Okay, I will now call to order the May 19th, 2026 meeting of the Fayetteville City Council.

Clerk Paxton, will you please call the roll?

Mr.

Berna.

Yes.

Ms.

Bunch.

Here.

Ms.

Turk.

Here.

Minister Jones.

Present.

Mr.

Stafford.

Present.

Dr.

Jones?

Here.

Ms.

Moore?

Here.

Mr.

Wiedaker?

Here.

Mayor Ron.

Here.

Please join me as we say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance.

To the Republic.

Justice for Ross.

Okay, we have a full agenda tonight, but before we get started, I would like to turn it over to Councilmember Sarah Bunch for an announcement.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Many of you know that former council member Sloan Scrogan passed away last week.

And I would like for us all to stand and bow our heads and give a moment of honor and silence for him.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Sarah, for that.

Before I also have a couple of announcements, but two things I would like to make everyone aware of in case you are here for these items.

It is likely that item B1 under unfinished business, the North Fallon Avenue sewer damage claim, will be tabled again for two more weeks.

So if you were here to speak on that item, just know that when we get to it, in all likelihood it will be tabled and not heard tonight.

Additionally, items and uh Mr.

Mercedo, correct me if I'm in if I'm wrong, items C2, a rezoning of 1002 North Hall Avenue and C3, a rezoning of another 800 North Hall Avenue is also from the applicant a retested uh a request to table until the first meeting in June.

So if you were here to speak on those, it is likely that they will not be heard tonight.

That's correct.

We'll be tabled to the June 2nd meeting.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

And before we get started with the items of consent, I just want to make a couple of announcements about the evening because it is worth remarking on, I think.

Um, how much Fayetteville prioritizes and centers resident comment.

Um, it shouldn't be remarkable, but it is because that's not the case everywhere.

And it's something I'm very proud to be a part of.

Oftentimes I hear other city leaders tout about their public comment sessions because they allow comment at every meeting.

Not all places even do that.

We have it after each and every item.

We open it um we open it up to this and do this, even though it is sometimes cumbersome and it doesn't always make for the most efficient meetings, but we recognize it and hold it as a core value.

So there are many people that are here tonight that share that same core value, and I want to thank you for living into it.

And then I'm gonna ask something of each of you, but I will not ask you to do anything that I do not expect of myself or of the council members that are sitting up here.

I and the council and members of the council will listen to all of your comments, and we will do so with respect.

We will not boo you when you say something we don't like, and we are not going to clap when we say something that you do we do like.

We are not going to shout at you when we disagree, and I will ask the same of each of you.

I will also remind you, but if that behavior continues to happen, you will be invited to leave and go watch the meeting somewhere else.

Neither I nor members of the city council will call you names or question your motives for being here, because we are assuming that you are here with the best of intent because you love this community, as does all eight, as do all eight of the people that are sitting up here.

I don't always agree with members of the city council, and Lord knows they don't always agree with me, but I never doubt that they are here because they care about this community.

So please do not suggest that they are here for any other reason.

Comments when it comes time for public comment, and I will remind everyone of this, are limited to three minutes, and this will be strictly enforced.

People who reside in the city of Fayetteville will be called upon first.

That is the reason we ask for your address.

After we have heard from residents, we can open it up to hearing from others.

And lastly, because many of you may not have been to a city council meeting before, this is not a town hall format.

It is not a question and answer back and forth.

You have three minutes to make a statement about the topic at hand.

It is not an opportunity to ask questions of staff or of council.

Council members, if they choose, may respond to your questions.

They each have two five-minute periods after public comment ends, and they can use that time if they wish to address concerns that you have raised.

Otherwise, please direct your comments to me.

That's how the meeting works, and that's how we keep things running smoothly, and that is what democracy in action looks like.

So thank you for being here.

And with that, we are going to get right to the consent agenda.

Councilmember Berna.

Mayor make a motion to spend rules and approve the consent agenda as presented in the second.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second to for the consent agenda as presented.

Clerk Paxton, will you please call the roll?

Mr.

Berna.

Yes.

Ms.

Bunch?

Yes.

Ms.

Turk?

Yes.

Minister Jones?

Yes.

Mr.

Stafford?

Yes.

Dr.

Jones?

Yes.

Ms.

Moore.

Yes.

Mr.

Wheedaker.

Yes.

Clerk Paxton, please call the roll for the approval.

Mr.

Berna?

Yes.

Ms.

Bunch?

Yes.

Ms.

Turk.

Yes.

Minister Jones?

Yes.

Mr.

Stafford.

Yes.

Dr.

Jones?

Yes.

Ms.

Moore?

Yes.

Mr.

Wheedaker.

Yes.

Okay.

That move brings us to B, unfinished business.

B1 is a resolution pursuant to section 39.10 C4 of the Fayetteville City Code to authorize the payment of 100,000 to Chris Scrockey for sewer damage claim arising at 516 North Fallon Avenue.

We have a request from the applicant to table this for one week.

Mr.

Stafford.

Yes.

I'm so sorry.

I apologize for one meeting for two weeks.

Table it until the June 2nd meeting of the city council.

Forgive me.

Yes, the applicant contacted me.

They let me know that they didn't get some final details and they wanted to have the chance to address some technicalities they felt.

So I'll make that motion to table for two weeks.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second to table for two weeks.

Clerk Paxson, will you please call the roll?

Mr.

Berna.

Yes.

Ms.

Bunch?

Yes.

Ms.

Turk?

Yes.

Minister Jones?

Yes.

Mr.

Stafford?

Yes.

Dr.

Jones?

Yes.

Ms.

Moore?

Yes.

Mr.

Wheedaker.

Yes.

Okay.

So that has been tabled.

That brings us to item C one of new business, a resolution to authorize the addition of two full-time equivalent positions in the planning division of the development services department and to approve a budget adjustment.

I will remind members of the council that this is a resolution.

So it requires a motion to be able to move forward.

Mr.

Kurth, I'll hand it over to you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Jonathan Kurt, Development Services Director.

It was my understanding from the discussion at the agenda session that the rationale for pulling this off the consent agenda was to have a broader discussion about positions.

And so I do not have a prepared.

Do you mind to pull your mic into just a little bit?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, I saw Minister Jones for oh, okay.

Ms.

Moore.

My uh request that agenda session had been to better understand from the administration kind of what the thoughts were in regard.

There had been some conversations about um uh the previous uh head count that we'd had.

I I asked about some stats too that were mentioned, but we hadn't seen in reporting and being able to see um the changes that the head count had made of improvements in regard to uh building permits and and some of those metrics, and then additionally was trying to understand with these two uh, you know, what ultimately, you know, obviously we we assume the goal is to be able to provide better customer service and to reduce the timelines, but not knowing what our current baseline is and to understand how these roles um are gonna, you know, work to like what is our kind of goal that we're trying to achieve, just because we do each probably hear from people in the community that are seeking those services and maybe give us comments and so want to just talk kind of holistically, especially since we're going into the 27 budget process, you know, pretty shortly, and so just trying to kind of understand how that might look for the whole picture.

Got it.

Mr.

Rosito, can you address some of those uh questions and concerns?

Yeah, I'll just kind of rephrase some of the things that I stated at agenda session is these um the Jonathan and his team brought these two positions to me or the need for these two positions due to the amount of workload that we have in development services.

So if you look at the amount of building that's in this area, and if you look at the um revenue that they've been generating uh from those permits and inspections, this is basically paying for itself.

And that's one of the reasons why uh we receive so many uh we're very popular to build in and we're trying to keep up with demand.

And that's when you look at um a lot of times when things get to my office or to my level, it's hey, why did we not get to this in a timely fashion?

And when you look at pure workload and pure number of permits and inspections that we're doing, and we have an increased staff.

So I thought that this was a very clear-cut opportunity for us to add staff in the middle of the year to improve that services to our uh development services uh community.

And when you look at development services, it truly is a cash register for the city.

It's the one that's bringing in revenue, it's bringing in businesses, it's bringing in housing, and the faster that we can turn uh those building permits and reviews, uh the faster that we can uh put people on houses, people put people in businesses, and it to me is something that's worthy of addressing mid-year and not waiting for the budget uh calendar.

Okay, and if we don't have any other questions from um members of the council, I'm gonna open it up to members of the public.

Um we are uh on item C1 about adding positions to development services.

So if anybody in the public would like to comment on that item, please come up to the mic.

Keith, do we have anybody on Zoom that's registered for that item?

We do not, Mayor.

Okay, I'm gonna bring it back to the council.

I would make a motion to adopt the resolution.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second to adopt the resolution as presented.

Clerk Paxson, will you please call the roll?

Mr.

Berna?

Yes.

Ms.

Bunch?

Yes.

Ms.

Turk?

Yes.

Minister Jones.

Yes.

Mr.

Stafford?

Yes.

Dr.

Jones.

Yes.

Ms.

Moore.

Yes.

Mr.

Wheedaker.

Yes.

Okay, that passes.

Thank you.

That brings us to item C2.

An ordinance to rezone the property described and re zoning petition RZN 2026-11 for approximately 0.4 acres located at 1002 North Hall Avenue in Ward 4 from RSF 4 residential single family, four units per acre to UN Urban Neighborhood.

Um, Blake, I don't know that since we're requesting to table, do you still have to read the whole thing?

No, uh, if you skip the first reading, it'll just remain on new business at the new at the next meeting.

Great.

Then let's not do that first reading.

Um if a member of the council would like to I'll motion to table.

Okay, we have we have a motion and several seconds to table at the request of the applicant.

Clerk Paxon, will you please call the roll?

Mr.

Berna?

Yes, Ms.

Bunch?

Yes.

Ms.

Turk?

Yes.

Minister Jones.

Yes.

Mr.

Stafford?

Yes.

Dr.

Jones.

Yes.

Ms.

Moore.

Yes.

Mr.

Wheedaker.

Yes.

Okay.

That brings us to item C three.

Um, it's another um rezoned on North Hall Avenue that we have the same same request from the developer to um to table.

Um Ms.

Bunch.

I make a motion we table this till the June 2nd meeting.

Second.

Second.

We have a motion and a second to table to the June 2nd meeting.

Clerk Paxton, will you please call the roll?

Mr.

Berna?

Yes.

Ms.

Bunch?

Yes.

Ms.

Turk.

Yes.

Minister Jones?

Yes.

Mr.

Stafford?

Yes.

Dr.

Jones.

Yes.

Ms.

Moore.

Yes.

Mr.

Wheedaker.

Yes.

Okay.

That brings us to item C4.

Appeal of LSD 2025-19, large scale development south of North Martsmill Lane and north of East Ash Street for the Ramey Junior High.

A resolution to grant the appeal of City Council Member Teresa Turk and deny large scale development.

LSD 2025-19.

Ms.

Turk and then Jonathan.

Thank you, Mayor.

I decided to um grant um appeal this on behalf of seven citizens, seven residents of Fayetteville that were very concerned primarily about safety.

There's five variances to this project.

And so I thought it was worthy of another consideration, especially given that uh the traffic reports seem to be very inconsistent.

And I don't believe we had the latest information from the planning commission or at least a clear understanding of the planning can um planning commission's decisions on where some of the safety um controls would be um located.

So um that that is my statement, and and I believe the applicant's um spokesperson is here whenever you're ready to call on.

Okay.

And this would be the appropriate time, Blake, procedurally for the applicant, or would that be after Jonathan?

Because the appellant in this case is the applicant.

Right.

The rules say that the staff report goes first and then the appellant goes.

So it's okay.

Perfect.

That's fine.

So Mr.

Kurth to you, and then we will have the appellant, the applicant.

You know what I'm trying to say.

Thank you.

Please go ahead, Mr.

Kurth.

Thank you, Mayor.

As a reminder for council, uh, this item is uh or this large scale development is being supported by staff.

We're recommending approval of it.

What that looks like in terms of voting this evening, if the council agrees is to vote to deny this appeal.

Uh that would uphold the planning commission's unanimous approval of this project when they heard it approximately a month ago.

Uh this property is in central Fayetteville.

It's uphill east of the intersection of Poplar and College.

Uh the property abuts three public streets, uh, College Avenue to the west, Marksmill to the north, and Ash Street to the south.

It totals uh approximately 26.7 acres, uh, the majority of which is within the city's hillside hilltop overlay district, and with a sliver that you can see on the aerial image here along College Avenue uh that is located within FEMA designated floodplain.

Uh, this project was most recently before city council in December of last year when the request was approved to rezone it from its uh previous designation to P1 institutional.

Uh during that decision, uh there was a site plan that was shared with the city council, and that was much discussed.

Um, although it was a rezoning this uh discussion uh that was uh considered and vetted quite thoroughly by the city council.

Uh in the time since that rezoning discussion, the school district and their design team took that concept design and turned it into a set of engineered drawings and submitted it to the city of Favel as a large-scale development.

Uh as you can see on the drawings, they largely reflect what the city council considered during that rezoning decision.

Uh that includes a centrally located uh pair of buildings, a track and field uh on the southern portion of the site, and to orient you north is to the left-hand side of the screen.

Sorry, I didn't lead with that.

And the entirety of the site is in turn intended to be served by a circular circulation network of drive aisles with the main entrance along College Avenue, which is to the lower portion of the screen to the west, a emergency access point in the upper right-hand corner, which is again only meant for emergency purposes.

Uh, and then on just uh west of that, on the uh lower end of ash would be a full access vehicle uh access point, not intended currently for bus use.

Uh as for the building itself, uh it's intended to be approximately 150,000 square foot and multi-story.

Uh with this appeal, the city council is effectively sitting as the planning commission.

So I'm going to be discussing this item with you and covering the main determinations that the planning commission did consider with this item.

Uh those are most prominently five variances, which I'll go through one by one, uh, along with the street improvements and right-of-way dedication that are uh being considered with this project.

Again, beginning with those variances.

The first item or the first variance that the school district has requested with this project is a reduction in the size of drive aisle widths.

Uh our development code requires drive aisle widths in parking lots for one-way drive aisles to be a minimum of 12 feet in width.

Uh that contemplates single-lane drive aisles specifically, uh, where there's not much room for maneuverability.

Uh when staff evaluated this request in the context of this site, we came to support it for two primary reasons.

Uh the drive aisle request is to reduce it from 12 feet to 10 feet, which is still very functional in our estimation.

Um it also uh affords the ability for the school district to reduce the amount of disturbance on the property, uh, as the council may recall from their tour of the property during the rezoning.

This is on a slope site, and the school district has heard feedback about the goal to reduce disturbance, and this would afford the ability to reduce it foot by foot in as many places as possible.

Additionally, uh the reduction in those lane widths inherently reduces traffic speeds on the property.

Uh and we can tend that that will increase the on-site safety for pedestrians that are moving in and out of the school.

The second uh the second variance request that the school district has submitted as a part of this project is to not submit sidewalks along Ash Street.

Uh staff is recommending in favor of this request, uh, which may seem uh counter to what you often hear from us.

Uh we are a very pedestrian-oriented city that is uh uh incorporated into a lot of our standards.

Uh one unique aspect of this project, however, is that they're proposing to make a connection for the city's midtown corridor.

This is arguably the most important east-west trail corridor within the city of Fable, and something that we have been working on for several years.

If you've had the opportunity to be on Dean or Sycamore recently, you know that that has been installed, and that one of the final missing gaps is between College Avenue to the west and then old uh excuse me, old wire to the east.

Uh, this has always been one of the most challenging uh hurdles for this trail connection to get over, and the school district is is affording that.

So, in that sense, uh staff is supporting this because we feel like it is in the public interest.

Additionally, we feel that this serves the pedestrian connectivity need that a sidewalk connection along Ash Street would otherwise provide.

Uh, this will directly allow uh users to get down to College Avenue from Ash and by a way that may potentially be more accommodating in terms of accessibility than uh other directions that may be steeper or more sloped and more difficult for those that are mobility limited.

Moving on to the third variance request, uh both the third and fourth ones are related to our access management standards.

If council will recall, those relate to how properties interact with public streets and ensuring that they do so in the the safest manner possible.

As I led with at the beginning of this discussion, this property touches three public streets, Marks Mill to the North, Ash to the south, and then college to the west.

That is in itself unusual and the consideration whenever a variance is being considered.

Additionally, our access management standards when it comes to curb cuts, acknowledge that there are state law requirements that we allow access to adjoining streets.

Our access management standards give us the authority to limit those to the extent that we feel is safe and appropriate, however.

The specific variants and specific location that it's being requested is for the connection onto College Avenue.

And the reason it's required, the variants is because of its proximity to adjoining curb cuts, joining driveways along College Avenue.

And working with the school district and understanding how they intend to access the site and that they intend for this to be the primary access to the property, and also in coordinating with adjacent property owners and the city's safe streets for all work that's planned for College Avenue.

We find that this is the safest, most ideal location for this property to have a full access location off of its property.

That would afford the opportunity not only for private vehicles but also for staff and buses to enter the property off of major thoroughfare rather than rerouting it through one of the adjacent streets.

As for the fourth variance being requested, uh as I noted, this has to do with access management as well.

This one speaks to street prioritization, meaning when a property has access to more than one street, our development code requires you to access the lower volume, the lower classification street, with the idea being that uh that will allow cars to enter a street that has less traffic and can make right and left turns more safely.

We feel this project is unique as I noted before, in that it has access to three streets where that uh standard is intended to be applied to corner lots specifically, where the decision is more uh more binary, where it's one or the other and they're very close to each other.

Uh so that's a hardship in staff's estimation.

Additionally, as I'll get into later in the presentation, there's an intent for the city to signalize the intersection of college and poplar, which is that smaller square you see on the bottom of the screen.

And a signalized intersection is inherently the safest location for a property.

We feel that between those two variance requests that will make this property more safely accessed and a safer condition for the users of the property and those on the adjacent streets.

Finally, uh the last variance being requested is has to do with our standards about parking pads.

Uh, this is a very specific standard to the Hillside Hilltop Overlay District in Fayetteville.

