Ordinance Changes Save Up-Front Cash

Developers could soon see changes to the Fayetteville Planned Zoning District Ordinance that might just save some money.

Tim Conklin, director of planning and development management for the city of Fayetteville, said the commission is trying to give a more staggered approval process as an option, instead of having to submit all engineering, master plan and zoning at the same time.

“Now you’ll get your zoning and your development master plan approved, and if you want to go to the next step of getting [grading streets, water and sewer] approved, then you go have the option of a separate step,” Conklin said.

Right now, developers can get their zoning and master plan approved at the same time, but they also have to submit more extensive engineering plans.

Conklin said the changes were passed through the Planning Commission in January and are now with the Ordinance Review Committee, a sub-set of the City Council. He hopes to get the ordinance on the council agenda in March.

“We are going back and looking how to clarify some of the requirements to help reduce not only the cost to the developer, but also provide the type of information the planning commission and City Council are looking for,” said Conklin.

Conklin said the city is trying to reduce the amount of detailed construction and engineering information required in exchange for more upfront information about what the project is going to look like.

The idea came from a workshop that city planning offered to the development/engineering community in 2004. The changes are solutions to some of the concerns that were expressed there, Conklin said.

Area developers are excited about the change because it will reduce the amount of up-front investment.

“Under the current ordinance, we have to spend tens of thousands of dollars before we even know it is going to get approved,” said Fayetteville developer Greg House. “The way they are setting it up it will be in stages. Do they like the concept, the density? Are they pleased with the overall formula? If they say yes, then we can spend all the real money to find out about things like drainage and parking.”

House estimates he might spend $500,000 on preparation before a potential development plan is even approved.

House said the revisions might encourage more avant-garde projects.

“If you have to make your plans based on one formula, then that is all you are going to get,” House said. “But if you can make your plans based on creativity and sell that plan to the powers that be, I think that encourages better development.”

House said he has a six-acre mixed-use project on the corner of Wedington Drive and Garland Avenue in Fayetteville that is waiting on those ordinance changes.

The cities of Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville also have planned-unit development zoning districts.

Shelli Rushing, planning services manager for the city of Bentonville, said the department last updated its PUD ordinance in 2003, and is in the process of revising its ordinance to require more information about items such as land use, street layouts and allowable green space use. The city will hold a public hearing on the revisions on March 1.

“We try to make it a little more flexible, so if you want to do anything different, there is a different avenue for those developments that are unique,” Rushing said.

Rushing said Bentonville is seeing more and more PUD submissions.

“We are starting to see developers be more and more creative with what they do,” Rushing said.

Darrel Smith, senior city planner with the city of Rogers, said that it last updated its PUD ordinance in April 2004. Before that, he said, it hadn’t been updated since the early ’90s.

Smith said he estimates the city heard about seven PUD proposals in 2004 and has heard three so far this year.

“In Rogers, you have to do all of your engineering work on the front end,” Smith said.