Home owners in Jonesboro fight multi-family unit construction projects

Larry McElroy has lived at his home on Commerce Drive for many years, and is retired. He can’t afford to move anywhere else, and he and his neighbors have fought an attempt by a developer to build an apartment complex adjacent to his property.

The Jonesboro City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to return the 36-unit proposal to the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, after another resident told aldermen the application for the project had not been completed, and some questions had no written answers.

“I think it could potentially be a legal challenge,” city attorney Carol Duncan told council members prior to their vote.

This is one of the many battles residents have had with the city and developers in recent years. Jonesboro has about 73,000 residents and 46% of them live in rental homes and apartments, according to the city. Mayor Harold Perrin told Talk Business & Politics he understands home owners concerns.

“I don’t blame them one bit … if someone wanted to build an apartment complex across from my house I’d be down here talking about it too,” the mayor said after the meeting.

Jonesboro has a moratorium that prohibits new properties from being zoned multi-family units, or apartments. The city spent $50,000 more than two years ago on a comprehensive study detailing the housing problems in Jonesboro. Officials learned that at least 1,200 multi-family units can be built on land plots across the city already zoned for apartments. City leaders decided to not zone more land until some of those properties are developed, Perrin said.

Issues remain, however.

Many of those zoned lots are concentrated in the Nettleton School District, he said. Residents fear apartment construction will raise crime rates, degrade property values, and the school district will have to deal with an influx of transient students. Along Commerce Drive crime has been rampant in recent years as the number of apartments has increased, resident Jennifer Easley said.

“Nobody wants to live across the street from 300 apartments,” she said.

McElroy has other concerns, too. There are drainage problems in his neighborhood, and three or four times a year his property floods. He displayed pictures of his garage completely surrounded by water to the council. If the apartment proposal moves forward, the development will likely raise the surface level on that property, and even more water will runoff onto his property. His yard would become a retention pond for the apartment complex, he said.

MAPC will have to reconsider the proposal, but the property is already zoned to allow the apartments to be built, officials said.

In other business, Perrin told council members the proposed 2017 budget should be complete before Thanksgiving. There has been consternation about how the city will spend money in the coming year after it enacted pay raises for its 600 city employees.

The city’s website generates about 25,000 hits per month, the mayor said. The volume was surprising to him, he said. To aid users, Perrin said the city may develop a smart phone app to access the site. Alderman Chris Moore told council members the city should sell advertising on the site.