We have a standard that dictates that when you have a parking lot in the Hillside Hills Hillside Hilltop Overlay District, the HHOD, it's intended to be broken into smaller pieces so that the amount of disturbance on that hill is reduced.

What that contemplates, however, is a large standard, more rectangular or square-shaped parking lot where the amount of cut would have to be deeper into a hillside.

What the school district has uh proposed to try to reduce disturbance is longer extensive parking, but in a linear fashion rather than a rectangular fashion.

So in our estimation, this is reducing the disturbance and meeting the intent of the ordinance at the same uh in the same time, and we are uh recommending in favor of it.

Moving on to the second set of determinations that uh staff worked through the planning commission with.

Uh, this relates to street improvements and right-of-way dedication.

First, right-of-way dedication is fairly straightforward.

Uh there uh this district is being required to dedicate 48 feet of right away from the center line of College Avenue to the west and Ash Street to the south, or in 26 feet from Ash Street to the south.

Uh that is fairly straightforward and more administrative.

The school district is not protesting that.

If they wanted to, they'd have to come to the city council and ask for a lesser amount of right-of-way dedication.

Onto the street improvements.

Uh, this is broken down street by street.

Uh taking College Avenue first, because of that streets safe streets for all program that the city is working through right now, making sidewalk and curb sidewalk additions and curb cut reductions along College Avenue.

Uh, we're proposing to take a fee in lieu of any sidewalk construction along the school district's frontage uh so that they're not putting in sidewalk that we ultimately tear out again and then reinstall in possibly a different format.

The second piece of the College Avenue improvements that staff is recommending is a fee in lieu for the fourth leg of the Poplar and College traffic signal that I described earlier.

It is part of not only our 71B plan but the safe streets for all program to add a traffic signal at that intersection.

It's been identified as a location that needs to have more controlled ability for people on Poplar to access onto College Avenue.

And the school district's addition to the east does not uh abdicate them of a responsibility for bearing the cost for that signal, and they have agreed to pay for the fourth leg of that, the extending onto their property.

Uh finally, the school district does have to to access college avenue as the property is uh accessed there today.

Uh, they will have to uh interact with that floodplain that is in that area.

They will have to submit a flood study as a part of that, and they'll have to make stormwater improvements in that area along uh College Avenue.

Moving on to Ash Street, so going counterclockwise.

Uh what's proposed?

This was uh probably the the more significant portion of the conversation with the planning commission and between staff and the uh the development and design team.

Uh ultimately what the planning commission recommends is having two pedestrian crosswalks uh with rapid uh rectangular rapid flashing beacons uh for near the two entrances to the property along Ash.

Uh that will also be done in conjunction with traffic calming measures, specifically uh speed cushions, uh having one of those access points on College Avenue, or I'm sorry, on Ash Street actually be publicly open, the other being emergency access only, and also maintaining the lane width on the street.

Again, uh similar to the dry aisle conversation, those narrow lane widths can restrict or or uh deter people from speeding.

And we found that widening that street there may have the uh the unintuitive impact of speeding up traffic and creating a more dangerous situation.

Uh additionally, as a part of the on-site trail work I described previously.

The school district is proposing to connect uh the street improvements or the sidewalk that is along the south side of Ash today onto their property and onto their on-site trail system.

Finally, or second to last on the street improvement side of things is the mid-trail uh connection that I mentioned previously.

Uh I already described it to you and showed you visually.

Uh, it will connect the intersection of college and poplar downhill uh at that intersection through the developer's property or the the school district's property up to Ash Street.

Uh in discussing that internally, uh one of the unexpected benefits of this is it potentially reduces the pressure on the Brooks Hummel Nature Preserve.

Uh for those who were not on council in 2019 and 2020, there was a very robust conversation about that preserve.

Uh here's the proposed Remy site that you can see in blue here and the nature preserve to the south.

Those dark blue lines that you see running across the map are potential trail alignments.

During that 2020 active transportation plan, uh there was a proposal to have a trail connection through Brooks Hummel because it represents one of the most flat close to grade uh ways for people to commute east to west through the city by foot or by bicycle.

Uh, there was a significant amount of concern from the neighboring properties, and ultimately that connection was uh put into a study area and and has not been able to advance since then by proposing this trail connection on the Ramey property uh that would connect not only the the uh midtown quarter from the west to the east, but uh also provide it on a route that is uh potentially a more manageable grade for many users.

It could diminish the pressure on the Brooks Hummel connection in the future uh and maintain what many residents feel is its intent to be preserved.

Ultimately, with those considerations, again, staff is recommending denying the appeal uh and upholding the city council or the planning commission's approval of the project with their commission or with their conditions, which include approval of those five variances I outlined, along with the recommended street improvements as well as the required right-of-way dedication.

Uh and as a reminder, again, because you are sitting as the planning commission city council, there are six reasons that you have to deny a project.

Uh those are codified reasons, and uh they are uh important to keep in mind as you advance in your discussion this evening.

Uh with that, I can take questions, Mayor, or it could be handed off to the appellants for this, but also the school district has a presentation as well that they would like to make if you lead the order of appellants.

That's correct.

Uh the rules say uh an agenda applicant and it includes a development applicant and an appellant from a final decision of the planning commission.

So here we have two of those agenda applicants.

Okay.

Who can present?

Okay.

So do we have anyone that has a presentation on behalf of the appeal?

Yes, okay.

Yes.

And please introduce yourself and come forward and then after that, Dr.

Mulford will have the time for the school district as that applicant.

Mayor Ron, uh ladies and gentlemen of the council.

My name's Rick Woods, and I'm presenting for Jennifer Cook, one of the appellants.

I've submitted a PowerPoint presentation.

I have hard copies for distribution.

Uh if somebody should I distribute that?

Clerk Paxton can distribute them if you're not.

I will go ahead and comment since I'm on limited time.

Um can we pull up the second slide, please?

Thank you.

Uh this criteria was already mentioned uh on your development review.

One of the reasons to deny uh a large-scale development would be if the development creates or compounds a dangerous traffic condition.

Uh there's a definition of what a dangerous traffic condition is.

Uh the contention of the appellants, at least from my perspective, and what I'm going to talk to you about tonight is that the site characteristics along with the condition and the design of the servicing roads, uh, is going to compound what is already a dangerous condition, mainly at ash and walnut.

Um those roads are insufficient for what's going to be brought to that ash walnut intersection.

Um compounding that is I understand the plans, and and I'll beg forgiveness if I make an error with respect to the plans.

I've digested this rather quickly, is that we're going to bring children who are walking to two crosswalks, one at the higher elevation of ash and one at the lower elevation where it reaches walnut.

Uh, and they're going to be navigating a crosswalk where there's congested traffic, which we contend creates a major safety hazard for these children.

Um the topography at this site, if you'll switch to the next slide, please.

Um, if you just look at it, when you leave college avenue and you go just to where you're gonna start to hit the lanes, you've got you have to go up 55 feet in elevation and to the back side of the property is another 100 feet in elevation.

That is a major cut.

Um it's a steep slope, there which is why they have to create a snake driveway because the the grade is is rather substantial.

Uh, the only way you can comply is to snake the entrance to it.

Um to visualize where this property is gonna be improved, is we've all driven from college east up township, and just stand there at college and and envision driving up that hill.

That is where this school is going to go, and the side of more or less a mountain, in my opinion.

Um next slide, please.

Um I've looked at the the traffic studies, I've tried to digest those, and I will not tell you that I'm a traffic uh analysis expert.

But a couple of things stood out to me is when this was first modeled, um, a majority of the traffic was going to College Avenue.

Uh, the second study, which I believe is the January uh study, has more traffic going to Ash Street.

And that'll be significant as we move forward with with my presentation.

Um I gleaned from the information that there's 88 percent on the eastern approach uh at the high bound estimate during peak hours.

That's the way I read it in the traffic impact analysis.

If I'm wrong, uh like I said, I'm not an expert, but it looks like to me, and and I will say from experience, three children at Woodland Junior High.

I would come in on mission, I would turn right before Tim's Pizza because I wanted to avoid route, and I would go down to Amber and turn left on old wire and right on ash to go to Woodland.

I did that with three children.

Now we're bringing parents to the West Ash entrance, and they're gonna do that.

They're gonna avoid route, they're gonna go through Amber and try to turn left onto old wire and then right onto ash.

So that's a compounded traffic condition, and now we're bringing more people to that location.

Um 50 percent of the traffic or more coming to East Ash.

Let's think about that.

That is that road, we've all driven it.

It's not serviceable for this type of traffic.

Um this is demonstrated by the feeder sections that that the school has presented.

It it looks to me from what the school's presented that a large majority of kids are coming from the east.

Um it stands to reason that more parents and children will be coming to the West Ash entrance.

They'll be driving down old wire and ash, whether they come through mission or amber.

Um next slide, please.

I looked at the traffic study volumes during the AM peak hours.

You've got 103 vehicles per hour at the west entrance at Walnut and Ash.

That's the 2029 traffic numbers.

That's a lot of vehicles per hour.

You've got 70 at the main entrance on college.

So if I'm reading the January 26 traffic impact analysis correctly, you've got more people coming to Ash than you do college.

And college is supposed to be the main entrance.

And if you look at the totals, there's 463 vehicles per hour at the AM peak that will be driving down walnut and ash from all sources.

That's a monstrous number of vehicles.

I I did a little math.

That's one car every 7.7 seconds.

So if we've got crossing guards and children crossing, then cars are going to have to stop.

So what does that do when you load all these cars?

We have to stop for pedestrians.

And I could not find in the traffic impact analysis where that had been considered.

So we're going to back up traffic due to pedestrians who are supposed to be crossing this this intersection.

Next slide, please.

On the access management variants under Chapter 166.08.

I found it a little odd, but I'm not a planning expert.

That as I read the development code, emphasis should be placed on Ash Street.

That a traffic study had determined that at least two thirds of car trips to the school are likely to arrive via college avenue.

If I'm reading the traffic impact analysis correctly, 103 per hour during AM peak will go to West Entrance of Ash Street and only 70 to the main entrance.

That's a stark difference than what was represented to Jesse Masters.

Ash Street was supposed to be widened to meet residential link requirements, but at the planning commission level, walnut is going to remain as is.

It will not be widened.

That was done on the fly at the planning commission, and the stated purpose was to slow people down.

So it recognizes that there's already a problem there, and they're going to exacerbate it by not widening walnut.

And you'll see why that is significant here in a moment.

Next slide, please.

So basically what we're left with, and you see the community concerns, and the traffic safety is what I'm really interested in is increased traffic on Ash Street and College.

College is going to back up because there's going to be a stoplight at Poplar and College.

We're going to have morning traffic.

And so that's going to back up into college and create congestion.

More importantly, ash and walnut is going to back up, and you're going to have children trying to cross the road with impatient drivers who are being delayed because of pedestrian traffic.

That combined with the slope of ash down to walnut during slick or icy conditions is a recipe for disaster for children trying to cross this road.

Next slide, please.

Some of the safety measures, I'm just trying to point out that the new signal at Poplar and College Street.

Plus people trying to get to the school, it's going to back up.

But more importantly, the speed cushions that the planning commission on the fly added at Walnut and Ash were done without any analysis.

Absolutely no analysis.

They were thrown in as an afterthought to appease the planning commission members.

Shouldn't we go back and look at that?

Should shouldn't we stop and not rush this through?

If the planning commission was worried about children's safety and speed, and they decided to throw speed cushions in, shouldn't that be something that's part of a deeper analysis other than an afterthought?

The street realignment of Walnut or the Walnut entrance, Ash and Walnut entrance to the west was for sight lines because they were concerned with the sight lines of vehicles.

But we have vehicles that are going to be navigating a sharp curve where buses and other larger traffic can't stay in their lane.

Next slide, please.

And I want to demonstrate that.

This is at the area where the West Ash entrance will be.

Thank you.

This is the I'm sorry, go back one, please.

It shows a bus.

Next one.

Yeah, forcing a car over onto the shoulder.

That's gonna be consistent with this intersection.

And now we're asking people to go to the left where that bus is.

And then the last one shows another bus that can't navigate the turn.

Uh so large traffic, buses, they're gonna be faced with this because this road is not gonna change.

And so I I would ask you.

Do we approve this with all these issues hanging in the balance, or do we send them back to regroup and study this further?

And maybe come up with a better mouse strap that's safer for the citizens of Fayetteville, but more importantly, these children that we're gonna have to cross that street.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

All right, do we have someone from the school district?

Uh good evening.

I'm Hunter Adkison with Prism Design Studio in Crafton Toll speaking on the half of the district.

And I'm so sorry, we cannot hear you at all.

Can you get okay?

It's okay.

Is that better?

That's a little bit better, yes.

Great, thank you.

Um I'm Hunter Adkisson with Prism Design Studio speaking on behalf of the district.

Um so we're here to respond to the appeal brought forth by councilmember Turk.

Um and I just would like to start by saying that our team has worked really closely with city staff to bring forward a project that has earned staff support and planning commission approval.

So we'll focus on the specifics of the appeal, and we can respond to any additional questions as needed.

So the main points in the appeal as I read it are that traffic, stormwater, and pedestrian safety.

And these have been long-standing concerns brought forth through over a year of public engagement.

And they've all been discussed, reviewed, and commented on at length with staff with planning commission and the public through the grading permit process, the rezoning process, a large scale development process, which all included public hearings, along with additional voluntary presentations to the school board and the environmental action committee and a town hall with neighbors.

So I don't feel that this has been rushed.

There's been a lot of due diligence and consideration throughout this process from the team, and a lot of collaboration with both the public, staff, and um and other members.

So to give a quick review, thanks, Jonathan, to the excellent uh reminder of the of the of the um context here.

We just want to start by walking through the circulation and then we can review the the variances brought forth.

So the site will connect to college at uh down at the intersection for Poplar, where a new traffic signal will be installed as part of the 71B corridor plan.

Uh it will be two-way traffic coming up the hill that then splits into a Y, and then a one-way circulation pattern that loops the site counterclockwise.

Uh a two-way drive connection is proposed at the southeastern uh sorry, southwestern corner of the site at the elbow where walnut becomes ash.

And this connection sits behind the car queuing lanes, which is shown there and uh sort of a light teal color.

Um those queuing lanes amount to over 2700 feet of queuing, which is more than the 2500 recommended by the traffic analysis for the uh overall long-term uh capacity of the school.

Farther along in the loop is a gated emergency only access connection to the southeast corner of the site, and then the road continues along to the main entry.

The red line is the continuous fire bypass loop that's provided to ensure that emergency vehicles will always be able to access the entire site and the dashed dark teal line uh at least as it comes up from college and exits the site to the southeast is a 12-foot greenway that will eventually connect the old old wire cycle track to the east down to the razorback greenway with an additional um wider trail straight to the front door of the school.

And I'd like to note how it winds down through the woods along the road loop, because that'll come up again in a minute.

Finally, uh touching on parking for context.

There's a single row of parking alongside the road in the flatter sections of the drive, as you can see in the orange red here, uh, which is a good jumping off point to touch on the variance list.

Slide please.

So we'll move through these quickly one by one, uh, and then we'll try to respond to the other claims that were noted in the appeal.

All of these variances, by the way, are aimed at reducing impacts to the site and improving pedestrian and vehicular safety.

Uh slide please.

So this is a diagram showing the proposed parking and the variants for the hillside hilltop overlay district parking layout request.

So by aligning parking just on one side of the site or one side of the drive aisle, we're able to not encroach an additional 20 plus feet into the slope on the opposite side, reducing retaining walls, reducing disturbance, saving more trees, and providing uh retaining more of the natural site.

You can also see here that those 10-foot drive lanes uh, if you look at in this section, they would stack up to an additional six feet of disturbance or more moving out.

So that is again another recommend for requesting that 10-foot drive awful variance is to reduce that disturbance.

Slide, please.

So these are signage and sight line exhibits along ash that diagram the how the code required sidewalk area is offset by the uh 12-foot multi-use trail that's provided here.

And you can just see it in sort of the top left corner of that enlargement there.

Um first uh I want to point out on this is the attention to detail and the signage and the prioritization of both pedestrian safety and vehicular safety.

So there's multiple uh rectangular uh flashing beacons, the RRFBs, along with um co uh uh along with additional beacons that are located farther up near the speed cushions that will go off when that button is pressed to make drivers more aware of uh children crossing much earlier on.

The second thing to note here is the placement of that trail, uh, and it's along the ring road in lieu of along Ash.

Um the the nice thing about that is that it's gonna provide a wider um safer access for people using the site.

The traffic study does indicate that Ash is equipped to handle the proposed traffic, and um the site distances are ASHO compliant and have been reviewed by the city engineer.

Slide please.

So this one will make the request for the sidewalk variants a little more clear.

Um, in contrast to the appeals claimed that this request ignores pedestrian safety.

We believe it actually improves it.

Um this path uh is provides more separation from car traffic.

It reduces disturbance to the site.

It also provides that access at a more friendly grade, a 10% grade, then the roughly 17% grade of ash that's existing, and it's wider to allow for um safer travel for two direction users.

So this is going well above and beyond the requirement, and we think that this variance is also fair and beneficial.

Slide please.

Um the curb cut exhibit uh shows that we're uh removing a curb cut, realigning one to go with the the signalized intersection at Poplar.

Um and it also will highlight uh using the lower classification street uh or using the higher classification street for the primary access uh as part of the 71B corridor plan.

Slide, please.

So uh one more, please, Jonathan.

So in summary, each of these responds to a hardship to the site's unique constraints and improves the project by reducing disturbance and improving safety.

Slide, please.

So this is uh uh diagram of the pedestrian connections throughout the neighborhood in the surrounding contract uh context.

And uh, thanks to the steadfast efforts of our active transportation manager, they're pretty robust.

And so there's already an excellent connection.

What's lacking is this midtown connection, and we're really excited to be providing that as part of the project.

Um there's also the fee and lie amount to extend the trail along ash and west towards the existing midtown trails to create a full connection between the Razorback Greenway and the old wire cycle track.

Slide, please.

