Hillsborough Property Owners Association

WE WON!!

Thanks to all you HPOA residents! Through all your neighborhood support, attending meetings, sending letters to the Board and the Mayor, signing petitions that were sent to the Board, your voices were heard by our Little Rock Board of Directors.

On May 19, the Board voted 6 to 3 to DENY the Rahling Road rezoning application by Deltic Timber. When that happened, the applicants withdrew their applications for changes in land use and the master street plan.

We should all be proud of the fact we live in a place in which one citizen can make a difference in your community. And, asmall group of people with one voice can speak loudly enough to be heard, and make a difference.

Thanks again to ALL of you for your help in our campaign to protect our Hillsborough neightborhood. WE DID IT!

Deltic request to rezone residential area rejected
by Kristin Netterstrom
From the Arkansas Democrat Gazette - May 20, 2009

West Little Rock residents submitted numerous petitions and showed up in strength to city meetings at least four times before Tuesday, protesting Deltic Timber Corp.'s rezoning request in their Rahling Road-area neighborhoods. When the rezoning request for 68 acres of shopping, officespace and multifamily housing came back to the city board for a second time Tuesday, about 100 residents showed up, this time decked out in stickers and holding large signs pleading their case.

"This is Civics 101," said resident Ann Camps. "You are our elected representatives and on this night and in this place, this is where the people should rule."

After two hours of discussion, city directors rejected the 68-acre zoning request. The vote was 6 against, including that of the ward's director, Michael Keck, to 3 in favor.

The property, along the east side of Rahling Road and south of Pebble Beach Drive, remains residential with 20 acres of multifamily housing, to the relief of residents who gave the board astanding ovation after the vote. Residents had opposed the rezoning request for numerous reasons, but mainly because of the additional traffic it would cause and the fact that they bought their homes thinking they were moving into a residential area.

In supporting the rezoning request Tuesday, Planning Commissioner Bill Rector called the application one of the most confusing ordeals in his 16 years on the commission.

Deltic Timber Corp. needed to rezone the residential property for office and commercial use to be able to afford the $5.5 million in roads and drainage improvements it would have to build on the property.

The city's master road plan called for punching Beckenham Drive and Wellington Road through steep terrain to Rahling Road, prompting Deltic to offer a different street design that would connect Beckenham Drive to Wellington Road. Wellington Road would then open up to Rahling Road.

Little Rock's planning staff was against the master road change as well as the addition of nearly 40 acres of commercial and office space in a residential area.

Deltic Timber's request won the support of the planning commission in October despite the staff's recommendation.

By the time the proposal reached city directors in November, Deltic offered to switch a 20-acre multifamily tract to office space as a way to appease some residents. City directors kicked the amendment back to the planning commission for guidance.

On Feb. 5, planning commissioners took up the 20 acres in question, but their discussion evolved into a review of the entire project. The commission, which gained three new members since the October vote, decided to reject the full 68-acre request.

Deltic Timber appealed to Mayor Mark Stodola, City Manager Bruce Moore and City Attorney Tom Carpenter, saying the decision was unfair since the company was under the impression only the 20-acre amendment would be considered. Carpenter took the rare step of voiding the planning commission's decision and told planning commissioners to vote again, but only on the 20-acre amendment.

After another long public meeting, planning commissioners approved the amendment for office space, sending the issue back to the city directors for a vote.

Although a majority of the residents who spoke Tuesday opposed the rezoning request, several residents said they supported it.

"I like to see development come in that has a mix," said resident Keith Wingfield.

Deltic recently committed to a maximum of two-story, 40,000-square-feet office buildings on the property and offered to pay a share of the city's cost in building a stretch of Beckenham Drive that now dead ends.

City directors said they didn't think Little Rock had the money to help build the stretch of Beckenham Drive that Deltic didn't own, but that passing the large rezoning request would keep the city from having to deal with dozens of smaller rezoning requests.

In the end, City Directors Joan Adcock, Erma Hendrix and Ken Richardson voted with Keck against the rezoning request. Directors Brad Cazort and Doris Wright voted against the rezoning after initially voting "present."

Directors Stacy Hurst, Dean Kumpuris and Gene Fortson voted in favor of Deltic Timber.

Attorney Bill Spivey, representing Deltic, withdrew the company's request to change the master road plan and a land use plan amendment since they were moot after the vote.