Fort Smith Board nixes microbrewery plan, approves utility department auditor

The Fort Smith Board of Directors bowed to pressure from religious groups to deny commercial zoning for a proposed microbrewery in the Ninth Street area at Tuesday night’s (Nov. 3) meeting.

While Directors Tracy Pennartz, Andre Good, and Kevin Settle, each acknowledged they supported the idea of microbreweries in Fort Smith, they refused to allow C-5 zoning to Fort Smith Brewing Company’s (FSBC) proposed microbrewery despite the fact that Fort Smith zoning regulations would allow a business owner to open a bar in the same location.

City Director Don Hutchings joined with the Directors in passing an amendment to a recommendation from the city’s planning commission to allow for the C-5 zoning. Instead, the Board voted only to allow microbreweries in C-6 and the three designated “Industrial” zones (I-1, I-2, and I-3).

The decision sent FSBC owner Quentin Willard back to the drawing board.

“It doesn’t make sense because bars can be allowed in a C-5 area already,” Willard said after the vote. “The biggest thing, that is the most concerning thing, is two churches, which make up a very small percentage of the community we want to move in to, affected the entire citywide decision. And so, that’s the most disconcerting thing, that something like that can affect the entire city and the potential for young businessmen moving here.”

‘ETHICAL AND MORAL PRINCIPLES’
The two churches speaking against the microbrewery were Ninth Street Baptist and Mission United Methodist. George Wills, Jr., represented Ninth Street Baptist, simply stating he was “opposed” to the proposal while Reverend Ulysses Washington from Mission United felt it was wrong to “locate a business such as this so close to our communities of faith.”

He also believed the traffic generated by such a business would require FSBC to utilize Mission United’s parking, though Willard would later claim that their proposed facility would have enough parking to accommodate the expected amount of traffic without spillover. Ultimately, for matters of “safety” and “ethical and moral principles,” Washington said, he was opposed.

Willard, a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces (USAF), and business partner Brooke Elder are originally from Van Buren and moved back to the area to launch the microbrewery together. They along with several supporters were visibly shaken and confused in the aftermath of the Board’s decision, but Willard insists they are determined to bring a microbrewery to the area.

“We want Fort Smith,” he said. “We’re both from the area. I’ve traveled the world, I’ve been a part of the military, I’ve seen amazing things in the rest of the world, and I would like to see it come here to Fort Smith, Arkansas. There’s opportunity here. There really is.”

Willard believes the Fort Smith economy is in a state now where it can’t go “anywhere but up,” and found the entire experience discouraging.

“Definitely something small like this, not to allow a brewery to open up in the same location a bar can currently open up, just doesn’t make sense to me and doesn’t speak good to what Fort Smith Directors are doing to improve the city.”

Willard’s next step will be to talk to the planning commission, he said, to see what FSBC’s C-5 options are, adding that he would also be looking at properties in C-6 areas (downtown Fort Smith).

He continued: “We’ve already looked at all the industrial properties, and we’re not excited about the locations, so we’re going to look at C-6. We will talk to the planning commission and see what we can do about C-5 and see what it is, actually, that they [area residents] are concerned about. There’s not a lot we can do about it. We just have to hit the books and see what we can do to save the business.”

Directors Mike Lorenz, Keith Lau, and George Catsavis voted against the amended ordinance. Lau and Lorenz agreed the final vote was not “business-friendly.” In comments after the meeting, Director Good said he wasn’t opposed to microbreweries being allowed in C-5 areas, but that “the Ninth Street corridor specifically” no longer fit that designation. Ninth Street has been C-5 since 1962, according to Fort Smith Development Services Director Wally Bailey.

AUDITORS AND BUDGETS
Also Tuesday night, Director Lau’s recommendation to hire an internal auditor specific to the utility department won approval.

Lau has been outspoken in his belief the department needs an auditor, routinely grilling Steve Parke, the city’s director of utilities, over the price tags on certain projects related to the city’s $480 million consent decree issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over violations of the Clean Water Act.

Tracey Shockley, the city’s internal auditor, said the median income for such a role would be around $45,000 per year, but because of complexities of the consent decree, they would likely need to hire someone with more experience, estimating a maximum expenditure of around $60,000 annually. Lau, Settle, Good, Lorenz, and Pennartz voted to approve the hire, which will need to be reflected in the proposed 2016 budget. Hutchings voted against, while Catsavis abstained.

As for the budget, Fort Smith Finance Director Jennifer Walker presented the first draft to Board members at the start of Tuesday’s meeting. In the proposed document, general fund expenditures are down $1.9 million (around 4%) with a $46.2 million total compared to $48.1 million in 2015.

Most general fund capital requests were eliminated from the budget plan, and proposed retirement contributions have been slashed from 10% to 5%. The plan also calls for the elimination of 13 patrol officer positions and one vacant Senior Clerk position within the Fort Smith Police Department (FSPD). The Parks Department is also reducing seasonal and maintenance personnel, and the Deputy Finance Director position has been eliminated.

The first of two scheduled budget review hearings will take place on Nov. 12 from the FSPD Bartlett Community Room with a second scheduled for Nov. 16 (same location). Both meetings will begin at 6 p.m.