Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

The regular meeting of the Texas County Arkansas Planning Commission is called to order. Agendas are available on the rails, 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. Be prepared to respond to any questions that members of the planning commissions may have of you. Thank you. Item number one, roll call. Stephen Cross.

Here.

Anita Pickett. Here. Jason Dupree is absent. Dr. Hickerson. Here. Chris Owens. Here. Corey Maltz. Here. And Chairman Neal.

Here. We have six of the seven here, so we have enough to have a quorum. Item number three. Excuse me. Item number two, adoption of the summarized minutes. Have you had a chance to take a look at the minutes?

I move we approve the minutes.

I second. Move and second. All in favor? Any opposed? None opposing? Minutes passed. Item 3, the honorary street naming request by Julian E. Turner Sr. to designate 15th Street between Ash and County in honor of the Turner family. Property is described as approximately 728 feet of 15th Street running between Ash and County, Ward 3.

This is the property here. The Turners own these four pieces of property. Two of them are on ash, two of them are on beach. The street toppers would go on ash and county. This is in the historic district. I went and looked. There's not a historic district topper there already. Some of our historic districts have the brown topper. This one does not. The Turners have owned this property here for 75 years. These other three properties they've bought five years ago. There is one other property in the neighborhood. Lost my pointer. It's just going to be one of those days. This property right here, the lady has owned one year longer than the Turners have owned this one. We would not be readdressing... The houses. This would just be a street topper that goes on top of the sign. Is there anyone here from the Turner family? Do you have something you'd like to say?

Come on up.

Good evening.

Good evening. Good evening. First of all, thank you for allowing me to come up today. I am not a Turner, but I spend a lot of time in their home. I'm representing Julian Turner, who is my best friend. He was born July the 1st, 1953, and I was born August the 23rd, 1950. 53. We went first grade all the way through Texas County Arkansas School District together.

Go ahead and give us your name and your address.

My name is Ricky Jones and I live on 10th Street. Julian asked me to come in for him today. He's a bishop in his church and he's traveling and he had a letter that I want to read very briefly. The Turner family respectfully requested that the area near our long-time family home at 1420 B Street received the honorary street designation Turner. You will understand that B Street will remain the official street name and that Turner will appear on a smaller commemorative sign. For generations, the home has served as an important gathering place for the Turner family. It represents far more than a physical address. It is a place where children were raised, family traditions were established, faith was strengthened, and values such as service, education, hard work, and respect for others was passed from one generation to the next. The Turner family roots in Texas County have still crossed many decades. Family members have contributed to military service, businesses, community environment, support of neighbors. His parents, the late Jesse and Estelle Turner, helped establish a family legacy on faith, responsibility, perseverance, and service. His father was a deacon at the church for 50 years, historic County Baptist Church for 50 years, and his mother was a member of the Church of the Living God on Law Street, all in our neighborhood. Although most of the descendants now live in different parts of the country, they come back for family reunions. The family is a very musically talented family. They had a big musical, free musical at the Mount Grove Baptist Church on Arkansas Boulevard last month, and they also had a family reunion here last month. So he wants to respectfully ask the city of Tennessee County to approve the honorary designation Turner near 1420 Beach Street in recognition of the Turner family's longstanding presence, contribution, and multigenerational connection to the community. She mentioned that Julian has bought three other properties in addition to his home property that face each other on Beach Street. And his goal is one day to have him to turn that property that he bought as maybe a story of our neighborhood in the San Francisco neighborhood of Texas County, Arkansas. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you.

When he spoke to me, he had indicated he wanted 15th Street, but do I hear you say he wants Beach Street?

Well, his house faces Beach Street.

Well, that's what I thought.

And then he bought the lot on the corner of 15th and Beach. He brought two lots across the street.

So then we would put the topper on the corner of Beach and 15 and then Beach and 14.

Okay. So instead of it being the stars, it would be vertical. Right.

I'm sorry, were there any other questions? Thank you very much. Thank you.

The information in our packet shows there's no opposition. Is there anyone here that has any opposition to this? Seeing none, the chair would entertain a motion.

