Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

The Texas County Arkansas Planning Commission is called to order. Agendas are available on the rail, 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 the request to 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, and be prepared to respond to any questions that members of the Planning Commission may have for you. First item is roll call.

Stephen Cross.

Here.

Anita Picknick. Here. Jason Dupree.

Here.

Chairman Neal is absent. Dr. Hickerson. Here. Chris Owens. Here. And Corey Mobs.

Here.

Okay, so we have six present and one absent. With six members being present, we have a quorum, so we are able to conduct business. Item number two is an adoption of the minutes from last meeting. Okay. Chair is open for a motion.

I move we approve the minutes.

I second. All right. We'll do a voice vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? Excellent. Item number three is a request by Eric McCoy on behalf of Logan Ellis with Northwoods Properties to rezone the property located on the southeast corner of Beach and MLK Parkway from R4 medium density and C3 open display commercial to R4 medium density. Properties legally described as all lots 10 through 12, block 14 of the original city containing 0.47 acres more or less. And I will turn it over to Ms. Jamie.

Okay. Mr. McCoy is not here. He's a truck driver and he's on the road today. He did call me this morning. This property is on the corner of MLK and Beach. This is Klein Park over here. This is where county comes in to MLK. And this is the McDonald's that's on 7th Street. So the property, I wanted to show you this bigger picture of how it's zoned. The property is actually three lots. Two of those lots are zoned commercial, and one of the lots is zoned residential. He wants to rezone it all residential to build a house on there. You can see everything around it on this side and on the other side of 9th Street is commercial. This is all residential. This lot's empty, this lot's empty, this lot's empty. There's water and sewer, obviously. This is the actual lot. There are, now this is looking down MLK Boulevard. There are houses. The lot would actually be right here on the other side of Beach Street here.

There was a two-story house there that used to be there, wasn't there?

I have no idea.

At one time.

When I was a kid.

I think it burned down in the late 90s, if I remember.

So there are some houses over there on MLK. These are the houses across the street. This is Beach. This is County. Klein Park is right there. He wants to build a home there, so he wants to rezone it all residential.

So just for everybody's reminder of benefit, R4 medium density, in general, what all is allowed?

So R4 is the one that allows duplexes and triplexes and multifamily housing.

So why not go to ARC? One or two, which would be residential because that's... We can do that.

You can go more restrictive. You can't go less restrictive. We went with R4 because that's what all of this over here is. But you could go R1 or you can't go R1. You could go R2 or R3.

And since we can't ask him any questions, that would just make it to where?

R2 would pretty much limit it to a house, one home. R3, he could do a duplex, but not a triplex.

And his intent is a single family home?

His intent is a single family home. He initially wanted to put a trailer there, and I said no. So he knows he has to build a house.

Can we amend it and say it to R2?

Mm-hmm. You can go less restrictive. I mean, you can go more restrictive.

I would be in favor of that because once you do the four.

Exactly.

You know, we're approving the family house verbally.

Since we can't ask him questions. Yeah, you can go R2.

So, yeah. I know he's not here, but is there anybody else here that would like to speak in favor of this request? Is there anybody that would like to speak in opposition to this request? And I assume everybody within 300 feet was notified.

Yes, and we've had no phone calls about this at all.

All right, any more questions or comments?

My question would be, we make a motion to amend it to an R2 to be approved, or we just do it all at once? You can do it all at once.

We can do it all at once. Just the motion would be to rezone it to R2. Or R3, rather. Well, it depends on what you want. R2 would pretty much mean it had to be a single-family home. R3 would let him put a duplex there if he wanted to.

You know, my thoughts, his intention was single-family. If he changes his mind, he can always come back and ask for a rezone if he really wanted something different. So that's my thoughts.

So that would be R2.

I'd like to make a motion, and then we'll rezone it to R2.

I second.

OK, we've got a motion and a second to rezone the property to R2. Roll call, please.