And in summary, there's a number of claims listed in the appeal.

Um, and we would like to just say uh respond to them directly is that it says that the traffic studies are incomplete, um, but all queuing is provided on site with additional road length available.

Um there's also numerous pedestrian safety improvements.

Stormwater management, all that water is being channeled onto the site in an intentional way that's now running off and being let out intentionally into the sublet creek.

Um and again, all these concerns have been discussed with the public, reviewed by staff and addressed by the design team and uh in numerous public forums.

And so we're admittedly a little unclear how to respond further than what we've provided.

Um, but we're here to answer uh any any claims, but we didn't notice any specific code uh citations in the appeal.

Um and uh we're available, but Dr.

Mulford would also like to address the last item in the appeal about a potential change to the site.

Dr.

Mulford, you have 30 seconds.

Okay, the last item in the appeal was about uh basically claiming that the large scale before you is not actually our plan that is inaccurate.

This is our plan, and it had to do with um potential acquisition of additional property.

And so on the next slide, I think, Jonathan, there is 10 acres to the northeast that has recently come to our attention as possibility to acquire.

Our board has not yet made a decision on that.

And so at this point, um, you know, I don't have anything to report there other than we are exploring that.

Right, thank you.

Okay, let's I believe we have heard from everyone in terms of the applicant and the appellant, and so we will bring it back to the council.

If you have any clarifying questions for um Dr.

Mulford, the representatives from Crafton and Toll, Mr.

Kurth, or the representative for those bringing the appeal.

We'll start with you, Mr.

Stafford.

Okay, thank you, Mayor.

Uh, I have questions about um I think maybe these are for Dr.

Mulford about uh current feeder patterns and uh bus traffic on Ash and Walnut uh compared to the new feeder patterns and let me find notes here.

Um so right now Woodland Woodland Um popular uh uh serves Butterfield on the east side and then northeast side serves Butterfield Route uh Vanderbilt is that right?

Butterfield, Asbell, Vandegriff, and Root those four.

Vander Griff, sorry.

College kids.

Um and uh Happy Hollow is that route now?

Happy Hollow is I mean Raimi's currently ramy, okay, as is Washington and Leverett, which are to the south.

So basically you have four schools to the east and north or the woodland serving now.

Currently, yes, it would be east and north going to Woodland.

So they're either coming east-west corridors from the mid mid part of Fayeville up or coming north going trap south down college.

Yeah, and so that that traffic coming uh down Ash and Walnut is that bus traffic is already there.

That's from the schools.

And then they're going to the same intersection on college at Poplar and uh college, and they're instead of making a right, which is proposed to go up the hill, they take a left to go to woodland currently.

Um but it's pretty much a similar traffic pattern.

Correct.

So but with the new feeder pattern, uh you just have route and happy hollow coming from the east side.

Is that correct?

From the that's correct.

Okay.

And happy hollow is southeast.

Yes, southeast.

Yeah.

And um so you you might have is it fair to say you'd have less bus traffic coming up, Ash, or is that is that accurate, or it'd be about the same?

Yeah, so we we have not run those routes yet, but that is what we anticipate.

So we anticipate the only buses coming from Ash to that Ramey campus and the middle school that will be housed at the current woodland would be essentially families that live in the the route zone on the east side.

Yeah, okay, thank you.

So it should only be a few buses.

Uh Ms.

Moore.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um, and I'm not sure who my questions are too, so I'll just put them out there and let whoever um so in regard to the access points that we have at um particularly walnut and ash.

Um, I feel like do the drawings, am I recollecting correctly that those are left and right um in?

So you can come left and right coming um onto walnut um to turn left into the school or turn right to go into the school to queue.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

And then at the top of the hill at Ash, are folks able to come and turn left and right there, or how is that?

How is that?

No, that's an emergency only gated fire access connection.

So there's a cross connectivity that's required by the fire department to provide um adequate fire access depending if one gets blocked.

And so that's just a um that will be a gate with a lock that only the fire department has access to so they can get in and access the site even if there was some blockage on the the lower section of that ring road loop.

Okay.

Was there any discussion over with working with staff and that as we kind of talked about the safety concerns, which I have heard quite a few, um, about there only being a right turn in, right turn out potentially because I live in this area, I drive in this area all the time.

It's already um pretty hard to maneuver, and folks can get up a lot of good speed.

In particular, I'm thinking about folks that are queuing to turn left and then uh folks are coming down quickly to turn right and whip in.

I mean, are we concerned about speeds coming down and then trying to that has been a long conversation okay?

Sorry to rehash, but uh and I'll I'll uh I'll represent it and I'm also gonna just call out uh Trent Westner, our civil engineer, uh, to correct me if I say anything incorrectly.

But um, but yes, that has been that was explored, that was provided, staff reviewed that.

We went back.

Um, but the short version is that we we think that that is um that is being provided for at this time, and that that is a if that does pose any kind of traffic issue, that is something that we've discussed with the staff um that can be easily adapted uh if it if it poses a problem.

Is that accurate, Trent?

Sorry?

Yeah, if I can clarify, yeah, great.

Hi, Trent Westner with Craft and Toll.

Um the school district uh was open to uh right in, right out um option, and we discussed that with planning commission.

And um the either either design works, whether it's right in, right out or egress and ingress, um, both situations and both layouts work.

Um and the one where traffic can um freely turn left in or turn right in, it alleviates traffic, it makes it more open and and decongested.

Um, and so that was the reason we stuck with the um not going with the right in right out.

But the owner is we're um willing to entertain that and and if the city council wants to make that a condition, then we're open to that.

And can I ask you?

It sounds like you're talking, if I'm hearing correctly, about the flow of automobiles.

I'm thinking too, just about from uh what is most safe.

I know we've adopted Vision Zero, and we're working really closely with the schools on like safe, you know, safe streets.

And so um, I'm curious which one do you guys deem to be safer?

Are they both both similar in nature as far as safety?

Um the crosswalk right there is west of that intersection.

So regardless if it's right in, right out or not, um the crosswalk is on the other side of the intersection.

So pedestrians will always be able to use that crosswalk and press the button and rapid flash and beacon there and a hundred feet either side of the crosswalk.

Um so the driveway configuration uh students will still be able to use the crosswalk and and access the school even if it's the right in right out.

So and I don't again, I don't know if this is for you.

This might be for some staff from our some of our staff.

Um I've heard a lot about of concerns raised from Ward II residents who might have children that are going to be doing some of the crossings.

Um I just wanted to understand um getting to sit on transportation committee, and we do a lot of like traffic calming and use the um different technologies.

It seems like we're um employing uh some you know similar techniques with the speed cushions and the flashing beacons that we've been doing.

Um are there any additional possible best practices that we've um seen other places or might need to consider in that area um in particular to help with the children that are crossing?

I will say it's unfortunate in this particular kind of area that I live there, I walk oftentimes and do struggle with crosswalk compliance.

Um and my children do as well and can stand for quite some time before they you know get someone to stop for them.

And I'm glad that my children are mindful, but I know you know that's not all children, unfortunately.

And so I'm just this may not be for you, it may be for our staff potentially, or even with a district during the times that students are really moving in higher volumes.

I know crossing guards and things like that have been used.

I'm just trying to those questions have come and I'm not quite sure.

Yeah, I would just say that we're we're open to whatever city staff wants us to do.

Uh not reflected in our plan is the trail connection from our property to old wire, which I believe is in in the works and may even be completed by the time the school opens.

So that will eliminate almost all students crossing the crosswalk because they would come in on the north side uh anyhow.

So we we do anticipate the crosswalks will have limited use in that area, and as that trail gets finished, it would be even less, but we're willing and ready to have whatever supports are necessary to make sure kids are safe as they come to school.

Okay, thank you.

Um that would be up to if Ms.

Moore feels it wasn't adequately addressing what she's well I I mean I'm happy to hear what the feedback is from the community.

Ash and wall on that crosswalk, if if someone is leaving the school at the West Ash exit and they're looking up the hill for oncoming traffic, and traffic is heavy, and a kid decides to walk across, they're gonna be right in the path of that car if they if they're not paying attention and they're in a hurry, they're they're right there at that exit, and that is one of the highest safety concerns that I had when I looked at this.

And I'm not a traffic expert at all, but I mean I've I've had those experiences.

Um leaving the Maverick over here off 15th to turn left.

I'm faced with oncoming traffic, and I didn't notice a pedestrian in the crosswalk and had to slam on my brake.

Thank God I was able to do it.

And but this that is the number one issue that I see is a child going across that crosswalk, and we all know how junior high children are.

Someone's gonna get killed in that crosswalk.

That that is my concern, and you've you've hit on it.

Absolutely hit on that.

And I don't they they say that there's gonna be thank you.

I think that does, thank you.

Council member.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Moore uh in watching the planning commission uh meeting.

This specific subject was brought up, and a representative from the school district was brought to the podium, and he and she mentioned that they would be crossing guards at at uh every crosswalk uh during the the transition of students.

So I hope maybe that answers your question on that regard.

Um my questions are for Jonathan.

Umathan, uh the attorney for the for the appellant uh uh mentioned the the light at Poplar.

Is my memory not correct that that light was planned?

Uh it was gonna go in whether the school district uh bought that property and put a school there anyway.

It was gonna go there.

Okay, and then um in regards to an unusual umount of variances.

Is this a unusual amount of variance request for a complex unique piece of property uh like this?

The short answer is no.

The longer answer is yes, the complications of the use a institutional user is often unique than compared to a retail or a restaurant or a house or something to that effect, and also the shape of the property and its topography, all those factors in staff's estimation don't represent anything unusual.

And if we had concerns that that represented an overall non-compliance with the project, we would not be recommending in favor of it.

And it's staff's position that the variances that were requested make the project overall safer.

Yes, that's correct.

Thank you.

Um I have a question, and I believe this might be a combination between uh the craft and toll representative and maybe Jonathan.

Um it's about the the proposed trail that's going in.

And looking at the diagram, it uh showed a um there's a there's a large gap between the trail and actually ash.

Do you happen to know how wide that space is and there it it looked like there were trees in it?

Is that correct?

Yes, there's a tree preservation sliver right there that we're maintaining.

Okay, and and is it is it you know, is it 20 feet wide or something like that?

Or uh from the existing back of curb on ash, I'd say probably 40 to 50 feet um over is where that trail is.

It is well set into the property, yes, ma'am.

Okay, thank you.

Um now, Jonathan.

Uh my question is we've got the proposed trail in the property.

If this were a sidewalk, it would be along ash, correctly.

That's correct.

That's that's the variance they're requesting is not to build that sidewalk on it.

Okay, is the um would a sidewalk along Ash be the same width as the proposed trail, or would it be more narrow or it would be more narrow.

Our standard is a six-foot sidewalk.

Okay, and there would be no buffer between the sidewalk and the street, or a very narrow one?

It would be our typical standard is six foot enough for trees to be planted and then to provide that buffer.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you very much.

I saw Dr.

Jones first.

I just had a um, and this question is for Jonathan, but council member Berna uh addressed it.

And uh I was just going to say that the bearances make it better and safer, not worse, correct?

That is the staff's recommendation determination, yes.

Okay, thank you.

That's all I needed.

Ms.

Turk.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, you know, during the last planning commission, there were several um recommendations kind of made on the fly.

And I'm I'm extremely concerned about safety.

If we have a bus that's coming over the top of ash uh heading uh west and going downhill, I think that's less than 500 feet.

And I don't know, I didn't see any analysis of um a bus being able to stop within that distance.

Um there'll be crossings there.

You'll know that there will be children that will be crossing there.

And it looks like there's also uh a light, and so will the bus driver be able to stop in time if that child presses the button.

Um the steepness, the grade, the shortness of that gives me major concern, and I would love to hear from um Craft and Toll if they have done any of that analysis and have any answer for that uh concern would someone from Crafton Tell like to come up to address the questions?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um yes.

Um the Ashtel Green Book uh 2018 was used to do the site triangle analysis and the sites or the um site stopping distance analysis, and um the uh table and the equations in there have options for passenger vehicle or a larger vehicle, and the looking up all the way on ash and all the way on walnut, there is well above the required site stopping distance for both a passenger car and a larger vehicle.

Is it specific to school buses?

Because um they're kind of ungainly, and and then also is the 2018 Ashtow, is that the most recent uh version that is out?

The 2018 Ashtow is what city code requires.

Um that's the the requirement from the street standards, it references the 2018 green book specifically.

Um there's three vehicles, three design vehicles, passenger car, single unit truck, or combination truck, and the time gap for stopping increases with the larger size vehicle.

So a school bus would be in uh comparison to a combination truck.

And how many seconds were that?

And what was the distance that they were allowed to be able to stop in?

Uh that time gap for that equation is 11.5 seconds from table 96, and then the site stopping distance um was 200 feet up ash.

And have you all actually ground trust uh ground truth that or did you just kind of look at the manual and think that there was plenty of access there?

Um we've been on site several times looking at the site distance up ash, um, getting on Google Earth and going at the bottom and looking up and getting at the top and looking down.

Um that there's plenty of site stopping distance from our on-site observations from calculations from the green book.

Um thank you.

Yep.

Okay, oh, Miss Bunch.

I have I have a real quick question here.

This is uh just it's just I've been racking my brains here trying to figure out.

Uh I think this is from Mr.

Woods.

On on the presentation that you gave us, where is this?

Where is this photo?

I'm trying to figure out where this is.

It's just a stop photo.

Oh, it's just a stop photo, okay.

I'm not much of a graph.

I was okay.

I was trying to figure out where that was, and I could not place it.

Thank you very much.

Okay, I'm gonna turn it over for to public comment.

Um, just to reminder, we are going to take Fayetteville residents first.

Please state your name and address.

You will have three minutes at the mic, and everybody has one turn to comment per item.

I mean, one term per item.

And you are welcome if you are able to stand and line up, you are welcome to simply line up.

You don't have to wait for me to call on you.

You can just come right after the other.

Sounds good.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Ingrid Van Epps, and I live on Wheeler Avenue.

My concern about the current plan is not so much the site as it is about the sustainability.

Sustainability from a cost perspective and from a conservation perspective.

From a cost perspective, how many problems have to be resolved by engineers before it no longer makes sense to continue to move forward?

Give an engineer a problem and they will solve it.

For the proposed site, there are many problems to be resolved.

Drainage, foundation, traffic safety.

Each problem can be solved, but collectively, at what cost?

From a conservation perspective, how many resources have to be irreplaceably lost before the cost of ecology of our community becomes too great?

From climate benefits to have it continuity to water quality, how much lost is too much lost.

The proposed site was identified over 20 years ago as a valuable urban ecological asset of the city.

Fayetteville prides itself on its urban forestry initiatives.

What is the use of conservation planning if we are not going to follow the results of these efforts?

And I also am very concerned about the traffic coming down walnut.

And yes, maybe it is enough distance, but has the grade been taken into account.

I urge you to approve this appeal so that the best public possible outcome can be achieved for the school district, the city of Fayetteville, its residents, and its natural resources.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I have a presentation.

Dee Dee Peters.

Oh, it started already.

Okay.

Um hello, my name is Dee Dee Peters, and I live in Ward 2.

I had a really bad case of COVID and I was unable to attend the last planning commission meeting and send comments.

So my comments tonight were not heard by planning commissioners.

Um it's hard to see.

Um this first slide shows the concentration of schools and some preschools within a one-mile radius of New Ramey.

Almost 3,000 school children will be navigating twice daily trips in this area using different modes of travel.

No one's ever talked about this concentration of students in one area.

It's very large compared to other areas of uh where schools are.

Um it's a bit hard to see, but college avenue acts most almost as a spine with offshoots to most of the school destinations.

State law requires a 25 mile an hour speed limit when children are present on either side of a school property that fronts.

Um, and it will be on college too.

So this means that there will be 600 feet of reduced speed in the main north-south thoroughfare in Fayetteville at least twice a day.

Drivers will be frustrated with traffic and try to find cut throughs.

College Avenue is classified as a high and high injury road.

I believe um a heat map might be shown tonight showing the accidents along college.

Um I wish the heat map showed accidents with a mile radius of college.

City council commit members can ask for this data, and I hope you do that.

I would like to remind City Council and the mayor that traffic impact analysis revealed impact to traffic flow and levels of service.

It does not determine if the conditions are safe or unsafe.

I think it is short-sighted not to conduct a speed study.

The information could help you determine safety.

I think there should be one done during the school year.

The city has done a before and after speed study on college, I mean on ash as part of the traffic calming project in that neighborhood.

If you review that data, you will see that the speeds have decreased some, but drivers are often at 35 miles an hour instead of the posted 25.

Only slowing near the speed bumps.

Speeding and thus safety is a major concern for the school location.

Now for a bit of a topic switch.

Next slide, please.

This item uh was being heard at the planning commission on April 13th.

The school superintendent and the real district's real estate agent were in negotiations with at least one other adjacent property owner for several weeks, as evidenced by um some FOIA documents.

You can see that the school district is considering purchasing additional property.

Please note that the right to sell, next slide, please.

Right to sell agreement in date is May 31st after tonight's meeting.

The campus has not been fully designed.

Additional property would require require a rezone.

But you're only allowed to decide on the LSD presented to you today.

Current data shows the safe site is unsafe.

Additional speed data and accident maps would reaffirm this.

I ask that the city council table this appeal until you receive more safety data and information from the school district.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Peters.

Good evening, Clayton McClough.

I'm uh I always forget my word number, but I live in East Fayetteville near Butterfield.

He pulled the mic a little bit to you.

Okay.

Pastor, thank you.

Thank you.

Um I was going on vibes.

What I would say is that's the coolest place you could ever go to school once it's built.

Um I love the idea that students would be able to get to see the view that they're gonna get to see when the school is up there with the woods in the back.

And if my kids were uh younger and were gonna go to a junior high, I would be very excited for them to be able to go to a school in that location.

Um I'm concerned that some of what's happening right now in the room is making the decisions based on vibes.

Um, but many of the negative vibes, like you know, wanting to raise the concerns that will get you to the goal you have.

