Authorizing Victory Commons would be another defeat for Fayetteville's effort to become a sustainable community

Click on images to Enlarge July 9, 2008, photos of wetland along Razorback Road. A significant amount of this wetland will be damaged, dredged and filled as the Corps of Engineers would say, to provide space for a mixed-use commercial development.
Most of the area has been developed and this is the only publicly accessible part of the extensive prairie and wooded wetland where the Revenue Office, Baum baseball field and adjacent parking lots, and the Razorback Road itself have been built in recent decades.





AGENDA FOR A MEETING OF THE IN-HOUSE PLAT REVIEW COMMITTEE
MONDAY, JULY 14, 2008 AT 9:00 a.m.
Engineering Conference Room
And
AGENDA FOR A MEETING OF THE TECHNICAL PLAT REVIEW COMMITTEE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2008 AT 9:00 a.m.
Room 326, City Administration Building

ITEMS FOR TECHNICAL PLAT REVIEW:

4. LSD 08-3037: (VICTORY COMMONS, 560): Submitted by BATES & ASSOCIATES for property located at RAZORBACK ROAD, 500 ft S OF THE INTERSECTION WITH 6TH STREET. The property is zoned I-1, HEAVY COMMERCIAL/LIGHT INDUST and contains approximately 1.29 acres. The request is for a commercial development with 8,500 s.f. of residential space and 8,806 s.f. of commercial and restaurant space with associated parking. Planner: Jesse Fulcher

AUBUNIQUE comment: "This project must be reduced to about a fourth of its planned scope to protect ALL the remaining trees and wetland as they are now. This is a natural storm garden that catches water and lets it run off slowly and soak in quickly. This is a natural stormwater holding place such as progressive cities are trying to protect worldwide.
"The best idea is to require protection of ALL the land slated for development in this submission and make it a public natural area to be donated to the city when the already developed property to the north is brought forth for redevelopment, which the owner said would be coming later.
"Last week, the park board agreed to accept money in lieu of parkland from this project. This is easy to revoke. That land is a treasure to protect wildlife and people and property downstream along the west arm of the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River."

6. SIP 08-3048: (TACO BUENO ON 6TH STREET, 521): Submitted by U.S. BEEF CORPORATION for property located at THE NW CORNER OF 6TH STREET AND EASTERN AVENUE. The property is zoned C-2, THOROUGHFARE COMMERCIAL AND R-O, RESIDENTIAL OFFICE, and contains approximately 1.96 acres. The request is for a site plan review for a restaurant with associated parking and a drive-thru. Planner: Andrew Garner
AUBUNIQUE comment: "This former wooded and prairie lot already has been dredged and filled with red dirt. Let them build the restaurant but require that the building be such that later tenants will be willing to use it without modification. There are probably only a dozen Mexican restaurants near or on Sixth Street/Martin Luther King Boulevard between South School Avenue and the Farmington City limits. Students and the working poor may benefit as the fast-food price war continues, but the chances of long-term occupancy seem low."
All interested parties may appear and be heard at the public hearings. A copy of the proposed amendments and other pertinent data are open and available for inspection in the office of City Planning (575-8267), 125 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. All interested parties are invited to review the petitions. Interpreters or TDD for hearing impaired are available.