minutes are accepted. Item three. Item number three, conditional use permit. Request by Barbara Stucky for a conditional use permit in order to operate a non-residential home daycare at 2602 East 19. Legal description. property is legally described as all of lots six and seven of Independence Heights block 8 containing 22 acres more or less. Okay, so this is it's a little confusing. It's called a home daycare because it's operating out of a structure that is a home. It's not a child care center, but it is not an inhome daycare because Miss Stucky does not live there. She lives behind that. So, the only thing operating out of this structure will be the daycare. Um, the property is on the corner of East 19th and Lone Oak. This over here is East Street. This is the property. Now, there are some things that she will have to do. this property to bring it up to code um for a daycare. But as you know, our concern is whether or not this is an appropriate use for this land. Um it's zoned R3 right now. There is water and sewer and as you can see in R3, a non-resident home daycare is a conditional use permit. So is Miss Stucky here?

I am. So, she's here if you have any questions for her and there's been no opposition to this. Okay. Anybody have anything else of Jamie? All right. Okay. Thank you, J. M. Stucky, state your name and and your address and then you can proceed. Uh, my name is Barbara Stucky. Uh, my home address is 1872 Lo Avenue. Okay. just tell us what you want about your project.

Okay. Well, actually I've been living in that neighborhood for approximately 30 years now. U we purchased that building and I actually ran a daycare from the home out of that building before and after I ran it approximately 15 years. I closed it, went back to school, got my degree and my daughter actually had a baby and he was a preeie, weighed 2 lbs and we want him home with I want him home where I can take care of him because I don't want him in the daycare center. So, I rather go back and um start it all over again and just and raise him there. Okay.

Uh this how many kids are you planning on? Uh it'll be approximately 20 kids. and all the work. I mean, I got to do some outside before all the drainage and electrics and all all that stuff we did before. When I had it before, I had all that done before. So, a lot of it is already done. Well, is this a situation where you'll need to get a state license and inspection to do that? Yes. Yes. Okay. Is that been done or is it scheduled?

No, I haven't done anything yet. I was waiting before the meeting to get it done, but like I said, we have done all this before. So, this is like my second round with this. So, I'm really familiar with what got to be done already. Okay. Uh, Miss Jamie mentioned that there are a few uh requirements that need to happen. Yes, sir. Are you prepared to do those things? I am. Yes. Okay. Uh, have you talked to any of your neighbors in neighborhood about traffic and that kind of thing?

No. I know one of them came to me and asked what was going on. I explained it to they did send out letters and no one was actually concerned about it. So, and actually a lot of the kids is in the neighborhood. I actually raised those kids in my first in the first daycare center. They all came through my daycare.

Okay. All right. All right. Thank you, ma'am. Is there anybody else here uh for or against the proposed uh project that would like to speak? Seeing none, any the chair would entertain a any discussion from the board members questions? I'll make a motion we approve the conditional use.

Second. Got a motion to approve and and second the conditional use request. Steven Cross, yes. Anita Picket, yes. Dupree, yes. Dr. Nickerson, yes. Chris Owens, yes. And Chairman Neil,

yes. All right. Item four, request by Lindmark Billboards to convert a static billboard located on the on east on East at 3912 Stateline Starbucks to a digital billboard. Property is legally described as part of lot two of Wade State state line garden edition section 7 township 15 south range 28 west of Miller County. No, we can't.

Okay. So, this is So, this is a another one that's a little complicated. So, billboards can only be located within 660 ft of either I49 or I30 to be considered legally conforming. This billboard was here when that ordinance went into place. So, this billboard is considered legally nonconforming. and it's the billboard next to Starbucks. Now, according to the ordinance, you can only upgrade a non-conforming billboard if it's nonconforming for spacing requirements only. So, the question is, do we consider the fact that it's not 660 ft from a major interstate a spacing issue? Because if it is a spacing issue, then they can upgrade it. If they don't upgrade it, they're not taking the billboard down. And they do have a representative here.

How far is it away from Interstate? I don't know. A long ways. George, did you want to Jamie if we to say the we agree that you know about the sign upgrade? Would it still be nonconforming? But uh it would still be non-conforming but we've given it our cut.