And so one of the things I think is really important to keep in mind is like, for example, what Jonathan illustrated at the end of his presentation when he talked about the what are the actual reasons that you can uh uh accept this appeal.

I also and you probably know that I'm very much interested in providing and naming scrutiny of entities when they need when it needs to be named, but I'm also kind of concerned if the city council were to reverse what the planning commission already has put forward because it intrinsically kind of puts or undermines trust in the planning commission's work, as well as, and this is the bigger issue for me the way this is going is it's been undermining a lot of public trust in the public schools and in their work.

And what I see as a parent in this school district and a community member who drives by that place all the time and knows all the schools really well, and knows lots of students and teachers in those schools really well, is that these are all trustworthy entities that are working together to decide the best place to put Raimi Jr.

High.

And I think that Raimi Junior High in this place and with the design that they have uh before us is really an incredible proposal that'll be transformative for Fayetteville.

So that's just one person's perspective.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Michelle Sutton.

I live in South Fayetteville, I believe ward one.

Um Mayor Ron, I have a question about recusals and conflicts of interests.

Specifically, I'm wondering whether Dr.

Jones should recuse himself from the vote tonight based on his position as the director of school-based mental health and community relations at Next Steps Counseling.

The agency FPS contracted with to provide mental health and education services for the district for the 25-26 school year.

According to public records, next step signed a memorandum of understanding to provide said services on 1029 25, two days after the planning commission approved zoning, and this was later signed by Dr.

Mulford on 11525, two weeks before the first city council meeting.

Let me be clear, I'm not impugning Dr.

Jones' ability to remain impartial, but there is a larger ethical concern about allowing anyone to vote when they are voting for or against an entity directly tied to their employment.

FPS writes the checks to his employer for the services provided in his role.

And I believe this represents a financial conflict of interest.

From the start, it has become clear to me that the city needs better safeguarding of these processes and more rigorous ethical standards.

So residents can feel sure decisions are being made fairly and without personal or professional interests at play.

One example is Commissioner Andrew Brink.

In the first planning commission meeting, he requested to add a requirement for sidewalk additions to fill gaps in sidewalks on and around property he owns.

Trent from Crafton Toll emailed about the legality of this requirement due to conflict of interest.

Um and I believe it was determined to be one.

At the very next meeting, Mr.

Brink stated he had forgotten he lived in that neighborhood, but he spent that meeting pursuing an on-the-fly variance to present prevent pedestrian access from his neighborhood to the school.

But he spent that meeting pursuing an on-the-fly variance to present prevent pedestrian access from his neighborhood to the school.

This is all very bad optics for the city, and it erodes public trust.

When people believe the system is rigged, they stop participating.

I don't know one person in my inner circle who supports the school location, but to a person they believe you all have made up your minds due to outside influence from the district or developers.

So they didn't come tonight.

You have a chance to prove that wrong.

Please vote for a fiscally and environmentally responsible.

Um school choice, safe location, and an equitable choice for all of Fayetteville.

Vote for the appeal tonight.

Thank you.

Okay, next, please.

Did you need to do anything about that?

Um about what?

I'm sorry.

About the question about conflict events.

I do not know.

Please go ahead.

As I stated at the beginning, she made a comment and a question of somebody on the council.

And after public comment is over, each council person has two periods of five minutes each, uh, five minutes each, and Dr.

Jones is welcome to address those if he would like during that time.

And at any point, if our city attorney feels like we are out of order or in improper in any way, he can turn his light on, and he knows I'll call on him.

Our senior assistant city attorney, excuse me.

Okay.

Yes.

Please go ahead.

And do we mind to um reset Miss Tiffany's time to three minutes, please, EJ?

I appreciate that.

Okay.

Please go ahead.

Um I'm glad of Tiffany Freya Bell.

And um, I just want to remind us that the this is a very complex design job that has been done here, and it's beautiful, and it's a lovely design job.

It's concerned me every time I have seen the designs that somehow magically flatten that land out so that it becomes much less of a hillside and much more of a field.

And I just have this concern that I just am not feeling like we know what's underneath that ground.

There's so many different things that are gonna be complications that we have not anticipated, and that the designers would have a very difficult time just uh contemplating while they're putting that design together.

That I'm just not at all sure that once the building starts, the grading is underway, that there's not going to be much more complicating factors than we've actually had a chance to look at.

And um, so I want to point out that the safety concerns that we're facing really are a lot of unknowns, and that the site has so many problems with it that it is really a situation that really does need a lot more study and a lot more care about it.

And then um, I just want to point out that one thing that I'm remembering from the discussion when the school built the uh parking garage that they put in recently is that they told us that we really did uh we had to have that parking garage because it was so unsafe to have the high school students crossing in crosswalks.

That was a major reason that they gave for putting that whole parking garage in.

So now, if the crosswalks are not safe for high school students, why are the crosswalks safe for middle school students and junior high students?

And I just do not feel like we have really gotten uh enough state safety answers to actually say that the site is appropriate or the design can really accommodate all the complications that are gonna come up.

Thank you.

Next, please.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Suzanne Clark.

I live at 438 East Fairway Lane in Ward 1.

Uh, and I am here to ask that you please deny this appeal and a lot and allow this large-scale development to move forward.

Um, with regard to the claims of safety issues, I am positively convinced that Dr.

Mulford and our school board members have got safety of their students as the number one priority as they address anything.

And more importantly, Mr.

Kirth and his very professional staff of planners who have vetted this project backwards and forwards.

I am also certain that they are focused on the safety of that project as it relates to the students that will be there.

Um, I think it is an important point that this went before the planning commission and received an 8-0 vote in favor.

I think that indicates there really is not controversy with this project, as has been noted by the folks at Craft and Tull.

This has gone through multiple, multiple reviews with city staff, and I think a lot of the issues that are being raised in the appeal are a recycling of a lot of the same issues that were raised in opposition to the to the rezoning.

Um, and I do believe that the traffic studies that have been uh done uh do address safety.

As someone who has become painfully familiar with traffic studies in the last uh the last year, uh there is a good deal of focus, and the factors that go into that evaluation most certainly do address safety.

So I think uh I think I believe you should take note of the fact that Mr.

Kirth mentioned that this project will actually improve the safety of the area.

This is a wonderful project for Fayetteville.

You all have passed ordinances and changed some of the development uh code in order to try to uh try to uh incentivize uh residential high density development along college.

I don't think anything helps promote residential development like a school.

And on college, I think this is going to do nothing but make that area of our town uh more livable, more exciting.

Uh the walkability aspects of this are outstanding with regard to what's happening with the trail trail system.

So I hope that you will take uh take into account how much staff has reviewed this, how much work has gone into it, allow the student school district to move forward with this project and deny the appeal this evening.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Before we move forward, have us everybody we I said at the beginning of the meeting we were going to take comments from people that lived in Fayetteville first.

Do we have any else that lives in Fayetteville?

I it may be Greenland, but I'm a de facto Fayetteville resident.

I'm actually kind of offended that I'm not considered uh de facto member of Fayetteville.

Okay, sir.

I'm not trying to say you're not.

Well, I seem to be targeted because uh I've been to many council meetings.

I've never heard this rule before.

Okay, so it actually is not something we typically enforce.

It's not targeted at me.

It is not targeted at you.

It is due to the high volume of comments we know we are going to hear tonight.

We want to prioritize.

It seems like I'm being pushed to the back of the line, just like uh this swarm is being pushed to the back of the line.

Okay, so sir, right now this isn't about Swarm.

This is about Raimi, and you are personally not being pushed to the back of the line.

I am trying to give an opportunity to the constituents that we serve to speak first.

You have a turn at the mic to speak about Raimi.

I understand that it absolutely impacts you.

I understand that you can be a part of this community and not live in the city limits.

And yet, I believe, as does the body of this council when they made those rules and gave me that option, that we first need to prioritize hearing from people that live here.

It's not personal.

I have more stages.

So, and so, sir, right now, and I'm gonna say this one more time.

We are not talking about Swarm.

I understand that you want to speak about that, and you will have a chance.

Right now, we are talking about Raimi.

Sir, please go ahead, state your name and address, please.

I'm Caleb Clark, I live in Word One off of Clover.

Um I didn't come here to talk about this issue tonight.

I came here to talk about something else.

But I might not make it to that because I gotta go get kids.

But um I thought Didi had um a good idea of tabling this because the school itself even mentioned that it's thinking about pursuing additional property in the area, which might change the whole thing.

And uh you guys probably need to consider that.

I am very concerned based upon what I saw tonight uh about the crosswalk.

I do think that's dangerous.

I really, really, really want to support pedestrians every time I can.

Ash Street is already dangerous.

The improvements to the plan look like they improve pedestrian walkway in the area based upon what would be there without the variants.

But it's still more dangerous to have a crosswalk there than to not have a school there, right?

Uh with a crosswalk, right?

Um I would think that you guys need to take some time to get more facts and be more judicious about risk management for this issue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Hi, good evening, Lee and Jurgen.

I live on Windswift Lane in Fayetteville.

During rezoning, the council stated that many of the traffic safety issues that were raised would be addressed during large scale development.

But here we are, six months later, and those issues are unresolved.

Fifty percent of site trips will come from the east down the hill on Ash Street.

You were told during rezoning, only 20% would come from this direction.

Ash will not be widened, no sidewalks will be built.

The rapid flashing lights that will be added, our push button activated.

Ash is too steep for speed bumps.

Despite the promotion of walkability during rezoning, there will be no pedestrian access from the north.

The school balked at building sidewalks in adjacent neighborhoods for an estimated cost of 135,000.

The school's spokesperson, Kelly Freeman, who has been paid 1.2 million to date on this project, said we don't have that kind of money.

The school said it will seek removal of the pedestrian connection to Marks Mill after this appeal.

The school stated it intends to build a fence around the north of a property to further discourage pedestrian traffic.

There has been no geological testing on the land that will house the football field.

And it's not clear if there will be a football field on this site.

The school met in an executive session on April 23rd to discuss buying yet another piece of property for the football field, but decided to hold off and revisit the purchase after this appeal.

The largest retention pond is under the football field.

If there is no field and no pond, what is the impact on drainage and runoff?

These questions should be answered, but they won't be unless you grant this appeal.

Because Dr.

Mulford has stated that the school can drop the football field after approval of the large scale development without city input or oversight.

This decision will impact Fayetteville forever.

It should be scrutinized.

The lack of transparency by the school board has eroded public trust.

But if you accept this appeal and deny the large scale development, the school be forced to disclose the ultimate plan for this site and whether it is feasible and safe.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And now you have your three minutes.

Okay.

My name's Abel Thomlinson.

I live at 60 West Smith Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas, technically Greenland.

Um as I said, I live right across the street from Swarm.

Um I've lived in Fayetteville 25 years.

I went to school at the UV for eight years.

I rented in Fayetteville for many, many years until I couldn't afford when we finally just me and my wife decided to buy a house.

We couldn't afford a house in Fayetteville.

And uh, so we had to the only thing we could find was an old crappy house in Greenland.

I guess the ghetto of Fayetteville, if you want.

Um I I work, I've worked in Fayetteville this whole time since and I've worked 20 years as a gardener, a professional gardener landscaper.

I'm a horticulture uh science graduate.

I went worked on half a PhD in plant science and a master's in political science, and I've worked at people's gardens all across Fayetteville, making gardens in Fayetteville more beautiful for nearly 20 years.

Um, and my wife also uh has a bakery that she does uh sells in Fayetteville.

We pay taxes in Fayetteville, I pay Fayetteville water bills.

Um it's kind of ridiculous that my opinion shouldn't matter as much as uh people that live in Fayette when I have lived in Fayetteville for 25 years.

Um, anyway, technically I live in Greenland.

And but I guess the point is is the the school and tearing down the largest forest in Fayetteville.

This reminds me of Markham Hill, uh Fayetteville Council uh developers, they call it developers, it's really destroyers.

Uh they destroyed Markham Hill and now they're gonna destroy the largest forest in Fayetteville that's left.

Um development has sounds such a euphemism, kind of like collateral damage in wars when we massacre and murder civilians.

We just oh, that's collateral damage.

We just killed 160 girls in Iran in the school and little school girls we murdered, and oh, that's collateral damage.

Same with development.

And it's it's a it's uh it's really characteristic of American disease.

We we're a mentally diseased nation.

We're a sick, sick nation.

Uh the one of the greatest uh philosophers I love, his name's Krishna Murti.

He says, uh it's no measure of mental health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

And we're a really sick society.

If you're normal and well adjusted, there may be something even more wrong with you.

It's a kind of robotic soullessness.

Uh, you know, it's this money worshipping.

Uh people feel like money matters more than forests or money matters more than human lives.

Building bombs and killing people is worth it because it makes money.

Money, money, money.

We worship money in this country, don't we?

Even at our churches, they seem like most of them worship money.

Uh there's few churches that are really Christian, in my opinion.

Uh, and yeah, tearing down this forest in Fayetteville, you know, it's the reminds me of Joni Mitchell.

We're paving paradise.

You know, what's left?

We're just gonna have a concrete jungle, and I mean, and cities full of rubble all over the world that we destroy with the war profiteering weapons.

Uh and uh these AI data centers happening everywhere, driving everyone's electric bills up and using up all our water.

It's it's evil, y'all.

For real.

Okay, next, please.

My name is Shelby Rogers, Ward 3.

Um the first slide.

I was impressed with Mike Wedaker's presentation last fall, and I would like to show some updated information, so I have used some of his slides.

The proposed cost of Raimi Junior High.

The first slide, please.

Shelby Rogers.

Which which email?

I sent it to the city clerk as well as KA Paxton.

Okay.

And we'll reset the clock, Ms.

Rogers.

Um I I've got a response email from the city clerk that they had the documentation and they had my presentation.

Okay.

All right.

We're gonna um okay.

What I'm at EJ, if okay, if it is gonna take a minute, do you want do we need to okay, okay, great?

We will reset the clock and you'll have your full three minutes.

Thank you.

So we have had a an unusual amount of of presentations and public comment.

We're trying our best to make sure we get to everybody.

So thank you for being patient understanding.

No.

No.

That's not it.

That's from two meetings ago.

Okay.

Um, so why don't why don't we um Mr.

Masito, if you could help Ms.

Rogers identify the presentation with EJ.

It would it be okay, Shelby, if we took the next comment and then came right back to you.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, hey, please come on up and state your name and address.

Hi, I'm Iris Youngdahl.

I'm originally from Minnesota, but I live here in Fayetteville, um, right next to the university.

Um, this is kind of new to me, but I really appreciate the time that you guys are taking to hear from us.

Um of the points that I think were mentioned today are brought up in a way that I think is pitting groups against each other and um assuming bad intent.

I think that questions do not mean that we're questioning the integrity of the people who put this together, but sometimes people make mistakes or they don't look at things in certain ways.

So I think it's important to see questions of this as care for the community at large.

Um I found it interesting.

Some of the pictures that were included at the um on the last slides of the presentation.

I apologize, I don't remember his name, but he gave the presentation on traffic.

And I think that the pictures of those buses in that situation are really compelling to show that I'm not really sure if without a widening of that ash street, if it makes sense for buses to take that turn when kids will be on the sidelines of those things, and also there will be crosswalks.

Uh another thing that I thought was interesting is they talk about um the crosswalks having cross guards.

I think that is wonderful, but with a large range of things for a kid to do before and after school, how long will those crosswalk guards be there for?

And I think that that's a really important thing as kids come to school early.

My brother is in middle school, and he has to go and retake tests or is a part of a club.

And I wonder if people outside of those school limits will still offer um caution to those roadway areas as students are crossing before and after school times, as well as um on the weekends and stuff.

I mean, sidewalks and stuff like that are also for recreation as well as not just the school, and so I think it's really important to think about the speed that people will be driving normally during the day, and if that is um something that kids can go safely across.

Another thing that I think is important to mention, um, there's some interesting businesses on College Avenue as well.

I think that the intersection is very close to um not only uh a strip club, but also there is Chiba Hut, which whether your opinions on marijuana are in any way um that still is close to the kids.

And um I wonder if that should be there.

Additionally, I wish that the school planning committee would um offer a couple more um safety first um options.

It feels like they're very open to um retroactively changing things, but I wish that they had more of a plan to do things off of the bat.

And I also wonder thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Yannick Dwyer.

Um I live on Ashwood Avenue here in Fayetteville.

Um Yeah, I think there's a feeling of you know, really being boxed in.

Um we have a dis we have a city that uh you know, a large, you know, majority of it has been developed on.

You know, it makes sense that the it makes sense to me intuitively that the school would end up.

Um, and you know, we are our our student bodies absolutely expanding.

Uh, you know, it makes sense that we need we would need to build more facilities, but you know, really there are a few places left um that are undeveloped, and of course, those areas are these really challenging places that really you know ought not to be built on, in my opinion.

Um, these slopes with these safety concerns that in a city that is dominated by car use is really something that you know it doesn't seem to me to be managed.

I think there's been a talk, uh there's been mention of, you know, this has gone through a lengthy planning process.

Um, and oftentimes the concerns about safety um and the environment and things are sort of repetitive.

And I think that has to do with the fact that our current methods for evaluating these things from the planning commission, for instance, um, are just not up to snuff, not up to obvious reality.

We talk about traffic engineering, and in the city, the traffic gets worse year after year.

And I I almost feel I almost worry that I might sound insane for bringing that up because it really does seem like the baseline idea is just oh, you have more people, the traffic gets worse and worse.

The streets are just going to be unsafe.

We just have to accept that children you know can't play in the streets.

You know, that's just what it is.

Uh, you know, I know people who have had their streets traffic engineered um by uh you know uh city staff, they put in speed bumps, the speed bumps don't work, uh this, you know, people are still flying through there at 35 miles an hour.

You can just go to those streets and see that the kids aren't playing out in the street.

It's not safe.