I move we approve this sign topper to the top of East 15th and Beach and East 14th and Beach. Second.

We have a motion and a second to approve.

Steven Cross?

Yes.

I need a picket. Yes. Dr. Hickerson?

Yes.

Chris Owens? Yes. Cory Monks? Yes. And Chairman Neal?

Yes. The request is approved. And does it need any further approval by the board? Okay. Thank you to the Turner family. I know several members of the family, most notably John Turner, worked for the Extension Service, and I worked for an adjoining USDA agency. I worked a number of years to get this. This is a good thing. Item number four, a conditional use permit request by Bobby Hamilton for a conditional use permit in order to convert the property at 411 East 7th to an apartment. Property is legally described as each part of all lots 7, 8, through 9 of the original city containing .16 acres, more or less, or two.

Okay. This is the property here. It's on the corner of 7th and Laurel. This is the building. I think it used to be maybe a fish market. I think he said at one time. I think so. He wants to convert this to an apartment. He owns the property next to it also, which is on the next agenda item. Right now it's zone C3, and in order to do an apartment there, he has to have a conditional use permit because anything that's allowed in R4 – we can do in C3 with the conditional use permit. There is, of course, water and sewer there. He is not here, so I don't know if you all want to.

I got lots of questions.

OK. For him? Mm-hmm. OK. Well, then, do we want to table this?

I would think so. If we have a number of questions and nobody to.

Okay. Then I need a motion to table it. A motion we table it for my questions.

Motion and a second to table this item. Do we need to do a roll call vote?

Yeah. Just for record. Steven Cross.

Yes.

Anita Pickett. Yes. Anderson Neal. Yes. Dr. Rickerson. Yes. Chris Owens. Yes. And Corey Long.

Yes, sir. Yes.

Okay.

Go ahead.

I was just going to say that it was approved to table it. All right. Are we ready for the next item? Yes. Okay. Conditional use permit number six. No, that's number five. Bobby Hamilton. That's all over the place here. Request by Barbara Hampton for a conditional use permit in order to convert the property at 714 Laurel to a residence. The property is legally described as all of parts lot 789 and all of lot 10 of the original city containing 5-1 acres, more or less, Ward 2.

Okay, this is the property next to the property that we just tabled. It used to be the old village station club. This is the building. And he wants to convert it to a single family home. And of course, he would have to bring it up to code for single family homes and all that. Same situation. It's zone C3 right now, so he has to have a conditional use permit. There's water and sewer there. Do you want to table this one too?

All right.

I move we table it because I got questions.

You got a motion to table again? Second?

Second.

Volkoff?

Stephen Cross?

Yes.

Anita Pickett? Yes. Chairman Neal?

Yes.

Dr. Hickerson? Yes. Chris Owens? Yes. Corey Mobs? Yes.

Approval to table item number five. Item number six, conditional use permit request by Raquel. I'll just say T. Return on capital investment LLC for a conditional use permit at 5006 East 9th in order to have chickens. The property is legally described as west half, northwest, northwest, northeast, 27, 15 south, 28 west, Miller County, containing 1.32 acres, more or less, Ward 1.

Okay. So this is the property. It's on the corner of 82 and Meadows. This is the house. You may have seen it if you've driven down 82. It's a two-story white house. This is the rear yard, which is not pertinent anymore because that's not where she's going to put the chickens. It's zoned R1, which is the only zone that allows poultry in it, but you have to have a conditional use permit. There is water and sewer there. She's on city sewer. Now, Lenore is here. Lenore is with Animal Services. So she's here if you have any questions for her. The information I got, correct me if I'm wrong, Laura, the chickens have to have cover and shelter. They have to be contained, fenced in, and three square foot per animal. The applicant stated she wanted between nine and 12 chickens. And this is a conditional use permit so we can set the number of chickens she's allowed to have. And these are just for her personal use. There was one person that was opposed to it. They were worried about noise. Well, don't tell me this is gonna quit on me too. All right, Velvet, can you go to the next slide? The next slide. Okay, this is the enclosure that she's proposing in the next slide. And then you can see she's proposing that she would house them to the left side of her property. The person who opposed it lives on the other side of Meadows, probably up past where Meadows goes. That's the only opposition we had. Is Raquel here? Yes, she's here. She's here. And Lenore is here from Animal Services if you have any questions for her.