Steven Cross.

Yes.

Anita Pickett. Yes.

Dr. Hickers. Yes.

Chris Owens. Yes. Corey Moms. Yes. And Chairman Dupree.

Yes. uh and this will go to commissioners this will go to the board of directors the first meeting in august whatever that first monday is very good item number four uh is a request by sandra suman apologize if i said that wrong as a trustee to rezone the property located at 6600 sugar hill from r1 rural residential to a1 limited mixed use Property that is legally described as all of lot two, more subdivision, containing 20.71 acres more or less.

Okay. This is the property. It's 20 acres. It's on the corner of Sugar Hill, and this is I-30 right here. This is Harris Lane. I don't know if you all know where Harris Lane is. I think I do, but I'm not sure. But it's on the corner of I-30 and Sugar Hill Road. The property is zoned R1 right now, which is rural residential. Ms. Suman wants to build a storage shed there for her own personal use. And in order to do that, there's not a house on the property. So in order to do that, it has to be rezoned to A1. This is the property. It's just wooded. You can't really see much from the road. There have been two people who oppose this. One is an adjacent property owner who was concerned about the potential of the property being used for storage without anybody living there. And the other gentleman just said he opposed it due to his plans for his own personal property. But he didn't tell me what those plans were. I will tell you, he does not live on the property now. His intention is to build on it later on, but right now he doesn't live there. And his property is across I-30.

so go back to the map this uh so i'm thinking that harris that's the the road that cuts right by docks or pops place okay it goes it goes downhill and then it comes up and that's in that flat right there so i think pops is right there where it's right there on the corner oh yeah here's pops yep that's the cut through now now i've gone through i've worked out that way and

traveled Harris Lane many times. A good rain, that water will come across the road. Yeah, it will.

Ms. Suman is here. This is the gentleman. This is I-30. This is the gentleman who was concerned about what he was going to do with his property and how it would affect it. I will tell you, he initially, he's called me a dozen times. He doesn't live here. He lives in Dallas. His initial concern was that the property would be allowed to be used for commercial, and I explained to him that with A1, you could use it for a corn maze or a wedding venue, but he was talking about rodeos, and I'm like, no, you couldn't use it for a rodeo.

What's his zone?

I think it's all zoned over there. It's all zoned R1. Yeah, it's all R1.

right so uh if there's anybody here that would like to speak in favor of this um come forward and state your name and address please hi i'm sandra suman i'm actually the owner of the property at 6600 sugar hill and i would like to rezone it a1 just so i can have more options to develop the property um my first intent was basically to just you know plant a garden some fruit trees with eventually having a barn or workshop with ultimately a home but i can't do that with an r1 i have to build the home first so i just want more options to develop the property most of that property is in a flood zone so where we we would be working would be primarily see if we can point here so all this pretty much is in a flood zone only this area right here is not in a flood zone and then this area right here so right now we're looking at this area which really cannot be seen from sugar hill nor can it be seen from here nor can it be seen from harris so this is where we're looking but as i mentioned before it's just to give options to help develop the property and that's why we're looking at the a1 yeah which is i mean that's we created a one year or two ago however long it's been was

Pretty much specifically for this case, for somebody to put a shop or something before a house.

Yeah, and I don't foresee what our plans are to affect him. Who was the other one that was opposed?

Right here? Or here?

Harris? Here? Okay.

How would you access your property? Like, how do you access it now?

So right now, the only way for us to access is right here. right yes ma'am may I ask why these folks were opposed okay yeah there's no intention for storage it ultimately it's going to be for residents

All right. Any other questions for Ms. Suman? No.

And you live in Texarkana?

Yes, I actually live off of McDonald.

Okay.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anybody else that would like to speak in favor? All right. How about anybody that would like to speak in opposition to the request? All right. Any other questions, comments, or discussion? I will entertain a motion.

I move we approve the rezoning to A1 mixed use.