Um there really are methods where we can uh you know really start to retrofit these dangerous streets, these choked streets like College Avenue with public transport, you know, really seriously tackling these issues where we can start to convert some of these parking lots into usable space rather than pursuing and destroying these really perilous uh you know hilltops, hill slopes, wetland areas.

But if not, you know, we're just going to continue to create an unsafe uh you know total landscape for children um and at the cost of the entire uh remaining bits of uh undisturbed environment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I just want to do a technical check-in for just a moment.

Have we been able to find Ms.

Rogers' presentation?

Yes.

Okay, got it.

Are you are Shelby, would you like to have okay, okay, great.

Okay, please go ahead and state your name.

Hey, I'm Susan McDonald, and I live over by the forest on Wheeler Avenue.

So I asked Dr.

Mulford if I could play part of the school board meeting.

I came back from vacation on April 30th to go to the school board meeting, but I found out it had happened the week before.

And um according to the website, it's every fourth Thursday on except for November, December, and March.

So I don't know why it got changed in April, but I missed it.

And in that, there's a demographer report, and they're talking about um residents and non-residents.

And I'm wondering, um do you mind if I play Dr.

Okay?

I would, if you don't mind, I would like to play his what he said at the school board meeting.

Um let's see.

Some of the recent changes around in-district transfer laws, kind of opening that door a little wider than what it had been.

So I think all of that kind of contributes.

And then when you look at resident students, we do see a little bit of a decline on students who actually live in our district.

And again, could be you know related to the amount of college student housing demand, could also be that housing is more affordable in our neighboring communities.

So families with the school choice options they now have might be more apt to buy there and then continue to transfer in.

So it's just an interesting dynamic that we're gonna continue to keep an eye on.

I know Dr.

Scott has been working with his team to track some of that stuff a little more detailed so that we can get a really good picture of how some of that's impacting us.

So that is a huge deal.

You know, are our kids and families moving out of town?

And I think we need to slow down.

And I agree with a lot of what's been said.

We we could probably use an urban forest to be able to go and relax in after stuff like this.

And I think we just need to slow down and consider other options.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, um, can you hear me?

Yes.

My name is Kitty O'Malley.

I live on Hill.

Um I am in Fateville for grad school, but I was a teacher in Lerock for four years, and I was a crossing guard for three of those four years.

Um, in a s an area that's similar to kind of the dynamics of the area with where the school's being proposed.

It was an area with a lot of schools and a lot of different, like kind of all cut um congregated in the same place.

Um, and the street that I was a crossing guard for was like a high frequency street, kind of similar to college or walnut, um, but it was straight and wide and relatively high visibility.

Um, I had a large metal stop sign of safety vest.

There were people on the other side with safety vests.

There were multiple crossing guards at once.

Um, and the only people who usually stopped for me with my noticeably large group of like 10 plus kids crossing at once were parents who recognized me from the school that I worked at.

Um, I'm concerned with um if there are options for more safety measures to be taken, like speed reports from the school year and the visibility reports that were shared with the bus photos.

Um I just think that if I think even the presence of crossing guards um is not enough, especially or like if there's more research to be done around the safety measures of something, so that you're also helping keep crossing guards safe, because I think crossing guards are a great position, but um in my experience, it wasn't kind of like a guarantee that the kids were safe.

There were times that we were definitely running out of the streets to avoid being squashed, and I had my nice vest and my fluorescent lights going off.

Um, and I think that there's no harm in like when you're thinking about kids and also like people who work with kids are they sometimes our crossing guards are teachers.

Um they're not necessarily separate staff members or their um auxiliary staff at schools who don't have morning classes or places to be at 730 specifically.

Um, and so I think thinking about how if those are the people who are going to be working to keep kids safe, um, if there are if there is more research we could do into ensuring that those people are safe and those children are safe.

I don't really understand, or I think it might be beneficial, I guess, in my opinion, to do the maximum amount of research that we could if the people that were trying to protect are potentially teachers and students.

Thank you.

Okay, Miss Rogers, we will get your presentation pulled up.

Shelby Rogers, ward three.

I was impressed with Mike Wiedaker's presentation last fall, and I'd like to show some of the slides of his slides and update some of the information.

The proposed cost of the Ramey Junior High site is continuing to increase with each budget revision.

This last month, the current estimate is 122.8 million dollars, and that cannot possibly be the final number as the plans are not complete.

It's not an overstatement that on a hillside construction site that cost overruns could run 25 to 30 percent.

At that number, the project would be over 150 million dollars, making Raimi Junior High the most expensive school per student capita in the nation.

Over 135,000 per student at 900 student population.

Next slide, please.

There are many things that you cannot consider in voting for this appeal.

Although important to taxpayers, you cannot consider the construction costs that I just mentioned.

How many parents want their parents' children to go to school in the woods, how many neighbors just don't want the school in their backyard?

The Raimi saw site was sold to us as a walkable bikeable school, except now there is an approved variance to build not no sidewalks on Ash Street.

Summit place is blocking access to students walking to school and ashes not being widened so buses can pass oncoming traffic without crossing the center line.

Stormwater runoff and impacts to the city drainage are an ongoing problem.

Formosa restaurants been underwater waist deep, and there's also the ditch to deal with when the FEMA flood zone.

Next slide.

This cut and fill graph shows the cut and fill that will be required to the building side of RAMI.

You can see the dramatic amounts of cut and fill.

And as the school said that some of this will be reused.

However, before fill can be re-added back, the cut must be removed.

The only estimate that's been distributed is 2,000 dump trucks.

Do you wonder what that many dump trucks and construction entering and exiting these streets, Ash Street, College, Mark Mills, neighborhoods, city expense?

Do you wonder what 2,000 dump trucks looks like?

Next slide.

Well, this is 400 dump trucks.

A slide provided by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

For the Rami site, we're talking about five times this amount of trucks going on ash college, possibly Mark Mills, not to mention the construction that's going to be.

How will the neighbors fare when these trucks are on their neighborhood roads?

How will citizens feel when they're driving on College Avenue?

Let's not even talk about ordinance 163.11 passed by the council.

No sexually oriented businesses within 500 feet of a school.

The school is being located right in the middle of that.

Tonight marks the defining moment for Fettville.

The decisions that are made this evening will carry lasting impressions, implications, and meaningful challenges.

I hope that you will vote yes and appeal.

Thank you.

Next.

Hi, my name is Clark Eccles.

Uh I live at 95 East Madrid Street.

I'm from Fayeville.

I was born here.

I grew up here.

Uh I went to Raimi Junior High.

I urge you to vote tonight and uh to deny the appeal and uh move the RAMI project forward.

Uh this project's gone through lengthy planning and development process with considerable um thoughtfulness towards uh reduction of vehicle miles traveled and student equity and uh uh travel distances for students.

Um and uh and you know it's also gone through planning commission and council approval.

Um in March, the the district we passed the millage extension, which you know, of course, was not approving or denying RAMI, but you know, to me is tacit approval of support for the direction the the district is taking.

Historically, the school district has often been sprawl-inducing, and so this is an opportunity for uh actually doing some good things and doing great infill development um and uh doubling down on the city's investment along the business 71 corridor.

And to me, this is not a loss of tree canopy.

This is a preservation of a significant amount of canopy uh and uh and and granting that for public access uh indefinitely.

And so I'm very uh thrilled about that.

Uh I'm also a parent.

I have a three-year-old daughter, and I I'm thrilled for her to be able to uh attend the school someday.

I'm thrilled that she'll be able to access the school uh without having to always drive uh or take the school bus.

You know, we live not so far away.

She could walk, she could take the bike, she could take micromobility, uh, public transportation along business 71.

Um business 71 has also been uh recently rezoned and upzoned as as I know you all know.

Um, and this is a way to double down on our investment as a city and what we want to see there, and and schools are a great way to induce uh you know more development on along this corridor and uh and really double down on uh on this investment.

Um I also urge the city to consider utilizing the the couldland the current woodland practice field as uh to create workforce housing for district employees.

I'd also love to see significant uh safety improvements at the the new poplar intersection, uh including uh a bike and pedestrian tunnel underneath college.

I know those issues are not up for tonight, but I'd like to wanted to voice that.

But please vote no uh tonight and uh deny the appeal so we can uh get moving forward.

Thank you.

My name is Jerry Gerthit.

I have a presentation.

I'm gonna make this sh short and sweet.

Thank you for your time.

I am here to address safety.

My jame's Jerry Gerthit, living in Fayeville 25 years.

I'm in Ward II.

Thank you for your time in the this evening.

I'm here to address safety concerns about the proposed Ramey Junior High.

The college corridor is already unsafe.

Why make it worse?

The corridor is already busy and hazardous area for everyone traveling through it, whether by car, truck, bus, bicycle, or foot.

Choosing to navigate this congested each morning is one thing, but creating a new destination that will draw in more traffic would only make an already dangerous situation worse.

Let me be honest.

This is a dangerous location for a school.

A school should be a safe haven, not a risk zone.

Next slide.

Next slide.

That was what the car looked like after it came out.

Next slide.

Congestion, even on a normal day, driving the College Avenue corridor from Joe's to Sycamore requires constant vigilance.

One accident can create major delays and force traffic onto surrounding roads.

If track is traffic is already strained, what will happen when a school drop off and dismissal add even more vehicles to the mix, especially during a slowdown or road closures?

Uh yep.

Next slide.

Next slide.

You got me out of sync, but this I believe is time of day hazard.

The western sunlight and school to missile timing on college, I think will create all kinds of problems in the afternoon.

Next slide.

Next slide.

Next slide.

Infrastructure probably won't fix all of these issues.

This crash that occurred on uh Sycamore happened after the intersection was upgraded.

And as you can see, how that truck ended up there is beyond my my ability of thinking.

Next slide.

Next slide.

Everyone in the room understands how large school buses are, how slowly they move, and how frequently they must stop.

That is simply the nature of transporting students safely.

But it also means there are especially vulnerable to congested, narrow and unpredictable traffic conditions.

What happens when a bus accident or breakdown occurs on College Avenue or corridor, or specifically along the sycamore ash area?

Next slide.

Next.

College Avenue is already dangerous, but ash and sycamore be may be even more alarming.

As the pictures make clear, the road is not designed to handle large school buses safely.

It is already difficult and conject constrained stretch of roadway, and adding multiple buses, parent drop-offs, and daily cool school congestion could push it behind its limits.

Next slide.

Yep, I understand.

Trying to get it down.

There.

I'm Don Fisher.

I live on Peel Street.

A shady old growth forested hill strike site exists.

The school boards developed a feeder pattern and insists that this is for a junior high is the only viable location.

The hillside's a challenge, but the site's a fixation.

Students deserve it.

A school in the woods.

A new feeder pattern will offer them their good.

But the cost of this vision is remarkably high, not just in tax dollars, but in safety and gridlock.

Here, why?

The property was purchased before proper zoning was approved.

The design firm said for a premium, the property could be improved.

It was argued that the feeder pattern was sacrosanct, but the logistics could be imagined differently.

We're a city of trees in a natural state, but we're infilling with concrete and construction of late.

Data shows that student population is level, not increasing.

Manufactured time pressure is the devil.

Many hundreds of truckloads of material to remove, more hundreds of loads to the site, the foundation to improve.

It's not living in nature.

It's scraping the hill from the scene.

No longer the trees, keeping the air cool and clean.

With competing priorities, it's tricky at best.

And we're custodians of this place with which we've been blessed.

It's not without challenges.

A floodway in a traffic are two.

These facts are inconvenient, but unfortunately true.

Ice or snow may make impassable any street on that hill.

College and poplar are prone to flooding with detritus and swill.

Emergency response may be at times pretty tough.

Opponents to this project can't stress that enough.

Businesses below on college flood during heavy rain.

City code is obliged to protect them from developments, further strain.

Addressing the gridlock and dangerous sharp turns, limited sight lines on Ash and Walnut's deep hill.

There will be crossing guards, speed bumps, flashing signs.

But humans do human, not perfect will be.

Accidents happen to others, but never to me.

No one ever speeds or is distracted at the wheel or goes just a tad fast up or down that steep hill.

Denudative most trees, no old growth forest will be, a few old oaks, urban savvy critters, but mostly students will see there will be a few scattered trees here and there, token groves of newly planted saplings, but beware.

With disappointing results, our tax dollars will pay for what the trees and nature do today, with not enough routes to filter the water, stabilize the slope, provide shade, store carbon, costly technologies become savior and hope.

Details are discrepant, but the board's intention is still to build a school, track, and field on this hill.

What we'll see in the end is no hillside forest at all.

What we'll see is a boondoggle in a 40 foot wall.

For these reasons and more, I respectfully request that you vote yes to the appeal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Ross Tompkins of 1701 North Oldwire Road in Fayetteville.

I do have a PowerPoint presentation, if that's okay.

If not, I do have copies.

Great, thank you.

So just a little bit about myself.

I have an undergrad and master's in industrial engineering from the U of A at Fayetteville, a DSBA from Austin, which is in data science, and a postgrad certificate from Stanford in innovation.

This evening I'm showing how the proposed large scale development is not suitable for this site.

By nature, the train, it drives engineering solutions that create real hazards, and we're going to take a deep dive in that.

With only three minutes, I'll focus on the entrance located on the southwest corner of the site.

Please look at figure one.

Yes, thank you.

This is a two-way entrance at the curb between Walnut and Ash Street.

To begin, there's a water trapment at this intersection.

If you'll go to figure two, please.

So the topo lines on that show an 18 foot deep pit, 80 feet wide over 50% slope.

I have a lot of data from the available drawings that I'm not going to read through.

Um, but I think what's important is what is this going to look like.

What hazards will this actually create?

So if you go to slide three, this is a scaled rendition connecting of the connection using the elevation drawings provided by Crafton Toll.

And so it doesn't take much to see the substantial hazards that this is creating.

Got a downward slope with that intersection on that pit, and frequent wet conditions, obviously, because that's why we're doing water containment.

In fact, a fully loaded bus can't stop on that slope.

It's a 17 degree slope, it's fully loaded, and the stopping, the coefficient of friction generated by the tires is not that will not overcome the force of that bus during wet conditions.

Also, aside from the debris and trash accumulation in the mosquitoes environments that we'll see there, two crosswalks are right in the middle of this danger zone.

So this is just one of many several hazards and safety issues generated by this large scale development.

There are many others with the taining walls and the water areas, the steep slopes, and the poor mixing of vehicles and pedestrians.

We have a chance to get this right.

We really do.

And we don't need to wait and adapt the plans and spend money and time and fights.

Let's get it right.

Please vote yes to appeal this large scale, yes to safety and well-being of our students, and yes, will enable transparency and hopefully a better large-scale design.

Thank you very much.

I'm Lana Harris.

I live at 4277 West Kinley Place.

And tonight I would like you to consider the inequity that has been created by the Fayetteville Public Schools self-manufactured feeder pattern and how it increases traffic impacts and safety concerns, not only in the areas surrounding the proposed Ramey site, but across the entire city.

For these and many other reasons, I'm asking that you grant the appeal by Councilwoman Turk and reverse approval of the proposed Raimi Junior High large scale development.

The school district has repeatedly told the public, the planning commission, Mayor Ron, and this council that the selection of this site was necessary to increase equality and accessibility and to reduce traffic impacts for Fayetteville families.

In fact, we've all been told that this was the only site in town that would allow for these things.

Yet students living on the north side of township, essentially across the street from this site, as you can see here, are being forced to travel over four miles to attend woodland junior high.

Meanwhile, students living in the more affluent homes across the street in Summit Place will get to attend the new RAMI.

Next slide, please.

That is not it.

Thank you.

These numbers actually tell the story.

Students and families with fewer resources and greater transportation needs are being forced to attend schools farther away, thus creating more traffic on our already congested streets.

As Bell families from a significantly more disadvantaged area will be required to travel more than six miles across town to woodland, even though the proposed RAMI site is only about two and a half miles away.

Meanwhile, route families will only have to travel about two miles to reach RAMI.

Aside from the glaring inequities, if families living closest to the proposed site are being forced to travel farther away, then this site doesn't reduce transportation impacts.

It increases them.

The selection of this site and the forced transportation patterns mean more congestion on our streets, more time families will spend in traffic, more burdens for Fayetteville families who are already struggling.

Slide three, please.

Traffic planning is not separate from equity.

Who is forced to travel farther?

Who absorbs the cost and who bears the increased safety risks are all things I hope you'll consider because these are the same families who are trusting you to represent them equitably and responsibly deny it.

For these families and future generations of families, I ask you to do what's right for all of Fayetteville.

Please grant this appeal and reconsider whether this site truly meets the goals of reduced traffic impacts, safety, accessibility, and equity that our community has been promised.

Thank you.

Okay, next step.

Strawberries.

Oh, wonderful.

Sid Simons 421 Olive.

48 years, domicile here.

Can you bring the mic to a little bit more, Mr.

Simons?

Thank you.

Okay, there we go.

And uh I wouldn't say this if it I didn't think this could be connected to like the health of the students somehow, but I just wanted to ask if you know if uh there are plans to build any of these things that I see around town growing up that and this has been uh schools around the country have had this issue has been coming up of the the towers that look like a beanstalk or a tree that have these giant things that look like speakers and they're like they're aimed down, kind of uh I don't know what they are, but do you I've heard that schools are like wherever there is a school, they put one of those there, and then they get voted to remove it or something.

So you don't you don't know?

I guess where would you I guess you uh I think you there's there's ways to find out if there's a plan.

So what I would recommend to find out a direct answer to your question is to email the school board or the superintendent.

He is right in the back, and I bet he would give you a business card and you could email him that question and ask him, and he would know.

So all right, thank you.

Thank you.

Enjoy your strawberries.

Next, please.

Hello.

Hello.

Um, good evening, Mayor Ron.

Can you pull the mic up to you closer just a little bit, please?

Good evening, Mayor Ron.

Thank you.

Members of the Fayetteville City Council and the public.

I'm Lucy Emory.

I'm an RN, formerly a secondary teacher.

Um here to present my main health and safety concerns regarding the proposed New Ramey Junior High at the Ashwood site.

My major concerns include safe access.