Okay.

I got one question. Sorry, I'm the troublemaker tonight. Sorry, y'all.

I'm always the troublemaker. Thank you for having me.

My one question is you want chickens, not roosters, correct?

I want chickens, yes.

You can't have roosters in the city. Thank goodness. That's my one question. Okay.

Could you just state your name and address?

Yes, my name is Raquel Tuzanieza, and I live at 5006 East 9th Street, Texarkana, Arkansas, 71854. Any more questions?

No. Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone here in opposition? I'm not in opposition, but I do have a question. Okay.

Come forward, please.

So my only question would be, Are you going to be raising eggs to sell eggs?

It's really eggs for my own consumption. If it's enough to sell, that's something I would like to explore down the line. Right now it's really just for me.

Okay. And so what type of flooring does your... chicken coop have? What kind of flooring is that?

Do you already have it built? I'm so sorry. No, this is the plan.

Oh, okay.

So we're looking at whatever needs to be, whatever's sustainable, easy to clean. I definitely want to walk in. Yes. And whatever the structure will need to be, I'm going to make sure it's up to standard for sure.

Okay, yeah, so we would probably need to talk about that, you know, to go over the concrete because it's going to be a little different because the way the chickens need to scratch and, you know, have dirt, but they'll need to, you know, I'm sure they'll roost inside the penthouse, right, and then they'll just run free out there in the area there. And you want how many chickens?

I'd like nine. We set up to 12, but I'm comfortable with under 12. Okay.

Are they exotic birds, or are they just your regular standard chicken?

I guess standard. I'm open to exotic, too. I haven't gone that far.

Okay. Okay. And so I guess we would need to also talk about the type of chickens. I mean, it's not a big thing, but now if you were going to try to get to peacocks and things like that. those wouldn't be allowed because then they would fall in the ordinance of the noise ordinances.

I have to keep it simple, so probably stay there. Yes, okay. Codex is what I want.

For the record, our only concern is whether or not it's appropriate to have chickens. The type of enclosure and all that is between manure and that enclosure. That's, we're not, our concern, we can have it, we can set that it has to have shelter, which is the city ordinance anyway, but our only concern is about whether or not it's appropriate to have chickens in it.

Yeah. So that would only be our concern is the cleanliness and then the, you know, where you would dispose of the droppings and things like that. That's a beautiful chicken house. Yes. You know, but, you know, we would still need to do that.

Lenore. Just for the record, could you state your name? Oh, yes.

Lenore T., the Director of Animal Services.

Okay.

Thank you.

Set our only concern, do we set a number?

You can set a number. Yeah, we can set a number.

It's a conditional use permit. You're saying between 9 and 12 is your optimum or your goal?

No, any more than that.

I make a motion that we approve the conditional use permit for 12 chicken packs. I see. Thanks so much.

All right.

Roll call.

Who was second? Stupid. Uh, Stephen Cross.

Yes.

Anita Pippitt. Yes. Chairman Neal.

Yes.

Dr. Hickerson.

Yes.

Chris Owens. Yes. Ann Cordemont. Yes.

Okay.

The request passes. All right. Item number seven, conditional use permit, request by Deborah and Paul Snyder. for a conditional use permit in order to operate and approve feline rescue at 1706 Pecan.

Okay. This is an odd one. It's not actually a rescue. City ordinance limits the number of cats a person can have to four. If they want more than four cats, they have to get a permit from animal services And then they have to get a conditional use permit from the planning commission, allowing them to have more than four cats. Honestly, I don't know why we're involved in this, but that's the rules. Lenore's here, and she can give you the background. Animal Services has been over there. They've inspected the house. They've done all that. They've set her max cats at 12. The house is in the middle of the block on Pecan between 17th and 18th. This is the house. It's zoned R3, which has nothing to do with the number of cats you have. There is water and sewer there, of course. There was one opposition because there were originally considerably more than 12 cats there. And the neighbor was concerned that it would get out of hand again and there would be more than 12 cats. But that's the only opposition we got. And I'm going to let... believe Mr. and Mrs. Snyder, and Ms. Snyder's here, and Lenore's here, and I'm going to let them answer your questions because Lenore's the one that's been in the middle. Jamie.