I second. Okay, we have a motion and a second to rezone the property to A1 limited mixed use. Roll call, please.

Steven Cross. Yes. Anita Pickett. Yes. Dr. Hickerson. Yes. Chris Owens. Yes. Corey Moms. Yes. And Chairman Dupree.

Yes. Okay, so that passed, so it'll also go to the August 3rd, the first Monday.

I'll get you a letter out tomorrow with the dates for the board meeting.

All right, item number five. This is a request by Gary Davis on behalf of Kevin Seddens, apologize if I got that wrong, to rezone the property located at 1401 Dudley from 01 Office Quiet to C1 General Commercial. The property is legally described as all of lots 1 and 2, block 2 of Taurus, 2915 South 28 West, Miller County, containing .32 acres, more or less.

Okay. Is Mr. Davis here? no okay um this property is located on college hill this is east street this is the dollar general on college hill right here and this is dudley and this is the shopping center where save a lot used to be i think it is a shopping center there this is the building it used to be a dentist office Mr. Seddon has actually passed away. It's his estate that has this now. And they're looking to, I'm not sure if Mr. Davis is going to rent it or purchase it. Right now, it's zoned 01, which it has to be for a dentist office that's office quiet. Funeral homes are not allowed in 01, and that's what he wants to do here. There is obviously sewer and water there. um we've had no opposition to this now uh corey had mentioned earlier there has been some discussion on facebook about a crematorium that's going in this is different the crematorium is going in over on east street so this is a different facility

All right, do we have anybody here that would like to speak as Mr. Davis, or there's nobody here? So are you in favor? Anybody that would like to speak in favor of this request? Or opposition? If you could, go ahead and step up and state your name and address, please.

I'm the owner of LS and K Properties, LLC. My name is Lou, Santa for Kiker. I actually own the house that's actually beside of that. And... This property has a lot of meaning to me. I grew up on College Hill side, went to school there. I will tell you this, I have a lot of good memories over there. I'll try to make this as brief as possible. My father bought this house 1401 Dudley several many years ago actually I Was like maybe 20 when he bought it My father Charles Sanford recently passed away and He left this house to me It had significance to me because I When I was going to college, my husband and I were actually buying this home. But in order for us to go to Louisiana Tech University, I wasn't going to be able to be here to be able to pick up rent, do all the things that needed to be done. And that was more important for me to get my education and get my degree. along with my husband, who also got his degree. We came back later because my Uncle Bobby, a lot of people don't know, might not remember economy lumber, but my parents asked me to come back, so when I did come back, my dad was determined that I was going to get this home back. So when my dad died two years ago, there was no doubt in my mind that my dad was going to leave me this house on Dudley Street, because it was the first house that I had. But at the time, I didn't know I was going to get married. I was going to move to Reston, Louisiana. But I did, and I came back. We do have some winners there now. Oh, it's not? No.

This doesn't rezone your property.

You won't rezone it? No. But it's just going to be one little bit?

It'll just be that square that gets rezoned.

Okay, so then our property won't?

No.

Okay.

It doesn't cross the line.

No, it'll just be that address right there, 1401. It used to be the Denison.

But we have no problem with it.

Okay.

All right. I just wanted to make sure because, I mean, I did get this letter. I told you that.

No problem at all getting clarification on exactly what's going on.

It's just, you know, when I heard the name and everything, I was like, okay, because it's been a lot to me. So maybe some people might not, but it did because my Aunt Barbara was also on the Board of Directors. barber monitor barber monitor and so it um so you don't own the property that we're talking about tonight no no next door the next door next door it's right next door to it it will affect it yes but the reason i have a little bitty house right beside it and that's what it's going to be the effect it will be that little bitty house

You don't own 1401 Dudley? Yes, I do. You do?

I do. I'm so confused.

So confused.

1401 Dudley, according to the tax records, belongs to Kevin Hall.

All right. Anybody else in favor or in opposition to this request? All right. Any other questions, comments, or discussion?