Um there's three or four points to this.

Access for vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians is risky due to dangerous crossings, congested traffic, poor visibility, and human error.

Um, also consider the influences such as bad weather, excess water, with the potential for hydroplaning, flood zone crossing issues, or even icy conditions and the slope itself.

Uh, flatter parcel with better street access and visibility would serve our needs.

Uh, please see accident statistics from the U.S.

Department of Transportation.

I circulated with a copy of my presentation.

Apparently, 20% of fatalities from traffic accidents are pedestrians and cyclists.

That I did not know.

Okay.

Umergency access is a very big concern of mine in this particular project, which I hiked with the school board about a month ago.

I'm gonna say that multiple response vehicles may be needed near or on school grounds at any time, even at peak times and in foul conditions.

That queue could be loaded, and an emergency vehicle needs to come in.

How are we going to accommodate that?

Because it won't just be one, it'll be three or four, and they can't all come in the same way.

They need multiple accesses.

Um please consider a dedicated access should this project you know be you know continue.

Um perhaps from Marksmill neighborhood.

The school site needs to be incredibly accessible for emergency vehicles and first responders as well as those with disabilities and the general public.

Traffic safety.

The pedestrian crossings on 71B and another at the crest of Ash are very concerning.

Uh please consider a sensor to cause that light to flash without having to be dependent on a manual button.

ADA and safety.

The slope admittedly makes some of the walkways and grounds unable to meet ADA standards.

Also, a high capacity generator may be needed to keep access via elevators and lifts if a power failure occurs.

Uh please consider alternative sites and then the best let the best site win.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

It looks like it's time to take calls and comments that are on Zoom.

Uh Keith, do we have anyone uh signed up already on Zoom who would like to speak on this item?

Yes, we have a Michelle on Zoom.

Okay.

Michelle.

Hey, y'all.

I live on Wheeler Avenue.

Um, and I'll keep this quick.

I already sent uh a comment in via email, and I just want to say I support um denying the variances and approving Councilmember Turk's appeal to ensure this large-scale developments fully and properly vetted.

I am absolutely concerned about the safety on Ash, especially um on even a mildly rainy day like today.

Um, based on my experience living in this neighborhood for 10 years.

I don't feel it will be safe or sustainable financially or environmentally to build a middle school, especially with a practice field on this site.

So uh please reconsider and I appreciate the time and effort you and everyone else in this community has put into this meeting and previous ones.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Looks like we have Ms.

Mosley next.

Is that right, Keith?

Correct.

Hi, is that me?

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Is this Miss Please state your name and go ahead?

My name's not Miss Mosley.

Maybe did I get unmuted on accident?

My name's Heather Evans.

I'm sorry, Keith, can you take over the Evans?

Yes, here I am.

Hi, my name's Heather Evans.

I live on Absolute Street, and I would like to speak in support of Raimi Junior High and request that the city deny this appeal.

Um, first thing I want to say is this is a very horrible week uh for this meeting to take place.

And so I just want to speak on behalf of all the parents with students in the Fayetteville School District.

This is a busy week, a difficult week, and it's not lost on me as to why this appeal took place during the month of May.

There's a lot of activities, and there's a lot of parents that will struggle to make this meeting.

So I just kind of wanted to make that point.

Um, I do wish that the city will um deny this appeal, and I have a couple of reasons why.

So um, without further ado, uh the first reason is none of the proposed site deviations present any danger or legitimate traffic concerns.

The appealant is hyper focused on the corner of Ash and Walmart Walnut, and in my opinion, this is in order to maintain the standards required for appeal.

The reality is that prior city planning department, the school district is actually improving that street, and it is currently a bike lane that feeds into college and the VA, which is one of our largest employers.

So I'm actually very glad that that's that street is finally getting the attention that it needs.

Second, the school district is removing the traffic by updating the feeding patterns.

So a majority of the students will be coming from Leverett and Washington, right on college, and then Happy Hollow will be coming from the south.

So I'm a root family.

I'm one of the only uh student bodies that will be coming down ash, but we also have north.

We can take the North Avenue and we can also take township.

So I do think traffic is gonna be reduced, and we're not gonna be seeing as many buses as we currently see.

So in conclusion, please vote no on this appeal and support Raimi.

And um, that is all I have.

Thank you.

Okay, great.

Thank you then.

We have Aretta Mosley.

Hi, can you hear me now?

Yes.

Sorry about the mishap.

Okay, no problem.

Thank you for your time.

My name is Arita Mosley.

I'm with Ward 3.

I'm the happy hollow PTO president, the Woodland Junior High Vice President of PTO, and the McNair PTO vice president as well.

I really appreciate your time tonight.

I want you to please deny this appeal.

City Council has approved the rezone of this land for Remy Junior High before.

The planning commission has approved the plans twice, most recently, unanimously.

The supermajority, 67% of FAIL voters approved this on March 3rd.

As I've said in meetings before, the feeder pattern in Raimi Junior High in this location will improve the demographic balance and equity across the district.

The new feeder pattern will decrease the current gap between middle school and junior high schools with regard to percentage of students eligible for free and reduced meals.

Currently, the current gap is more than 40%.

This new feeder pattern will reduce that gap to approximately 12%.

The facts and the data are on the um's website as well.

Again, I've I've spoken a lot about this.

We're going on almost year five of trying to find the solution, and I um really hope you deny this appeal.

And again, thank you so much.

And I'm apologize that more of us couldn't be there.

It's the last day of school tomorrow, so a lot of us are with kiddos getting them ready for school.

So thank you for your time.

Correct, Beth Schrock.

Thank you.

My name's Colleen Gaston.

Yes, I live within spitting distance, but outside of the city limits.

I have three children, all of whom attended Fayetteville public schools.

Um I wouldn't be here tonight, obviously, if I didn't care about this community.

Um I'd like you to consider one other safety issue that really hasn't been discussed tonight.

You know, you you it's often looked at as an environmental issue, but I think on a hillside with a significant slope and a big increasement in impervious um surfaces, roadways that are gonna provide a direct channel down to College Avenue that you should be looking closely at the stormwater issue.

The design standards, which I believe with um on paper anyway, that um can be met for the city for this site, probably probably on paper have been uh shown to be capable of being met.

But I think the city should realize that those standards do not capture and detain all of the runoff on this site from a wallet quality perspective.

Approximately 20% under the standards is allowed to flow off site.

That's gonna come largely, I believe, down the channel provided by the roadway coming from College Avenue.

But probably more important because safety is paramount for a school and a city and a main traffic avenue like college is the potential impact of flooding.

And I don't believe that even if the city's design standards are met, that we're gonna have a safe uh environment on college.

We always already have flooding problems on college.

Um the design standards do not require capture of storms that are now happening more and more frequently every year.

For I only looked at going back 10 years, but the design storm that has to be captured has been exceeded every year.

So that's something I would ask the city council.

Do you feel confident that you've got all the answers you need at this point about this development about the stormwater flooding impacts on college and also potentially on Ash going on to Walnut because there are gonna be slopes created there?

There was a detention pond there, it has an overflow, but during um the you know, again, increasingly prevalent storms that exceed the design standards for our detention ponds.

Is there going to be flooding out onto Ash and College?

And what will that mean for the safety of our students and drivers?

Thank you for your consideration.

I ask you to deny this appeal.

Thank you.

And I reminder that it is uh in resolution that it does require it out.

Yes, uh thank you, Mayor Ron.

Um I was approached by I believe a member of the school board maybe two to three weeks ago about uh my um decision making with my role as a council member and my position with next steps.

And uh an employee employer is an individual company or organization that hires individuals to perform tasks in exchange for compensation.

I do not receive any compensation from the FAVA public school system.

Um I work for next steps and we don't, it's not even a contract.

Basically, I see uh students there who um receive um Medicaid services.

So I'm actually paid by the state of Arkansas.

I do not receive one fent from the Fed Public School System.

They don't control my schedule, they don't even know what I'm there.

I receive no supervision from the FAVA public schools.

But after that conversation with Mr.

Hudson, I reached I uh left the meeting here one night and I reached out to Blake and I asked him about that or um what does that look like?

So Blake, if you could share what you know about that.

Dr.

Jones is yielding his time to you, Mr.

Payne.

Yes.

So uh your own uh rules of civil uh of procedure uh say no member of the city council with a direct or indirect financial interest in any items before the city council shall participate in the discussion of or voting on such matter.

Uh there have been a more than a few attorney general opinions over time.

Uh most of those talk about uh pecuniary interest if that interest is immediate, particular, and distinct from the public interest.

Uh another one says generally an officer would be disqualified from participating in a decision when he has a personal interest which might interfere with the unbiased discharge of his duty to the public.

Uh in a 2021 memo uh to the city council, the city attorney said, I believe that a mandatory recusal only occurs if a council member has a direct and individual financial interest in the passage or defeat of a resolution or ordinance.

Recusals should be very rare and should not be used simply because a council member has friends or business associates very concerned about a city issue.

Constituents have a right to expect that their representative vote even on tough issues, which can alienate friends and business associates.

Uh ultimately it's the council member's decision uh whether there is a conflict of interest, uh, but that is the guidance that I would give.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Blake.

Okay.

Uh Ms.

Bunch.

Uh yes, I have two questions that were just kind of uh in the comments uh that I was trying to take notes on, and I hope I have them right, but um they're kind of I guess they're for Jonathan.

Um there are two issues and they're a little bit different.

And one person had mentioned that there might not be uh that there possibly would not be a ball field going in, and that's where the water storage was underneath the the ball field or the if if that's if there's no ball field, it does the storage go away.

Does that requirement for storage immediately go away?

The short answer is no.

The storage requirement would be the same, it's based on the amount of imperviousness proposed on a piece of property.

Uh put differently if the I think the school district's objective with putting the storage under the ball field is to uh uh make double use of that property.

They need to have storage, they need to uh accommodate stormwater and our stormwater requirements on their property, and in the effort to reduce disturbance on the property, they have sought to combine it by putting the ball field on top of the underground storage.

Underground storage is a fairly common tool that we see us in FAVE, increasingly common as property values go up.

Okay, thank you, thank you.

Good answer.

Um, and it my next uh question is about uh someone had brought up the issue of the the crosswalk signals being push button and why they were not, and I've forgotten her name, I think it was Lucy Emory maybe.

I think it was Lucy Emory maybe.

Why they were not uh it were was not suggested that they be like I guess an automatic signal, like you walk to it and it it goes off automatically that you don't have to push the button because that sometimes you know junior high kids might not remember to push the button.

Is there any reason why we're not asking for something like that versus the push button?

I uh would have to defer to either the design team's engineer or Justin Blander, a city engineer on the answer to if that's based on specification.

I know locally we most prominently use those manner of sensor activated.

We use those manner of sensor activated lights in very high traffic areas, the Razorbat Greenway being the most important thing.

Mr.

Bland, is that something you're able to address?

So would someone from the Oh, sorry Mr.

Bland's coming up.

Okay.

Okay.

Hi.

Uh can you hear me?

Yes, um, yes, we we do have that as an option.

Um what we found though is that uh at times uh people tend to rely on those uh exclusively.

So instead of stopping and actually looking, they just walk through those.

So that they do have a a certain element um where you we want to make sure that they're they're used appropriately.

Um but we could certainly put them in this area that we have two types.

We have one that are video enabled.

Um the downside to those is that sometimes they get uh false signals and they will be just they see things in the background that get triggered and they think it's a pedestrian, but it's actually like you know, a limb moving or something, and so you get false signals and it starts flashing and it looks like it's malfunctioning, but it's just the camera reads it differently.

The the other option that we have and the ones that we use on the greenway trail are there's basically two poles on either side, and when something goes in between the two poles, it's it it uh triggers it, and that that works pretty well.

Um we we tend to like those in locations where they can be further back though, because as soon as you hit that, it's when it triggers it.

So it's right at the curb, it doesn't really give much lead time.

So um if the council would like to request those, I I think it's a uh definitely an option on this location.

Okay, good uh I like the idea of uh, you know, the I understand the setback where you go through the two poles and it's set back far enough that you know it's so that someone wouldn't just walk up and just immediately walk out into the street, because we've all experienced that, especially at the UV campus.

So you know, where you're just like you're always watching everything.

Um okay, thank you very much.

Appreciate that.

Ms.

Moore.

Don't don't leave yet.

Sorry.

Uh thank you.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um, I have a follow-up related council member bunches.

Um, you know, uh and I'll kind of frame my question kind of a statement than a question is you know, this is an incredibly challenging site.

And so that was my concern.

I said, you know, as a soft jest on the rezone just because I was very concerned about these particular challenges.

Um whenever uh we're looking at, you know, we talk a lot about trying to create pedestrian you know safety um and all the different ways we can um do that.

Do we address the school areas or certain areas of town differently than the whole the city as a whole when we're looking at pedestrian safety?

Um yeah, I think I think we do.

I mean, we have the Safe Ross School program, and there's definitely uh programs that we're looking at making uh targeted improvements in the school districts.

So that is one thing that we do.

I guess with um you know, us hearing from a teacher, you know, who and and bless these teachers.

I really appreciate them, right?

That they get out and we have it at Washington because on Maple, it's a very active roadway.

Um and bless her, she gets out there and keeps us all safe, and I'm very appreciative.

But we have a flashing light, and you know, unfortunately it's a balancing act as we welcome new folks in, you know, balancing the aggression with driving and trying to change behavioral patterns.

I just think it maybe is opened up, you know, with us on transportation committee, and as you guys are going, I know to uh see additional technology that's out there and just you know other things that can be implemented.

I'm curious if overlays in areas in our city um that have you know particular type of vulnerable foot traffic that we might look at, you know, different things.

I know we recently um re-timed the signalization of traffic to where the crosswalk they didn't coincide at the same time at a T intersection because we recognize that that was a concern, and just wonder if there might be and would I really would ask that there be some strategies as a parent whose child will go there and does recognize that we do have some challenges with getting um you know full compliance in these areas um where where kids and families are trying to cross.

I mean feel feel fair to to look and see what we might be able to do.

I think it is absolutely and uh I know Dane has the again the Safe Rosal School plan that's coming ahead, and I think you could really be compliment that as part of that program.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Mr.

Witiger.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh I hope you'll remind me to to copyright any presentations I make in the chambers from here on out.

I'll I'll be getting that trademarked.

Um, we're not gonna re-litigate the rezoning, um, which I did not vote for, and I did not get invited to Christmas parties as a result of that.

It it was my attempt to not be anti-school, but to raise the issue of count the cost before you start the project.

And that was my sole goal is don't get started, cut down a mess of trees, start grading, and then say, oops, we can't finish the project after literally just uh angering a lot of people.

And that would just be catastrophic.

That was my mission, that was my purpose.

That was done.

I announced at that time whatever this body did, the eight people, I trusted the eight minds better than just my one mind.

And I stick by that decision.

I voted my conscience, the rezoning was approved, and I stated that I would treat that as if it was a unanimous decision going forward.

And I think that's a responsible thing for me to do at this time.

We won't relitigate the rezoning request.

It's simply a matter of safety and dollars.

And so those are things, whether it's stormwater or traffic, can in fact be mitigated.

And I do have confidence in staff in the city engineer and the development office to be able to resolve those things.

That is not something that the city council gets down into the details of.

That's not our role, that's not our purview.

And so I am entrusting that to professionals that do that on a daily basis.

And so at this point, um I will stick by what I said, and I I will not be supporting this particular appeal, but I wanted to make it clear.

Um I still don't anticipate getting invited to Christmas parties.

Thank you.

Minister Jones and then Mr.

Burna.

Thank you, Mayor.

Jonathan, can you be so kind to bring your presentation back up?

Certainly is there a particular side you'd like to say.

Um actually I've listened to a lot of information.

I want to go back to first your presentation on reasons for denial.

Certainly, allow me one moment here.

We've heard a lot of testimony tonight.

Um, some from feelings, some fact.

And I I try to stick to the facts that as a city council member, we are bound to these reasons for denial that have already been outlined before we were even voted here, voted in into this office.

Um so I go back and try to evaluate whether or not these reasons stand and hold fast according to our decisions.

So um I think you've explained that the first two are they are in compliance, and I think a lot of um you you spoke you spoke a little bit about the right-of-way and the easement dedication.

So I guess my question to you um between that one and creating and compounding a dangerous traffic condition, if you'll go back to the development site and talk about how those easements dedication and the new entryways to traffic.

Because I what I'm thinking is outside looking in, looking at just a map.

If my child is traveling from, and I want it to be clear, that's why I wanted you to pull that map up.

Is my tr if my child is coming in from ash, how would you say they would get to the closest trail to get to school safely.

Minister Jones, is this the site plan you're describing?

I child lives closest to Ash, and they need so what is the trail that they're going to take to get to school and enter it safely.

I've heard that it's gonna be fenced.

I've heard there's gonna be particular entrances.

Can you show me on this site map where they would enter safely?

Certainly.

Uh Ash, again, we're the site is oriented with north to your your left hand, so Ash is that street you see on the right hand side.

Yes.

There are two crosswalks that are proposed with this project.

Existing sidewalk on Ash today is on the south side of the street.

One crosswalk is to the east uh before you reach this property.

Uh that has a uh what's called an RRFB rectangular.

Rectangular rapid flashing beacon.

Yeah, I think I wrote that down too.

To signalize cars, uh additionally, I think you heard uh I mote they mentioned it in the public mention that the planning commission also wanted to add speed cushions on the approach to that as well.

So if you're approaching on Ash from the east, uh currently that that would be that crossing is how your child would enter the school grounds, and that would put you on the multi-use trail on the property.

Okay.

Uh which has uh connections uh across the drive lanes uh that circulate the property, and once you're inside that ring, you have a clear unobstructed path to the school.

If you're on the south end of Ash, if you're approaching, yes, thank you.

My question is do we expect them to ride up a hill to get to that crosswalk, or is there a crosswalk down the hill right there exactly?

There is a second crosswalk that is required of the project today that would that connects that sidewalk there again onto the property onto the multi-use property, onto the multi-use trail on the property, and then onto a pedestrian crosswalk to the building itself.