But there is there is the ability to upgrade a non-conforming requirements only. requirements only. So you can make an argument that it not being 660 ft from a major interstate is a spacing requirement. George, good afternoon.

Uh my name is George Dodson. the land lease manager here at Lindmark Companies in uh Texture Can. Uh like she uh indicated, we are trying to get an upgrade permit um to change the north face from a static billboard, which means it only has one face on it, to a digital billboard. Um, it's very important to realize we're not changing any of the any of the conformity of the structure. The structure is going to remain there whether or not we change it to a digital or we don't change it to a digital. Uh, all we want to do is change the delivery method of how we are instead of a static board, it's going to be a digital board. Um, from the road you'll see no difference. The steel will see it look the same. the head will be the same. It will look exactly alike. Uh, you know, and and Lindmark is making an investment in the city because it's going to cost, you know, upwards of $150,000 to convert this structure to the latest and the greatest of the of the billboards. And one of the important things to add to this is that we will partner with the city. And when I say that, if there's ever a amber alert or a silver alert or any type of emergency announcement, uh, a shelter in place, some type of a national emergency, the city will contact us. We'll create it and we'll put it up on that board. So, it will project to the 56,000 people that drive down the street that uh uh regularly. May I hand out one of these to each of you? Sure. On the first page is just the board itself and it shows the 52,000 daily drivers that pass by that

structure. On the second page, you will see uh a Google Earth view of that structure. And to answer your question, sir, I believe it's about 3,000 ft from the um from the from the uh from from the interstate. And and the question is this and if you go to the the the parish where it says permitted in the district in the municipal code of texture cano Arkansas 34-64 it states that as of August 19th on 2013 existing billboards were deemed nonconforming and that was due to all of the new guidelines that the city came up with. Okay. And it states that any new billboard must be within 660 feet from a federal highway, which would be I30 or highway 49. Uh current structures are quote allowed to remain but would be considered non-conforming. So based on the 660 ft rule, the structure in question is nonconforming due to spacing because of the space or the distance, if you will, from I30. That's the only reason that it became nonconforming was it wasn't close enough to I30. And so according to the same ordinance, if you go to the next page, if you look at section 36-67, it states, and I quote, nonconforming, which this is due to the spacing or the distance of the billboards, may be replaced with a digital billboard. Um, and a lot of the additional verbiage is for new construction. And this isn't a new construction. The board's not going anywhere. the board's been there

forever. Um, so what we're asking to do is to upgrade the location, upgrade the image of the city, uh, hopefully assist the city if there's ever an Amber Alert or a silver alert or, god forbid, any type of national emergency that the citizens of the city need to be aware of what's going on. Um, and the the I didn't when I was speaking to everyone in the city and of course no one really gave me any push back as far as what we're doing and why we're doing it. The last two pages are in your packet simply to show you what a digital billboard looks like. And from from a lay person standing on the road, you're not going to know any difference if it's digital or not. And so I'm I'm here as a representative. I have Tyler Parsons and Ryan Ryan Zudic from uh Lindmark here to answer any questions that I might not be able to answer for you. Um but it's it's an upgrade for the city. It's an upgrade for us. It's an upgrade for our customers. They're able to change their ads a lot more quickly at a at a less expense. there's there's a less of an expense to change an ad if it's digital and it can happen a lot more quickly. So, if you have a business and you're having a all of a sudden you want to have a sale next weekend, we can change the artwork like that versus having to go through all of the having a vinyl printed and sending somebody out there. It's much more expeditious to get it done that way. Uh, and I'm available to answer any questions. If I don't have the answers, I'm sure Tyler or Ryan does. Okay. Any questions?

Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Y'all have a nice evening. Okay. You, too. Is there any others here to for or against the project? Seeing none, any questions of the commissioners? If not, we'll we'll call for a motion. I'll make the motion to approve the upgrade. Okay. Motion to motion to approve and second. Ro. Steven Frost. Yes. Anita Picket. Yes. Jason Dupri. Yes. Dr. Eerson. Yes. Chris Owens. Yes. And Chairman Neil.