The owner of 1401 is not present tonight.

Correct. The owner of 1401 is deceased. It's his estate.

It's his estate, but no one in 1401 estate is here tonight. Correct. Okay. Got it.

And I guess you've got proof that Mr. Davis has the rights to ask this on their behalf?

Yes. We've got their signature on the form. The Planning Commission form has a spot for the owner's signature if it's not the owner requesting it. And this would, while it is a funeral home, it would bring another business to College Hill. Right.

It would be another business, which it's currently vacant. I mean, they've got property taxes coming in. Somebody does. But this would be taxable revenue income. OK. I move we approve the funeral home and the rezoning from 01 to C1. Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second to rezone the property to C1 General Commercial. Roll call, please.

Stephen Cross. Yes. Anita Pickett. Yes. Dr. Hickerson. Yes. Chris Owens. Yes. Corey Mobs. Yes. And Chairman Dupree.

Yes. All right, so that passes. So it'll also go to the August 3rd, maybe. I think the 3rd is Monday. Very good. Item number six. This is a request by Raymond Paul Taylor for a conditional use permit. Property is legally described as part of South Half Northeast, 0316 South 28 West, Miller County, containing six acres, more or less.

Okay, so this is the property here. It's six acres. This is Rocky Creek Road here. This is South Rondo Road. Genoa Road is up here. So it's a ways off of East 9th.

Is that the railroad?

Where's the gun range? Oh, I don't know. It's on Rocky Creek, so is it made down?

That's on South. Ah, okay. So this is north of the railroad. Looks like it's kind of, is it the Bowie's place?

Yeah, this is Thomas Bowie's place up here.

This is Thomas Bowie up here.

Okay, go ahead.

No, you're fine. The property is zoned R1 right now. Mr. Taylor has indicated that he would like to have four calves. on the property and you know you can have one per acre and he's got six acres there's water out there there's no septic of course this is the property and we have had some opposition to this there was concern that there was no shelter or barn for the cattle There was concerns that they would not be properly taken care of. One of the neighbors was concerned that the grandson would be in charge of the cattle, and he had had issues with the grandson. Mr. Taylor is here.

OK, let's start with anybody who'd like to come speak in favor of this. Mr. Taylor?

Mr. Taylor.

You could step forward and state your name and address. And then unless your intended use is different from what we've already heard, I guess we'll just have any questions or comments for them.

Yes, I am Raymond Taylor, and I do own that property. And as far as being able to take care of him, my grandson, which will be 19 to 30 this month, so you might as well say he's 19 years old, He is the one that will be helping me or taking care of those. I know that we do not have a fence all around us at this present time, but we've already got a permit to build a fence to make sure the fence is adequate to take care of them and keep them in. It's not that I'm going to be responsible all by myself to take care of them. They're just going to be on my property. It would be him helping me take care of them and take care of them as far as making sure they have shelter and protected. They will be sure and be protected and taken care of. And he's already been promised that he can get these calves because he knows a rancher that has a large herd that every year he has so many calves that the mama cows reject. And we're going to get them as babies and raise them. They're not going to be for a profit. They're going to be just as pets to raise. But as far as having adequate ability to take care of them, that's not going to be a problem. Because also my grandson, which is 19, my granddaughter, which is 17, and my son and daughter-in-law are going to be all involved in taking care of them. It's not just me, myself. I've got the acreage. I've got the grass. They don't have it where they live. So they're going to use mine as being able to have four kids.

You live on that property? Sir? You live on that property?

I live on that property. I moved down here in 2017, retired, and not put up a fence yet. But at this point, as I've already stated, we've got permit to do it, and we're going to do it. He's well-established. He works for his dad, but also he has his own company on the side, so he's a well-established, responsible person that we will take care of.

Anybody have any questions for Mr. Taylor?

Since it is in the city limits, is there a... Like can we have cows within the city limits?