Um of note, and I did not cover this in my presentation because I I cannot assure it as a part of this project, but I think you heard members of the public describe it.

There are plans too for the city to extend Ash, the multi-use trail along the north side of Ash.

So uh residents that are on the north side of Ash may not even be confronted with the need to cross Ash to the south side and then come back to the north side once that's completed.

Um that is something that the staff or that the city staff has in the design phase.

I I don't have a date set when when that project would move forward, but uh it's something that's in in current discussion, and as a part of this project, the school district uh was also assessed a fee and lie that could potentially contribute to that trail construction as well.

Thank you.

My my last and final question.

Um, where is the stormwater overflow on ash north and south?

Where is can you point out where that is?

Because I live in a close floodplain area, and at one point in time, more than once when it flooded, you couldn't get across the bridges to get back home.

So can you show me clearly where cars have been flooded and went into ditches?

Is it up high?

I'm I'm just I appreciate Mr.

Bland uh anticipating my request for him to comment on that.

I do have the civil drawings pulled up if uh unless you prefer to say that.

Monique or Minister Jones, we're just gonna roll right into your second question period so we have more time.

So can you put the five minutes back up for each?

Okay, perfect.

Go ahead, Justin.

Yeah, so the way the site's designed is that everything within the site um is gonna be collected, uh, including the areas along Ash, um, routed through some sort of detention pond or water quality treatment, and then it's gonna be it's gonna drain down the school property down the hillside to college.

So um so all the all the improved area will be collected that way.

Um there is some area that's uh that's not being developed that will continue to drain as it naturally does down the hillside.

But um but essentially everything along Ash will be where the where that drive connects, there's a there's a series, there's a cut there's a pipe there that'll collect the water there and it will it will drain it um left, which is going north, and then it'll turn west and it'll follow the roadway down the hillside into the uh the culvert down there at the bottom of the hill at college.

Did you say it's gonna be routed through the detention pond?

I just want to make sure I wrote that correctly.

That's correct, yes.

Okay.

And you what I'm hearing you say is there there's no way possible as fluid as water is that that detention pond can overflow.

I I will say that it has been designed pro drainage manual for the hundred year storm event.

Uh we have experienced some um some events that are uh I mean just not normal.

It's not natural, that's right.

Yes, so they and you know, when they do those detention ponds, they they have a mountain freeboard, so there is extra volume available.

So we we do have some extra capacity there.

Um but that it they they have uh shown that they've met the standard of our drainage manual.

Thank you.

And mayor, well while they have the sets of drawing pulled up, may I offer a clarifying?

Yes, please do uh something that became apparent as uh the comment was being made from the public is there was concern expressed or or about a perceived, I think pit was the used word uh about uh some of the detention facilities located by the wet southwestern access off ash.

Yes.

That appears to have been from an old drawing that is not part of the approved planning commission drawing set.

So what you see here is the design.

There is some grading work that will be there, but you can see uh, or if you can see there, the the uh the contour lines are not what you saw that that uh so what was shared from that resident.

So that was something that was addressed and revised during the project review.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, um Mr.

Berna, Mr.

Turk.

Oh, and Miss More too.

But uh Mr.

Mr.

Berna.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I ran for this seat, someone said don't do it because you're gonna make 50 percent of the people mad a hundred percent of the time.

Uh and in this particular case, it plays out perfectly because I have friends on both sides of this issue.

And uh they most both, you know, make valid uh comments.

Uh I got chewed out at a funeral service a couple weeks ago from a little old lady uh because she didn't like my my vote uh for supporting the rezoning.

At the end of the conversation, she gave me a hug and gave me a kiss on the cheek, said go for it.

Uh so the bottom line is this, in my opinion.

I supported the school district when we did the rezoning.

Uh at this point, uh I can't support this appeal because I feel like uh as Jonathan has said, uh the variances that were requested make the project better.

Uh is it going to be perfect?

No.

But as we've talked many times, there's not an easy site left in the City of Fayetteville to build on.

Um, and this is going to be a challenge.

Uh we challenge the school district to make some changes to make it better, and I think they have addressed some of those issues.

Um I I also think that we could um put this off for 15 years, and it would never meet uh approval to some folks because they want that piece of land left the way it is.

And I get it.

Um, but this piece of property, and I think everybody on this council um uh will agree with me.

Uh I cannot remember a project that has been scrutinized more than this project.

Uh so to say that the school district has not been transparent, I don't think is fair because they have gone through multiple, multiple meetings uh similar to this length of time.

Uh they've they've addressed issues.

So I once again I've often often said I will support the school district until they give me a reason not to.

And in this case, they have not given me that reason, so I will not be supporting this appeal.

Mr.

Staffick.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, Mike, if it makes any difference, um I voted the opposite way you did uh on the zoning, and uh I also missed out on some uh Christmas party invites.

So um like like Scott mentioned, uh it was kind of you know, half of half my friends were for this and half against, but um I and I do understand the concerns about Walnut Nash, and I've had those concerns uh for years, uh independent uh of what the school's planning to do.

I and I I think that that's a city's responsibility uh to make improvements to that section of the road, and and I hope we do, and I will push for that in whatever way I can.

Um that said, uh, you know, last week I asked a question, and I was like, Well, we you know, what are we specifically addressing here with this appeal?

And it seems to be that we're just giving people another chance to air their grievances, and I get that and I understand that, and I do appreciate people that put the time and effort in, uh, gave us some presentations to you know uh kind of better express their their feelings.

But um, as Scott said, uh, you know, when we look at what is different this time, it's these variances and these uh the right-of-way, the fees and lie, the stormwater improvements, each and every one of those to me uh makes this project safer and and uh and better.

And so uh I I I can't support uh uh this appeal.

You know, we'll see how this moves along and moves forward, but but right now I I I just there's no there for me.

And uh I'll be uh voting to deny the appeal.

Great.

Okay, thank you, Ms.

Turk.

Thank you, Mayor.

And uh thanks for the opportunity um for us to have this conversation tonight.

Uh I would argue that the school district has changed their mind and changed their design about 10 different times on this and has not been as transparent.

And I would also argue that all the safety concerns that many of the citizens have talked about tonight have not been um addressed.

They're still there.

Uh many of these things were made on the fly.

We still don't have a traffic study that actually documents exactly uh what the what the reality is there or the correct numbers.

Uh if you look at the latest traffic study, the PM numbers do not match what was requested by the staff.

They are still absent in tables five and seven, and I believe also four.

So we've got some some misinformation that's actually out there that really needs to be corrected.

You haven't heard about the 40-foot retaining wall and all of those safety concerns around retaining walls and how students are going to be prevented from climbing over those and falling into those.

We haven't talked about ADA access and how that standard is going to be met.

And um so I believe that there's still quite a bit of of issues that have not been addressed.

And I really believe that um that this site is so difficult to build on and so expensive.

You'll you heard that it may be the most expensive um school in the country.

Now I know we can't consider expense, but I think it's really important to talk about how many variances it takes, how much that cost, and we still don't have a safe situation here.

There will be a child injured or killed very soon after this.

That access on ash, uh, I don't believe the site distance is accurate.

I don't believe that slope was calculated correctly.

I don't believe school buses can stop as quickly as maybe the ashtop says they can.

Um and so I will definitely not um I definitely will be supporting the appeal tonight based on safety.

And I've done several safety reports.

I'm not a novice at this, it hasn't been on schools, but it's certainly been on fishing accidents and things like that.

So safety is always my top consideration, and I think it should be yours too.

And I don't think it's been adequately adequately addressed.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Okay, Miss Moore, and this will be your second go.

Yep.

Thank you for that update.

Um I had a few questions that I missed that I that came through the some of the public comments that um, you know, I I agree with council member Whitaker, some of this will get worked out in the development, but I think too, the community has come out, and I do think safety as was talked about by council member uh Turk is important.

Um there was mentioned in one of the public comments um that I want to make sure we address tonight that there's a state statute that's going to make us reduce the speed on college.

I don't know if that's correct.

That was the first time I've ever heard that.

Is there anybody that knows that?

I believe I was told any street that abuts the school has to have a reduced um speed unless I missed that was on DDs Peters' presentation.

Presentation, I missed the statute number.

Um, but I didn't know if anyone knew if that was correct, that there had to be a particular school zone speed on college potentially.

I mean, that is a student crossing, and so I would think there might be some validity to that.

Yeah, yeah, there is a state law that states that um basically 300 feet either side of a school building or school grounds needs to be posted as a as a school zone, which means uh it's a reduced speed limit when children are present.

Wow, okay.

So would that potentially be from the hours of like 7 30 to 8 30 or 9?

It's it is not specified.

Um I think all the like this is very similar in front of the high school and MLK.

It's the same way it's posted there.

So it'd be similar in nature to that higher traffic area.

That's correct.

Okay, okay, thank you.

And then there was mentioned I in case this is for you, Justin.

I don't know.

You might stick around, I'm sorry.

Um one of the things mentioned was around speed.

And again, I do live in this area, and also we know college does have a lot of accidents, and we we do see some speed reduction programs that happen.

Do we know the average speeds and is that a study we've done there and then on Ash, I thought I heard mentioned it's posted 25, but I think maybe said they said speeds are like 35.

Um I'm not I'm not aware of that um anything on ash as far as the speed study goes.

Um you know, on college, we with the State Streets for All you know project, we are looking at doing traffic calming in that area.

So we we are hoping to actually reduce the speeds through the design features of that project.

But and I guess just that can be is that something I guess that can continue to be addressed as the development process continues to go forward and we work on those those areas together.

Absolutely, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, that that project I think is scheduled to be completed that basically at the same time the school will be opening.

So they'll actually be happening at the same time.

So that will work out really well.

Okay.

And then I don't know who this is for.

Um I think it was mentioned in one of the comments about uh whether or not the connection point that goes to the I forgot Summit Terrace, the subdivision, I think that's off township.

Um, that there's a connection point there, and I didn't know if we could get um confirmation on if that's a footpath or what is that connection point, or is that something too that's potentially in flux?

Because I feel like I've heard different back and forth about how that will be accessed and didn't know is that something uh too in consideration because that's kind of like the flow of how students might come through too.

I I can speak to that one.

Uh the you're correct on the plans do show a pedestrian access way from the north side of the school to the south end of Marksmill Lane.

That is a development code requirement.

The school district has not asked for or not submitted a variance request to remove that at this point.

If they wanted to, that would have to go back to public hearing at our planning commission.

But as of today, their intent is to make that connection.

I can't speak to I think there's been discussions about real estate agreements that may impact access to that.

Um I'm not city is not a party to those.

Okay.

And is a footpath the highest level of access request that the city can make during the development process?

Like, could that be uh a single-lane street or um an alleyway of some sort?

I mean, could it be any other additional improvement or only a footpath?

We yes, the short answer is yes.

We do not have vehicular cross access requirements for institutional uses like we do for commercial uses.

Okay, all right.

Thank you, Jonathan.

I don't think those are all the questions I finally got from all the comments that happened.

Thank you.

Um I I I too, I want to reiterate comments from council member Waitaker, um, that um I do think that we can I do have reservations and concerns around safety.

I do think there are some some things we have to work on with the district and with the city.

Um, but I I do think that those can get worked out in the you know months that come ahead of us together.

Um and um I will be not able to be supportive of the appeal, but I I really want to talk to quickly.

Um I appreciate the conversations in our community and that and that I think it's important for us to continue to ask questions, curious questions, and to challenge ourselves to do better.

It's what makes Fayetteville a great place to be.

Um, and so even while some folks may say it's relitigation, I think sometimes we just learn more and we build upon when we have additional conversation.

Thank you.

Mr.

Stafford.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I motion uh uh the uh to call the vote.

Second.

Um can you rephrase your motion for me?

Do you motion?

I motioned uh that we vote to approve.

Uh I believe is correct.

Okay.

One point of clarity here.

So uh with the uh city attorney, if we vote to approve.

I I think she just it would be good for everybody to have a recapit.

What is a yes vote mean?

What does a no vote mean?

Sure.

A yes vote grants the appeal and denies the project.

Okay.

A no vote denies the appeal and will let the decision of the planning commission stand.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

Okay, okay.

So we have a motion and a second.

I believe Dr.

Jones was the second.

Is that correct?

Okay.

Okay, Clerk Packs, and will you please call the roll?

Mr.

Berna.

No.

Ms.

Bunch.

No.

Ms.

Turk?

Yes.

Minister Jones.

No.

Mr.

Stafford?

No.

Dr.

Jones?

No.

Ms.

Moore?

No.

Mr.

Wiedaker.

No.

Okay.

So the appeal fails.

Okay.

We're gonna move on to quickly to this one before I break.

It is, and then we will, and then we will take a break.

But it is an administrative item.

It is C5.

It is continuing alignment of development related fees with service costs.

This is an um something that the council voted to approve last year.

It was put in our budget.

Um, and yet we did not vote, we did not, though I think that was the council's intent.

They were presented with all three years of fees and voted on those.

What got codified was simply the first year of fees.

So we need to come back to you and push forward the second um the second and third year of fees.

We do not have a presentation on it.

Um, but I will I don't know why I just explained it without reading it.

I'm so sorry.

C5, an ordinance to align development related user fees with cost of associated services by amending chapter 51, water and sewers, chapter 94, fire prevention, chapter 11, chapter 116, chapter 118, chapter 157, chapter 159, and chapter 178.

Mr.

Pennington.

Whereas on February 21st, 2023, the City Council passed resolution 39-23, approving a contract with MGT Consulting for an update or user fee study that evaluated the city's fee structure, defined the cost of city services and recommended fees based on the cost of services.

And whereas on February 18th, 2025, the city council passed ordinances 6844, 6845, and 6846, approving a stepped user fee implementation with approximately one-third of the study's proposed fees adopted annually beginning in 2025.

And whereas this proposed amendment will increase fees by one-third of the user fee study recommended amount in both 2026 and 2027.

Now therefore be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Section 1, that the City Council of the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas hereby repeals subsection A of Section 51.114, water sewer tap connection fees, and enacts a replacement section 51.114A as shown in Exhibit A attached tier two and made a part hereof.

Section two that the City Council of the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas hereby repeals section 94.10 fees schedule in Chapter 94, fire prevention, and enacts a replacement section 94.10 as shown in exhibit A.

Section 3, that the City Council of the City of Faithville, Arkansas hereby repeals subsection J of Section 110.03, small cell facilities and networks, and enacts a replacement section 110.03J as shown in exhibit A.

Section 4, that the City Council of the City of Faithville, Arkansas hereby repeals the introductory paragraph of subsection C, Principal Permit, and Section 116.02 door-to-door solicitation at private residence and enacts replacement language as shown in exhibit A.

Section 5, that the City Council of the City of Fateville, Arkansas here by an acts.

Section 116.02 C5 is shown in exhibit A.

Section 6, that the City Council of the City of Favel, Arkansas here by amends, Section 116.02 D permit for peddlers and solicitors by striking, quote, the cost to obtain a peddler's solicitor permit is 12 dollars from the introductory paragraph and by enacting section 116.02 D6 as shown in exhibit A.

Section 7.

That the City Council of the City of Faiville, Arkansas here by repeals, section 118.02 C fees in section 118.02, entry upon business registry and issuance of business license and enacts a replacement, section 118.02 C as shown in Exhibit A.

Section 8, that the City Council of the City of Favel, Arkansas hereby repeals subsection C4 of Section 157.01 regarding the cost of signs for public notification and enacts a replacement section 157.01 C4 as shown in exhibit A.

Section 10, that the City Council of the City of Faithville, Arkansas hereby repeals, Section 159.01, fees schedule and enacts a replacement section 159.01 as shown in exhibit A.

Section 11, that the City Council of the City of Faithville, Arkansas hereby repeals the introductory paragraph of subsection C and Section 178.03 sidewalk vendors and enacts replacement language as shown in exhibit A.

And section 12, that the City Council of the City of Faithville, Arkansas hereby repeals, subsection C1 of Section 178.04 outdoor mobile vendors and an acts replacement language as shown in exhibit A.

That was great, Mr.

Pennington.

Thank you very much.

Okay, questions about this item, Ms.

Moore.

Yeah, um thank you, Mayor.

Um I know it was brought up by Councilmember Whitaker during our agenda session, and I appreciated just the um a lot of times these gaps over time have grown, and so just trying to tie things ongoing to an index.

So I just was either gonna flag it to make sure for going forward or didn't know if that's something just the consumer price index um change each year, if that's something we could just amend and go ahead and move forward if that's pretty straightforward and folks had no heart feelings about that, and or if there it made more sense for staff to think on you know what they wanted to tie the changes or the increase going forward, but just thinking so those you know incrementally change over time based on inflation mayor, yes.

I just to address from our office's perspective, we did have a concern about that because it it the development fees need to be tied exactly to the the direct cost of service, and those can change over time as we've seen.

You know, we've seen some of these are decreased, some of them are increased.

Uh and so if we tie it to a particular index, that may not match up at every point in the future.

Okay, I'm gonna take it to public comment.

Does anyone have any comments about item C5?

Keith, do we have anyone that's called in on Zoom?

We do not.

Okay, I'll bring it back to the council, Mr.

Berna.

Mayor would make a motion to spend the rules and go to the third and final reading.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Clerk Paxton, will you please call the roll on the motion to suspend?

Mr.

Berna.

Yes.

Ms.

Bunch.

Yes.

Ms.

Turk?

Yes.

Minister Jones?

Yes.

Mr.

Stafford?

Yes.

Dr.

Jones?

Yes.

Ms.

Moore?

Yes.

Mr.

Wheedaker.

Yes.

An ordinance to align development-related user fees with the costs of associated services by amending chapter 51, water and sewers, chapter 94, fire prevention, chapter 110, telecommunication, chapter 116, door-to-door solicitation at private residence, chapter 118, business registry and licenses, chapter 157, notification and public hearings, chapter 159 fees, and chapter 178, outdoor vendors of the unified development code.