Jamie, question for you. You said that the neighbors didn't want it to get out of hand again. Tell me what that means.

Well, there were originally... considerably more than 12 cats. And they were afraid that there would, even though the animal services is limited to 12, that they would end up taking in additional cats and there would be more than 12 cats.

Am I allowed to say something? Yes. State your name and address. Deborah Snyder. It's 1706 Pecan. All the cats that I had, none of them were ever outside. They were indoor cats. And most of them were kittens. I got overloaded with litters of kittens from the stray mamas. And I got the mamas fixed. And then Lenore showed up and took the kittens. So I still got 12 cats. But they're the older cats. And they were ones that were either abused or abandoned. And those are the ones that I want to keep. And they're indoor cats.

Let me ask a question while you're up. When you're using the word rescue, what do you do? Do you keep them and then try to rehome them? Or what's going on?

No, I didn't rehome them. I just kept them. So that one time she did. Yeah. And some of them are kind of unadoptable.

I understand the stray cats and kittens.

Yeah.

But once you have them?

I keep them. Yeah, I keep them because some of them are unadoptable. Are they all vetted? Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah, even all the kittens that I had. Yeah, I took care of everything.

And the 12 indoor ones are already spayed and neutered and so no more babies outside?

No, no, no. Even the stray cats got spayed.

One more thing. Once, you know, things prove to not, was this something you would inspect on a regular basis or only on a complaint?

Yes, we would do a follow-up. We did speak with Ms. Snyder into the long conversation that we can't get more cats. We have to keep it limited to the 12th. So, you know, she has that understanding, and, yes, we will do follow-ups with that. The conditions of the property, the home, and the setup is phenomenal how she has it set up. She did have everybody in order as far as the spay, the neuter, the shots. She came, she purchased the breeder's permit, and she's not breeding, but to keep her in compliance with the city ordinance, she had to purchase that. And then she had to get everybody city tags, and so she took care of all of that as well. Even though the cats do not go outside, she did take care of all those things.

I have catios where they can go out. It's a screened-in area. That's it. So I don't know why the neighbor said that they'd be running loose.

deborah does have a big heart for cats so i mean and there's nothing wrong with that but she did take the responsibility of these stray cats that have been running the neighborhood um some of them were already pregnant and so that's how we ended up with the cats when we did go and visit with her she had to unfortunately choose who she was keeping and who i was taking so um i will say it was a large number that we removed from the We have adopted four or six of her kitties already. They are a little older, so not super old, but a little older. Kittens are what really fly out the door. But lots of times people are looking for mousers, barn cats. These cats are not barn cats because they have lived only in the home. And so they wouldn't know that life. Their life would be just on the couch or playing there or laying. I mean, a house cat. So everything was in order, and she took care of everything, and she's in compliance with all the city ordinances.

Okay.

So we would just ask that you consider the fact that she can keep her remaining 12 cats. Okay?

Okay.

All right.

Any other questions? Is there any opposition?

Thank you, ma'am.

Is there any opposition to the request? Seeing none, the chair would entertain a motion.

I move we approve the conditional use permit for 12 cats. I second.

A motion and a second. Stephen Cross. Yes.

Anita Pickett. Yes. Chairman Neal.

Yes.

Dr. Hickerson?

Yes.

Chris Owens? Yes. And Corey Maltz?

Yes.

This motion is requested is approved. Thank you. Item number eight, rezoning request by Derek Strickland to rezone 523 East 33rd and parcel 4690110 from R3, low density residential, to R4, medium density residential, for the purpose of building multifamily housing. Property is legally described as 523 East 33rd and all lot 6 and .44 acres, lot 7, block 1 of Francis Rice subdivision containing 0.66 acres, more or less, and parcel 4691001, part of block 7, less 0.44 acres, block 1, Francis Rice subdivision containing 0.93 acres, more or less, ward 4.

