Rezone and Rupple Extension Have City Considering Options

The recent rezoning of 642 acres along the Rupple Road extension has proved mouthwatering for builders, who, expecting the new road to trigger yet another explosion of residential and commercial construction in southwest Fayetteville, have already locked about 230 acres under contract.   

But concerns have also been raised regarding the area’s ecosystem — a wetland prairie, snakes and frogs — and before the subdivision plats and large-scale projects go before the Fayetteville Planning Commission, it’s likely some type of compromise will be reached among the interested parties.

The 1.5-mile Rupple Road extension from just south of Persimmon Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard, a $7 million project, is part of the $65 million bond election of 2006. It’s one of the last pieces of the infrastructure puzzle that included improvements to Mount Comfort Road, Crossover Road and Van Asche Drive.

According to a report issued by Fayetteville planners, the road and the rezone will open up the area to around 3,200 residents through a mix of homes, townhomes and apartments. At the south end of the extension and along its frontage, commercial development, such as office and retail, is permitted.

Construction is expected to begin as early as this month and last as long as 18 months. On June 2, the council approved the rezoning of all the property along and around Rupple Road in accordance with the findings and standards of city planners, and, according to planning director Andrew Garner, avoided “piecemeal applications from individual property owners.”

Garner said the city wants to strike a balance between development and the environment, and in addition to commercial frontage, the rezoning included set asides for riparian corridors, particularly along Owl Creek.

Though the proposal passed 8-0, alderman Mark Kinion said zoning issues might still be addressed as the development of Rupple Road unfolds.

While the land is ripe for residential and commercial construction, it’s also included in a conservation list compiled by the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association. The question that defines the acreage, or at least an important piece of it, is whether it’s undisturbed prairie or manhandled farmland.

In between the two camps — those who think the land is ecologically significant and those who don’t — are the city planners. Garner says the goal is to create a “complete neighborhood” that’s walkable, eco-sensitive, accessible by transit and close to amenities, thus the 442.1 acres zoned for neighborhood conservation, 107.3 acres for community services, 77.3 acres for residential agriculture, and 15.3 acres for urban thoroughfare.

“This rezoning may have the appearance of extending urban sprawl into undeveloped areas,” Garner said in a report to the Fayetteville Planning Commission. “However, because of surrounding development and need to accommodate long term planned growth, the rezoning is compatible with surrounding areas, been anticipated for a number of years, and is consistent with the primary goals of City Plan 2030.”

 

Subdivision and Sanctuary

Veteran homebuilder Mark Marquess, owner of Fayetteville-based Riverwood Homes, has had three parcels totaling about 189 acres under contract since the beginning of the year. One of those parcels, owned by Cross Keys Development, contains the acreage the environmentalists say is a seasonal wetland prairie.

The property runs along Broyles Avenue, the western border of the rezone, while the other two properties, owned by Bear State Bank, would adjoin Rupple Road once it’s built.

Marquess says he’s well aware that a chunk of land he wants to buy and develop has been deemed sensitive. But he also says the ecological importance of the site is overstated. More important for Marquess, citing the two-year uptick in building activity along Wedington Drive, is the opportunity afforded by the road and the new zoning.

“West Fayetteville is really the only part [of town] you can develop,” he said.

And in regards to what’s being called a seasonal wetland prairie and its colony of Graham’s crayfish snakes and crawfish frogs, Marquess said he’s not convinced.

“This has been used as farmland, planted with fescue, and has been actively farmed since the 1960s,” he said. “This is not a wetland.”

Marquess said his team of environmentalists has surveyed the property in question, and arrived at a definitive answer.

“It’s a big, flat farm,” he said.

City planners seem to agree. In his report to planning commissioners, Garner says, “In staff’s assessment, it appears that much of the upland prairie habitat has been removed or disturbed to accommodate farming and grazing.”

In terms of construction, Marquess has a vision for beginning-, middle- and high-grade homes in a blend of subdivisions similar to what he built off North Salem Drive at Cobblestone, Crystal Springs and Holcomb Heights.

There, brick homes escalate from about 1,700 SF up to about 3,000 SF, accommodating everything from young married couples to midlevel executives.

“That’s the spirit of what we want to do here [on Rupple Road and Broyles Avenue],” he said.

Regarding habitat preservation, Marquess points to the 46-acre Woolsey Wet Prairie Sanctuary, a mitigation site created to offset losses from the city’s West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant. Woolsey, an award-winning wetland popular with birders and nature enthusiasts, is located on Broyles Avenue across from where Marquess wants to build.

“The preservation side has been taken care of,” he said, referring to Woolsey, its tallgrass, reptiles, and teeming population of plovers, owls and wrens.

Even if he is not convinced that an important seasonal wetland prairie is at stake, Marquess said he still intends on listening to environmental concerns, and where possible, addressing them.

“We’re not an 800-pound gorilla here to pound anything down someone’s throat,” he said. “We’ll be sensitive to the area. I think we’ll take everything into consideration.”

 

A Conversation

If Marquess is a veteran, the same can be said of the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association.

On the nonprofit’s resume are conservation projects like Mount Sequoyah Woods, Brooks-Hummel Nature Preserve, and most recently, and perhaps most importantly, Kessler Mountain Reserve.

Depending on the project, Natural Heritage can work with the Walton Family Foundation, Northwest Arkansas Land Trust, Beaver Water District, Arkansas Forestry Commission, Nature Conservancy, and Illinois River Watershed Partnership, among others.

In 2010, Natural Heritage published its habitat and conservation study of Washington County. In that study, titled “Green Infrastructure Planning Linking Arkansas Communities,” Natural Heritage identified the Rupple Road extension area as a wetland/prairie/savannah, a rarity in Northwest Arkansas, according to Natural Heritage.

The Woolsey Wet Prairie Sanctuary referenced by Marquess, in the eyes of Natural Heritage, is what the Rupple Road area most likely was, and could become again, if not developed but instead restored to its historical and ecological roots.

But Bob Caulk, a leading member of Natural Heritage, said that’s not realistic. He said he understands not everything can be saved, and that his organization is not out to stop builders like Marquess, or Aaron Wirth of Cobblestone Homes, who also has land under contract in the Rupple Road area.

Rather, Caulk said he and likeminded people want to see everyone come together to create something special.

“Let’s grow and develop but do it in a way that protects our heritage,” Caulk said. “Is there a way to rezone and develop this property which acknowledges a way to conserve the area? What’s important to me is that we have the conversation.”

Whereas Natural Heritage wants to have a discussion that could lead to a compromise between development and the environment, there are others who might want more.

Chelsea Kross, a Ph.D. student in biology at the University of Arkansas, is asking Marquess to set aside as much as 17 acres of green space that would in effect serve as a link to the Woolsey sanctuary across the street on Broyles Avenue.

Kross appeared at a May 19 Fayetteville City Council meeting, and plans on attending more meetings as Rupple Road plats and developments churn through the approval process.

Her contention is that the 17 acres she wants Marquess to set aside should have originally been included in the Woolsey project. Now is the time to make that happen.

“There’s definitely good habitat there,” she said. “It’s a good piece of land for mitigation. At least consider it in the plans.”