Yes. All right. Request by Kimberly Jameson to reszone a property located at 48 on the right. Reszone the property located at 48 Vic Rock Circle R1 rule residential to A1 limited mixed use rule property is legally described as all of lot 2A replat of lots two and three of Rocky Top Creek subdivision containing 3.14 acres more or less uh 35 to 15 south to 28 west Miller County, Arkansas, Ward One.

Okay. So, Miss Jameson wants she came to us and wanted to put us build a storage building on her property for her personal use. And as you know, the only zone you can do that in without a house is A1. So, the property, Big Rock Circle, Big Rock Circle comes in right like this. And she's got access here. It's zoned R1 right now. There is water available. There's no sewer available. She's aware of that. Um, is Miss Jameson here?

Okay. Any questions?

Any questions with Jamie? No.

Okay. Is there anyone here to speak for the project before? State your name and address. My name is Stacy Grammar. I'm here representing Kimberly Jameson on this uh property, the lots two and three Rocky Top Creek subdivision. the she purchased this three something acres last year about this time and she's had some clearing done on it and she's under she's got house plans here for about a million dollar home and she's requested to be able to build a 24 by30 storage building and I've got the plat for the storage building here and uh what she's got is she's wanting she's got already got a bunch of household items for new constructions, a lot of light fixtures, the pl a lot of plumbing fixtures, stuff like that that she wants to store there. Plus, she's also got she's right now she's got two pods costing about 600 a month for storage. And she was she had the slab done and was not aware that she had to have a permit for this building cuz we were told by several people even the guy that done the the uh clearing and the pad, oh, you don't have to have a permit for a metal building. And come to find out, well, we do. So, and I can show you on here where she's already on the survey where she's already got the the pad done and it it meets the 30 ft off the property line and all that whatever you know what's required from the city and she just asking permission to go ahead and uh y'all's blessing to

get started on this building that she's already put a down payment on. And come to find out that now they're waiting on her to get a permit. Okay, if that makes sense. Yeah. Any questions? All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone here in opposition to the request? Seeing none, the chair would entertain a motion. I move to approve the request for the storage building. Okay. Motion to approve the request. Second.

Second. Roll call. Steven Cross. Yes. Anita Piket. Yes. Jason Dupree. Yes. Dr. Hickerson. Uh Chris Owen. Yes. And uh Chairman Neil, yes. Can I can I ask another question? What is the next what's our next step?

We I'll get you a letter out. So, well, first it has to go to the board of directors. So, it'll go to the board of directors the first meeting in June and then when they approve it, um I'll ask which means it'll be effective immediately since she's already got money spent on it. And then after that, you can I'll get you a letter. Appreciate it. Thank you. All righty.

Item number six, conditional use permit request by Robinette Capri Stewart Johnson for a condition conditional use permit. Property is legally described as all of lot 8, lot one of Castle Oaks third subdivision, Miller County, Arkansas. 05-15 south 28 west containing.33 acres more or less.

Okay. So, this request has changed um since the meeting started. Originally, they were wanting to operate, they've been operating an inhome daycare out of their house. They had built a building that they wanted to operate as a daycare. Um, the state law has now changed. We didn't think they could operate an in-home daycare out of our two according to our ordinances. The state law has changed. We cannot prevent someone from operating an inhome daycare out of a home that they live in. The only thing that we have any say over is parking and traffic. Um, this house is located. I think some of you said you driven over there. This is McDonald Drive here. Jefferson is over here. This is Mount Olive and this is Timber Creek right here. It goes up, makes a loop, comes back down. Um, so if they since they've decided to operate an inhome daycare and use that building for some other purpose, then we can't prevent them from operating that daycare out of their home. So, the only thing we have any say over is parking and traffic flow. And I think if you'll look in the packets I gave you, there's several letters of support from their immediate neighbors indicating that they have not been disruptive to the neighborhood and they are here if you have any questions for them.

Is there any difference in the number of uh kids that can be uh for in-house daycare as opposed to a building? probably there that's a licensing question for the state. Okay. So in home still has to have state license. Is that what you I think anything under six children you do not have to be licensed. Six. Okay. Over six. Six kids or older you have to have a license. And you said the only thing we had a say over was parking and traffic flow. Correct.