You can have cattle in R1 with a conditional use permit.

Okay.

One per acre max. Okay. So if we approved it, it could go to six in theory.

Well, it's conditional. So, yeah, we'd pick the number.

Yeah.

Okay. Yeah.

What kind of fence are you putting up?

I really don't know what you call fences around here, but it's going to be what, when I was growing up, we called hog fence. It's about salt high with a barbed wire on fonts.

We still do.

It will be approved to keep cows in. Now, when I grew up in Colorado, they have changed terminology so much about what fence is how it's described anymore. because it's been since 74 since I lived on a farm. So everything has changed a whole lot, but I will assure you that it will be a fence that will hold the cattle.

Oh, yes, sir.

And as you notice, we already got a gate on the front part of it, and we are building a fence all the way around it. There is a fence that's on the east side of it that's been there for years. It's rusted out. We're going to replace that. It will all be new fence around it when we get through, so there's not going to be a problem with any of the fence. It will be new fence with a barbed wire on top. All right.

Thank you, sir.

Okay, thank you.

Anybody else that would like to speak in favor? How about anybody that would like to speak in opposition of the request? Yes, sir. Go ahead. State your name and address for the record.

My name is Greg Shumate. I live in the property immediately next door to him. And my opposition is just as Mr. Taylor stated, he would not be taking care of the cows. His grandson that does not live on the property would be. And that's been my issue with the grandson coming down the road, flying down the road, running up and down. I have video I can go get to show you where the grandson running up and down the fence at night with a loud tractor with no muffler at 830 at night. And just intentionally I'm making noise to aggravate my dog and my wife. I was out of town. My wife called me. She said, this is driving me crazy. My opposition is that the fact that Mr. Taylor is not able to take care of the cows by himself, and he's going to have to have the grandson that is there up and down the road, and he doesn't live there. He doesn't live there. So he already, where the grandson lived, they already had to have some animals removed from where they lived. So my fear is it's not just cows. It's going to be goats. Everything else when it all ends up. So that's my opposition to it. And there's no water. There is not water on that property. He's currently on well water, but there's no pond or anything for the cows. There was talk of Mr. Taylor's grandson diverting the creek to make a pond. And I'm like, no, you're not diverting the creek to make a pond. That would put all of our property in jeopardy. So that's my opposition. All right. Do we have any questions?

When you say he's up and down the road, what does that mean?

His grandson drives real fast. He's a teenager. Teenagers will do what the teenagers do. And Rocky Creek is already on one of the roads that's planned to be repaved. And there are potholes and everything, and he's going too fast. That's basically it.

Is the three inch water line that's listed in our packet enough to water cattle?

He's currently not on city water. He's currently on well water, which is also in violation of the city.

Not necessarily.

He bought after annexation. But anyways, that's my opposition. All that's all side stuff. It's my problem with the grandson and the intent of what happens when Mr. Taylor passes away. Now we've got this in place. And that's my opposition.

So conditional use goes with the property owner, correct? No, it goes with the property. It goes with the property. If they ever stopped with the cows,

I've been there 30 years and there's never been a cow so and I'm not opposed to animals I have a dog myself so

Sir, I respect what you're saying, but, you know, the idea of a teenager speeding down the highway is a little beyond what the planning committee... I got you. Yeah.

Right, but my point is that's who's coming to take care of the cows. Okay. Not Mr. Taylor. Well, but...

again i mean he could be coming just to visit so so you know yes speeding is a law enforcement issue noise ordinances is a law enforcement issue uh i would assume we have some kind of agency in this state for animals not being taken care of cattle not being taken care of if that becomes a concern uh i think our prerogative here is just is that a you know is four cows an acceptable use of this land. And that's really all we consider here for this board.

Fair enough. I voice my opposition. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Taylor, if you want to come back. Yeah, go ahead and come back up to the mic, if you don't mind.