Okay. This is the property. It's on my pointer's dead. It's on County and 33rd. I can't see that far even with my glasses. There is currently one house on the property. I have explained to Mr. Strickland that in order to move forward after it's rezoned, if it's rezoned, he will have to plat the property and break that house out. This is the property. It's zoned R3 right now. In order to build multi-family housing, it has to be R4. There is water and sewer over there. I got one opposition, and all he said was he just didn't want duplexes at that location. Mr. Strickland is not here, but is Mr. Henry here? Mr. Henry is his agent, and he's here. And I gave you a packet before the meeting that goes with this.

Good evening. I'm Brian Henry. I live at 5406 Tennessee Road, Tuskegee, Arkansas. And I'm here representing Derek Strickland in his bid to rezone this property. It's in between Rice and County. The existing single family structure is actually on the corner of 33rd and Rice. And then that lot is fairly level and runs back to the creek. This particular part of the creek does not have any flood zone onto this property. All the flood zone is down because it's uphill from where it crosses Rice Street where we've had flooding problems in the past. That's not in the packet, but it's extra information.

Where is the property that's going to be cut out of there?

The deep part right there to the left of where it says 523. So this is a single-family property on site, and it comes in right at the corner of the flat. And so it just runs deep and gets a little bit wider towards the back.

Yeah.

Does someone occupy the house currently?

Yes, it's a rental currently.

How many structures do you propose to put in place there?

Well, there are several options. It will depend on what the planning and zoning approves. He has several different options. He showed me a fourplex option, which would need this rezoning to do a really nice fourplex, but he also was open to the idea of some duplexes. So it really just depends on setback lines and access. And there's a limit to how many you can have based on the fire department has some regulations also on being able to get in there and get a fire truck turned around. So all of those, if I'm not mistaken, are pretty well outlined in the zoning.

Has fire signed off on the current picture we've got? That picture is just a draft. Would he have to come back? If we rezoned, would he have to come back with actual plans to approve?

Yes, he would have to submit a plan.

But we still don't know if it's going to be duplexes, triplexes, or what.

When I spoke to him, he was not sure whether it would be duplexes or triplexes.

Am I reading this right? If it was duplexes, he wouldn't need rezoning. That's what I thought, too.

If it's duplexes, but he didn't, he wanted... Oh, I see.

If he got the right place. Yes, sir.

Yeah. And I would, I shouldn't ask the question, but I'm going to. I would have a question about who's going to maintain the property.

The owners or...

So we already manage a property on the corner of Garland – I'm sorry, Pecan and 35th. And he plans – and also he owns 3315 – no, 3321 and 23 Rice Street. And we currently have those maintained by yard service. And it will be the same – same setup.

So it would be the same management property company that would vet potential renters and make sure they're up to code and make sure we don't have overgrown properties?

I assume I'm going to be the one managing. I can't promise that into the future. But we do run a National Sex Offender Registry criminal background check, a force credit, all the standard, even terrorist watch list. We actually had one hit one time. But yes, it would be professionally managed, and he has a very high standard for his homes.

And he's from Texarkana?

From the area, but he's been in the military, and he's retired from the military, and he's He's acquired properties all over the United States. He's in Sherwood. Yeah, and he's moving back here as he's selling the properties. He's got some in Florida and North Carolina and whatnot that he's liquidating to be back near family. All right.

Any other questions? All right. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

And we don't have any, we've got one person listed as opposition, but they're not here. All right. Chair, would you obtain a motion?

Excuse me. I might motion we do approve the rezoning.

Okay. Motion to approve. I second. Motion and second to approve. Roll call.

Stephen Cross.

Yes.

Anita Pickett. Yes. Chairman Neal.

Yes.

Dr. Hickerson.

Yes.

Chris Owens. Yes. And Corey Moss. No.

Okay. The request is approved.

And that rezoning will have to go to the Board of Directors, and it will be the first Monday in October.

All right. Those are the agenda items. Anything else, Jamie?

I don't have any.

Okay. Chair, would anything, a motion to adjourn?

I move we adjourn.

Second?

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?