What kind of say do we have? I mean not to park on the street or what? Well, I mean that is that's okay. I mean Okay, but I think based on the letters I've gotten from their neighbors, right, they've not been disruptive to the neighborhood so far. So based on the requests as as it is right now requesting to to do an in-house daycare. Well, we can't we can't tell them they can't do an in-house daycare. That's state law. Well, excuse me. Let me So unless we have something to say about the parking then that we don't have any there's nothing else for us to do

just for right now the request is a conditional use permit here. The request was a conditional use permit to operate a daycare out of this building which they built in their backyard. And since this building is not a residence that they live in, it's not an inhome daycare. It's considered a daycare center. That was the original request. Okay. So, like you said, the new request doesn't require The new request requires nothing from us. Okay. So, unless y'all have any questions. How many children do you have to address? I don't understand.

I don't understand exactly what what we need to do. We don't need to do anything. This all basically they basically withdrew their request. This all came up. Yeah, this all came up before right before the meeting started. I just didn't know what to do with the state license. You got 16 kids in the building. It's all based off square footage and

no bas. That's how they dictated the max inhouse dayare. Okay. All right. Well, we'll proceed to item number seven then. Request by conditional use permit. Request by Premier High School for a conditional use permit. Property is legally described as lot 14, block one of Oakland Heights, second containing 38 acres more or less. Ward four. Okay. So, this is this shopping center on Stateline. Um, Dixie Diner used to be right over here. It's then it was Reggie's and now it's Country Cafe or something. Premier already has a conditional use permit to operate out of this space right here. They are wanting to expand into this property down here

and they need a conditional use permit to do that. Okay. Is there anyone here from premier? There's someone here if you have any questions. Okay. Would you like to come forward and state your name and address and tell us whatever you want to about the project?

Yes sir. Thank you board. This my name is Brad Schilcoat. I'm with WDD Architects. We represent the Responsive Ed Corporation for this project. So it is, let me put on my glasses. Bear with me a second. So when sorry. So the original project was 2023. Uh it was maxed out at 150 students for the 3,000 square ft space. What the school is asking now is to they want to lease the additional space which will be 2450 uh square feet. It's not adding additional students. This is career education space. So much like a high school builds on for additional uses. This is all they're doing. They're going to commit to not going above the 150 students. They just want to give them more opportunity. So the goal is not they won't need any additional parking, any bus drop off, just rent the additional space. The space itself use is capped at 49 people for occupancy for fire suppression requirements and storm shelter which is now required by the state fire prevention code. So, and the spaces will not be connected. We've met with the fire marshall. They will not connect the spaces. So, there'll be two separate spaces.

Okay. All right. Any and I answer any questions. All right. Any questions? Thank you, sir. Thank you. I guess for the record there, is there anyone here in opposition? Seeing none, the chair would entertain a motion. Motion to approve. Question. Motion to approve. Second. Second. Motion approved and a second. Rooff. Steven Cross. Yes. I need to pick it. Yes. Jason D. Yes. Dr. Hickers. Yes. Chris Owens. Yes. And Anderson. Yes.

All right. Anderson. Number eight. We're going to skip because they didn't have all their stuff ready. All right. Okay. We're going to move to item number nine. Yeah. Number eight was a final plaid approval and we're still waiting on TWWU's um testing results. Okay.

So, item number nine, let me get to item number nine. Item number nine is a request by Roger and Johnny Miller to reszone the property at 1206 Phillips from M1 Limited Manufacturing to R3 low density residential. Uh this is the property here on I think that's Phillips Lane it's on. This is the property and here's here's the here you go. So this is all R3 and it's this piece of property right here that they want to reszone to R3. I don't know why it's M1. Maybe at some point there was something there. Um, but they want to build a house on it. So, they want to reszone it to R3.

Good. Which makes this is like the anti-spot spot zoning right and I don't know why this is M1. Um, but anyway, that's the request. All right. And they're not here. So, no one's here. So, uh, any questions of Jamie? Despite my general rule of not approving things for people that don't show up, I uh I make a motion to approve through. All right. Motion to approve. Second. Ok. Steven Cross. Yes. Pick it. Yes. Jason Druit. Yes. Dr.

Yes. Miss Owen. Yes. And Anderson? Yes. All right. I think that there being no further business. Okay. Chair would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to second. Motion and second to adjurnn. All in favor? I.