Jonesboro Council Approves First Reading Of Greensborough Project

A plan to rezone land for a commercial and residential development will get a full airing by Jonesboro council members over the next month or so, city officials said Tuesday night.

The Jonesboro City Council, approved by voice vote, the first reading of a plan to rezone 201.23 acres on a request by Nashville-based Littlejohn Engineers and Jonesboro developers Halsey Thrasher Harpole.

The proposed plan, called the Greensborough Village Town Center, would start at Red Wolf Boulevard/Stadium Boulevard and then head north to Johnson Avenue and Arkansas 351.

The Jonesboro Metropolitan Area Planning Commission voted 9-0 August 12 to rezone the area from R-1 single family to C-3 general commercial district.

Chuck Downham, an engineer with Littlejohn, said the project would promote retail and residential opportunities as well as being close to Arkansas State University. Downham also said a village green would be created in the proposed project, allowing residents to tailgate during ASU football games as well as having a place where families can go for recreation.

The plan would also be supportive of traffic, Downham said, noting it would be pedestrian friendly and support public transit.

However, council member Todd Burton asked planning and zoning director Otis Spriggs about concerns over traffic.

Spriggs told Burton that a traffic impact study will be completed and sent back to MAPC by the end of September on the issue.

Several people who attended the meeting also expressed concerns over the percentage of single-family versus multi-family dwellings that would be built in the area.

Downham told the group that the developer would first work on the commercial part of the plan, then begin working on the residential aspect.

Spriggs said there would be rules and parameters in place to make sure the percentages do not get off-kilter. He also said the development would go back to MAPC in five different phases, with the board approving each step along the way.

“They have said it would take seven to 10 years. For that, it would be courageous,” Spriggs said.

The council and Perrin also fielded questions from Harold Carter and Phillip Cook, both of Jonesboro.

Carter asked Mayor Harold Perrin if the streets and sidewalks inside the development would be privately funded.

Perrin told Carter that while the streets and sidewalks would be privately funded, he plans to meet with state highway officials later this month to discuss a plan to do work from U.S. 49 to Arkansas 351 and to connect Arkansas 351 to Johnson Avenue.

However, the project is one of several for which the city is attempting to receive funding, Perrin said.

Cook asked Perrin if the developers would have to put money into an escrow account to cover the cost of construction of the streets, if there were any problems with the overall project.

Perrin told Cook that the developers would have to go through a bank or bonding company to put money aside to secure the funding.

Debbie Pelley, who has opposed the plan, said a proposed five-lane highway between the residential and business parts of the development had some safety problems as well as issues with land density and crime.

“There was some talk at the last meeting about having to cross the road (to the store) to get a stick of butter, and talk about obesity in our society,” Pelley said. “I would hate to see a child have to walk across the street to the store.”

The proposal will be read for the second time at the council’s Sept. 2 meeting. If the second reading is approved, council members would likely take up the plan at their Sept. 16 meeting, Perrin said.

In other action, the council also posthumously honored Private First Class Harold Eugene Sellers.

Sellers, who was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, was the first soldier killed during the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944.

Perrin said he plans to meet with state highway officials about placing a memorial sign in honor of Sellers somewhere along U.S. 63.