I was trying to be a very good neighbor and not add this to this. But the problem is, My grandson does have a tractor that does not have a muffler, but the curfew is 10 o'clock for noise. Secondly, his fence, he is fighting me against the fence replacement. He told me that if I got one inch on his property with that new fence, he was contacting his lawyer. because he does not want me to cut some trees down that's on my property, because when the survey was done, and I just had the property resurveyed, and new stakes put up to where the property line is, that they're actually on my property. and he does not want him down. He does not want me to replace the fence. And as far as driving up and down the road, my grandson, yes, drives a little excess, but he is not the only one. If Greg would be honest with you, there was somebody that drove through his yard and tore up his nice yard just because Greg irritated him. He has an idea of who it did, but no proof. So he puts up cameras to get proof. I didn't say all that to begin with, but Greg broke all this up about my grandson. I just said the fence. I was trying to be neighborly. But the whole problem is, is the fence. Because when I moved there, I cleared the property of all trees. From the very time I started cutting trees, he says, you're cutting my privacy down. It was all on my property. I had the rights to cut it. And now, since I'm wanting to put a new fence up, he doesn't want me to put that fence up. And he told me, as I've already stated, if I got one inch on his property that he was calling his attorney. And I've already contacted the attorney and found out that I had anything that's on my property I can cut down. And that's where the beef is if him not wanting. And as far as my grandson and his family, they live two miles, I think it's like two or two and a half miles from where I live. So it's not that they can't come over and help. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Any other questions? comments from the crowd for or against all right questions comments concerns discussion who covers cattle for the city uh i don't i mean the the pound i don't know i don't know we do have there's we've approved uh Horses. I think we approved some cattle. I mean, I've been on this thing for 14, 15 years, yeah. Yeah, we are... Then it would go to Miller County.

Then it would go to Miller County. Okay.

Yeah. And like I said, you know, so this board, we look at land use. know with or without the cows he can replace his fence with without the cows he can cut the trees we've covered all the other issues really our decision is is this property and its location uh is that a good use or an acceptable use to to put four cows on and uh that's the decision we get to make

And this is conditional use, so it wouldn't be a rezoning of anything. It would just be some calves.

So whatever we motion to approve. So we couldn't do more than six. Six would be the absolute max we could do. He's only requested four. So if we approve four, that's all he can have is four.

If they make babies, that's them problem.

Well, without a bull, that's going to be hard. But yes, next year, if this person wanted to give more calves, he'd have to sell off something to get more. Four is the max he could have. And this permit goes with the property. So like I said, if he sold it or somebody else took possession, as long as they kept four cows on it, the new owner could keep four cows on it without coming back to us.

But if they live six months with no cows on it, then it just defaults and goes away.

OK. And we probably do a few conditional uses a year. It seems like we used to do more. But most of the time, when we rezone something, you open the world up to anything that's legal in that zone. The nice thing about conditional use is it's extremely limited. It's four cows. of two, four cows.

Once again, that's been my concern. Four cows, okay, fine. But then we don't end up with goats, sheep, and everything else on the flank. You can't have those sheep inside the city when it's in the way.

Maybe a horse, right? I don't know if you... What's the combo of horse and cows? Is it one for one? so so he could come back and ask for one horse and three cows all right is everybody clear on the there's no more discussion i'd like to make the motion that we approve the conditional use permit for for four cows four max okay so we have a motion and a second to approve a conditional use permit to allow up to four Cows on this property. Roll call.

Stephen Cross?

Yes.

Anita Pickett? Yes. Dr. Hickerson? Yes. Chris Owens? Yes. Corey Mobbs? Yes. Chairman Dupree?

Yes.

And that does not go, right? That doesn't go anymore.

So that passes. It does not have to go to the city. So any documentation you need, you'll send to them?

Yes.

Okay. Do we have any other new business? That's the last.

I move we adjourn. Second. Jason, you don't ever have to worry with me not being there.