Okay.

Clerk Paxon, will you please call a roll?

Mr.

Berna?

Yes.

Ms.

Bunch.

Yes.

Ms.

Turk?

Yes.

Minister Jones.

Yes.

Mr.

Stafford.

Yes.

Dr.

Jones.

Yes.

Ms.

Moore.

Yes.

Mr.

Wheedaker.

Yes.

Okay.

So that passes.

Um fellow count or council members.

Can you give me, like, with a hand signal?

Are you all wanting a break for five minutes or do you want to keep going?

I'm seeing a five.

Okay, we will take a five-minute break.

We will be back at 8 35.

And we will consider that will be our last item, C6.

Okay, everyone.

Welcome back.

We are now to the final item on the agenda.

It's item C6.

It's appeal of the Board of Adjustments 2026-2.

South School Avenue.

Before I read it, I want to just remind everybody.

Many of you were here at the beginning of the meeting.

Some of you were not, and so I hope you will indulge me while I give similar comments that I gave earlier.

I began the meeting by talking about how remarkable it was.

Well, perhaps it shouldn't be remarkable that other cities don't allow the amount of public comment that we do.

It's something that I am very proud of.

It's a core value.

And so I want to again for the second time tonight, thank all of you for being here and for living into that core value.

Everyone up on this dais is going to listen to you with respect.

We are going to treat you with respect.

We are not going to boo when we disagree with you.

We are not going to cheer when we do agree with you.

We are going to let you have your allotted time to speak.

I am not going to question your motives for being here.

And it is because we love this city deeply and we care about it, even when we disagree.

This is not a town hall.

It is not a question and answer session back and forth.

So when you do approach the podium, please address your comments to me.

If you have questions for the council members, they each have two five-minute speaking periods, opportunities to speak after public comment, and if they wish to respond, that is their prerogative.

I want everyone to be here, and I want to hear from all of you.

But if you name call and if you're unruly, I will remind you and ask you nicely a second time to please not be that way.

And then at that point, I will have to ask you to leave, which I really do not want to do.

So now that that has been said, thank you for being here.

And I'm going to read the title to item C6.

A resolution to a grant to grant the appeal submitted by Swarm Arrow and determine that use unit 22 manufacturing is the most appropriate classification for this business.

Mr.

Kurth, we will start with you.

All right.

Thank you, Mayor.

To begin, uh staff does support the appeal to uphold our zoning determination that Swarm Arrows business is correctly classified as use unit 22 manufacturing at 3660 South School.

The property in question is in South Fayville at the north end of Drakefield's primary runway.

Before diving into the specific requests, I think it may have be of benefit to uh describe visually and orally uh what the business licensing process looks like.

When a business has a physical location in Fayetteville, they submit a business license application.

Those come through the development services department from the development services department, they're distributed to three main review groups.

That is our planning division, our accounting division, and our fire marshal's office.

For the purposes of this discussion, tonight I'm going to be highlighting the planning division's evaluations of the Swarm Arrow business license.

That answered two primary questions.

One, what is the zoning proper the property's zoning designation?

And is the proposed business permitted under that zoning designation?

To run through a hypothetical of what that looks like, uh to warm you up to the conversation.

Uh I chose a random piece of property in town uh and assigned it a potential use.

Uh somebody's proposing an architect's office at 187 East 12th Street.

Describe going through that, planning staff first identifies what's the zoning district on the property.

In this case, it's urban neighborhood.

That zoning district has a purpose that describes what's intended to occur under that, and then it includes a series, a chart of permitted uses that are described in broad terms.

They run from residential uses that you hear me describe with every rezoning request, single family homes, multifamily homes, through more broadly described non-residential uses, things like offices, home occupations, retail, retail locations.

When looking at an architect office at this location, our instinct would be to look at use unit 25, offices, studios, and related services.

If we weren't confident in that determination, you can refer to chapter 162 of our development code, which breaks down the use units into much more specific categories.

In this case, use unit 25, Office of Studios and Related Services, has that broken down.

And fortunately for the reviewing planner, in that instance, architect is very explicitly identified there, and we would issue the business license or the planners would approve it for their purposes.

That brings us to the request that is before the city council tonight.

The first is research and development, the second is material storage, the third is assembly, and the fourth was fabrication.

And applying our zoning code to those uses, we first evaluate the zoning district on the property, which is I1, heavy commercial and light industrial.

The permitted uses under that, we had aligned with three specific use units.

Those four activities I described aligned very specifically with you with use unit 21, warehousing and wholesale, use unit 22, manufacturing, and use unit 25 offices, studios, and related services.

Of those uses, use unit 22 is the most prominent, manufacturing.

When planning evaluates a business license application, we tend to, or we determine that applications are the most prominent or most impactful use on a piece of property and assign that business or that zoning designation so that to ensure that the business can operate at that location.

In delving deeper into that determination, use unit 22 does not clearly identify drone manufacturing.

That is probably not a surprise to anybody on the council.

Imagine there are very few zoning codes in the United States that have that level of specificity or are that caught up with technology.

However, chapter 162, that same chapter of code I referenced where we find these use units very explicitly empowers our planning staff, our planning director specifically, to make a determination based on the best available information and the existing uses.

And in doing so, we identified multiple uses or business types within the use unit 22 manufacturing category that we feel aligns with a potential drone manufacturer.

This includes many different categories of fabricated metal equipment, running from general machinery all the way to transportation equipment, including body shops.

Again, fabricated wire products, electronics, things of that nature, air conditioning and cooling apparatus, which is fabricated final products that are refined and sold as a whole.

Accordingly, the planning division approved their portion of the review, and the business license was ultimately issued after a uh review from also our fire marshal who visited the property and evaluated it for uh the uses that they're uh uh that they have underway at this moment.

Uh additionally, uh another fallback that staff has or another manner we have to evaluate businesses in the city of Faville is to look at consistency across the board, see what planners have done previously to make sure that we're consistently applying these applications, because if we don't apply them consistently, that can have implications for those businesses if we shift over time.

It can have implications for future businesses if they're being treated inconsistently moving into the future.

Uh some of the most prominent ones of the supposed uh approximately 30 or so businesses in Fayetteville that are classified as use unit 22, uh, are serve a range of purposes.

Uh, some of them are in the food and drink uh business, uh Tyson Mexican original, a little bit north of this property on South School, closer to residential properties uh within Fayetteville.

Uh Highland Dairy is on 15th Street and Conagra also on 15th Street.

Uh several of the other ones are more prominently located in our commerce district, just northeast of the airport.

These include manufacturers of resin, which is Ecotech consumer products, grapple manufacturing, which are the uh the mechanical devices that you attach to the front of uh skid steer loaders, for example, uh, that are uh a finished manufacturer, a finished mechanical product uh and even pharmaceutical development and manufacturing locations in the city of Fayetteville.

Uh with that in mind, uh staff is recommending upholding the use unit 22 classification for this business.

Uh when the board of when this was appealed to our board of adjustment, uh it was ultimately voted by three to one to approve a resident appeal of staff's determination.

When the agenda session occurred last week with city council, uh there were a couple questions that I wanted to follow up with council on.

Uh one of them was what were previous uses at this specific piece of property under this specific zoning designation.

Uh the first, which went the furthest back, was Cooper Power Systems.

That predates our business licensing standards.

So we did not apply a use unit to it.

It did not wasn't required to register with the city.

Uh the description of the business does appear to be consistent with manufacturing, however.

Uh, more recently, Hannah's Candle, which uh as its name suggests, was candle manufacturing, uh, was also at that location, received the use unit 22 uh designation uh and keytronics as well, uh, which was handling uh as its name suggests uh complicated electronics with the multitude of different uh customers on the back end.

Um also received a use unit 22 designation.

Another question that was posed is if there is a way for the council to evaluate this request within the confines or within the guardrails of of some sort of higher level of permitting, giving it is a manufacturing use.

Uh staff evaluated the range of ADEQ permits, and we found that there is no clear relationship with our zoning or our use unit designations.

Uh ADEQ permitting ranges uh multiple areas, uh, most prominent with air and water when it comes to industrial uses.

Uh however, there's uh those apply to a myriad of different activities uh that are the subject of zoning, such as uh residential, non-residential businesses, but also uh businesses or entities that are not subject to our uh our zoning code, including the University of Arkansas and similar groups.

Uh with that, I can take any questions that the council has or hand it off.

Mayor, I'm not sure if the um if the appellant or the applicant would be speaking next.

Yes, I believe uh Swarm, the appellant in this case, has a presentation.

So if you would like to come up, please.

Good evening, Mayor.

Good evening, counsel.

We pull it a little bit closer to you, please start.

Thank you.

My apologies.

Uh good evening, counsel, good evening, mayor, good evening, everyone here in the audience from Fayetteville.

Uh my name is Spencer Rodriguez.

I am vice president of operations at Swarm Arrow.

I've been with a company now for three years back when we had we could feed the whole company with two pizzas and something left over.

We're now eclipsing 80 employees, six of which are here in Fayetteville or are in the process of relocating to Fayetteville with their families.

Um I am grateful today for the opportunity to address all of you, and I appreciate and admire your commitment to the city and to your civic duty as evidenced by this process.

I am not a zoning expert.

I will not pretend to be after this last six weeks.

I may be a zoning enthusiast, but um I will not say that I know better than the staff here.

I agree with their determination.

I I commit that enthusiasm that I've just developed towards that determination and believe that we are properly zoned.

Um, I bring to this not only my two and a half years experience traveling to Fayetteville, but also a half decade, almost half of a decade in composite manufacturing.

I'm backed as well by Peter Calagianis, our CEO, who brings 15 years of composite airframe manufacturing, and Dr.

Chris Childers, who is a new Fayetteville resident and has spent over 10 years in composite manufacturing and has as many patents in the field as I have toes.

Um, while I will not speak on the zoning specifically, I welcome this opportunity to address not only the city, but also to engage with the community and address some of the concerns that we've heard, as well as to share some of the benefits that we bring to Fayetteville.

From the concerns, I've heard sort of three categories: safety, environmental, and speculative.

I'll address the first two.

Um this is a highly safe process using advanced manufacturing techniques.

There are no toxic or harmful gases used in these processes.

There are very low risks of fire, um, very low energy uses on the environmental side.

We may be the best possible manufacturing use case for this place.

We are efficient.

We are using very low energy.

There will be no data centers as may have been suggested.

Uh we have very low water use, and as I mentioned, most of our off-gassing is water vapor.

As for the benefits, where I can speak more proudly, um, I I categorize that in three ways.

Investment, opportunities, and resilience.

We are investing in our facility and our equipment, that advanced manufacturing equipment that I discussed, in our workforce and in our community.

We are bringing opportunities in cutting edge RD, as you will hear from the chancellor uh by proxy tonight, in skilled skills and uh as you will hear from Rodney Ellis, workforce development for Springdale Schools, and in careers.

And for resiliency, we are resilient to a shifting economy.

This is not a cyclical industry.

Uh, we are resilient in that we will never be shipping these jobs overseas.

They will always remain in the U.S.

And we are resilient to the future.

We are investing, as I mentioned, in advanced manufacturing.

These are not jobs that will be taken away with new technology or advances in AI.

These are here to stay.

So, with that, I'd like to um invite up Robert Rhodes, a proud University of Arkansas alumni and uh former city council member to read the Chancellor's letter.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Thank you, Mr.

Rodriguez.

Um, this is a letter, as he said, from the chancellor from the University of Arkansas dated today.

I write to express support for Swarm Arrow remaining in the Fayetteville area.

I believe that they have the ability to create important opportunities for the University of Arkansas and the broader region.

As a land grant institution, the University of Arkansas is committed to preparing students for successful careers, advancing research excellence, and helping strengthen the state's economy.

Advanced technology and manufacturing employers like Swarm Arrow can play a role in that work.

They create pathways for internships, research collaboration, career opportunities that allow talented graduates to stay in Arkansas.

We see tremendous potential to work with Swarm Arrow to support experimental learning, research excellence, and workforce development in ways that advance our land grant mission and strengthen the state we serve.

Sincerely, Charles F.

Robinson.

Thank you.

Next, I'd like to invite up Rodney Ellis, Director of Workforce for Springdale Schools.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council.

Appreciate the opportunity to speak in front of you tonight on behalf of Swarm Arrow.

I'm the workforce director for the Springdale School District.

My role is to connect career and technical education students to our industries and our business partners here in Northwest Arkansas to create employment, enlistment, or enrollment opportunities.

I'm also here because I care deeply about the future of our students in Northwest Arkansas.

And I value the conversation that your patrons bring along with your community about these different issues related that can impact STEM students throughout our region.

I also am here to represent the NWTI Venture Career Center, which is located at the Don Tyson School of Innovation in Springdale.

It's a regional career center with STEM focus.

We have a lot of students who attend from all over the region, including Fayetteville for specialized technical programming, in which they also have secondary and post-secondary opportunities and opportunities for concurrent credit with various partners who you've here represented tonight.

Also speaking because I believe that Swarm Arrow should be allowed to operate in Fayetteville.

Companies like this create real opportunities for our students pursuing STEM careers.

At the Venture Career Centers, our students are learning about technical skills and advanced manufacturing, automation, aviation, engineering, machining, robotics, and welding.

Education and the industry partnerships with companies like Swarm provide students with employment opportunities for advancement, compensation, personal growth, and further training in advanced technical fields.

The Venture Career Center and Springdale Public Schools also provide student access to enrollment and enlistment and employment opportunities, as I stated.

A student can choose a college or military, but others are looking for direct pathways into technical careers through certifications, hands-on training, and workforce partnerships.

Industries like aerospace and advanced manufacturing can provide these pathways.

Swarm Arrow has been very gracious to open up its facility to allow us to come and tour that facility and has also embraced partnering with us on manufacturing processes that will enhance student skills.

Students need exposure to what they are learning in the classroom and opportunities available in the community and the Northwest Arkansas region.

Innovative aerospace companies help create that connection.

When students are exposed to companies like Swarm Aero, which is investing here in our region, they begin to believe they can build meaningful careers in Arkansas instead of leaving the state to find opportunity elsewhere.

It's also about environment inspiring our students who are in these STEM programs to dream and see how education can become very meaningful and exciting.

They become more motivated and they actually picture themselves working in these industries.

I understand residents may have questions about safety and operations, and those conversations are important, but I believe those concerns can be addressed responsibly through collaboration and education.

We want to keep talented young people in our region, and we must continue attracting industries that offer them a future here at home.

As a Springdale Public Workforce Director, I'm proud our students graduate into a community that welcomes innovation, opportunity, and supports the industries of tomorrow.

Thank you.

And while you hear from a ton of the community that have come to support us here today, I'd comment.

I'd like to use the remainder of our time to invite up uh Mike Malone, former vice chair of economic development with the University of Arkansas.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor Ron, members of the council, thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight.

I'm a lifelong Fayetteville resident uh at Ward 3, and uh I'm honored to be able to speak tonight because the this company that's already picked Fayeville is a perfect example of an economic development match that's gonna benefit our city.

It'll be a benefit to the university, as we heard, and it'll create great benefit for our city's residents.

Uh as I heard the chancellor's remarks, it flashed me back to my time at the university, and I thought, what a dream to be able to create research partnerships, internship opportunities, and jobs for our graduates when they get out because of those skill sets and the skills they're looking for are perfect alignment.

But also from my experience in economic development, as much as this company being here plays directly to our strengths.

I also know that turning them away would absolutely have a chilling effect on our efforts and our ability to track companies that pay high wages, that are technology companies that are advanced manufacturing companies.

It would limit our ability to track those companies for many years to come.

I know you're concerned about raising income levels.

Mr.

Stafford?

Uh yes, can we allow them a little more time to finish up?

How much time do you think you uh may need?

I can go in a minute.

But uh one minute, but I'm sorry, I'm over.

Let's give them two minutes.

Okay.

Apologies.

Um I know you're concerned about the per capita income level in our city.

We're 10% below the per capita income level in the surrounding region, 20% below per capita income levels nationally, our household income levels below the regional rate, our poverty rates above the regional rate.

We need a great mix of jobs in our city.

Our citizens just don't earn as much on average as residents in other parts of Northwest Arkansas because of the composition of jobs in our city.

Swarm Aero, the types of jobs, the wages they're paying, will help alleviate that.

They've said they'll hire eight to ten people this year, 24 to 50 next year, potentially 350 or more as orders come in and they pay competitive and high wages.

So uh in a in addition to the direct employment, uh, there's the multiplier effect as a company hires people, those employees spend money in the comp uh economy, the company spends money, they make purchases in the economy.

An economic impact analysis determined that for every 100 jobs that Swarm Aero hires, another 96 jobs will be created in our bakeries, at our lumber yards, in our coffee shops, and all over the all over the city.

So I just want to reiterate uh this is a best move we can make to increase our per capita income levels, create new economic mobility opportunities for our residents, in my opinion, and conversely failing to retain them means we'll miss the great benefits, but also it's gonna wave a white flag and signal to other companies that it's hard to do business here, and so we want to do all we can to make sure Fayville remains competitive for tech jobs and advanced manufacturing jobs in the future.

So thank you for the opportunity.

Sorry, I'll talk so fast.

Thank you.

Okay, so now procedurally back to the council, is that correct?

Uh for questions to staff of the applicant.

For staff must cast in the applicant.

Okay.

So I'll open it up to members of the council if you have questions either for the applicant.

That would be Swarm or for the Council.

I mean, I'm sorry, or for your the council or for staff.

Uh Mr.

Stafford will start with you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, let's see.

I have a couple questions.

Let me uh just make sure I got them all listed.

Uh uh one quick one for Swarm and and you have it here, but it was a couple questions I had, so I'm gonna go ahead and ask anyways, but the handout I think addresses them.

So you will have you'll be carrying no munitions uh in Fayetteville.

These will not be loaded with any sort of uh ordnance or music munitions.

That's correct.

We will neither house nor uh produce any military ordinances with munitions or explosives.

And then it says no test flights.

So you're not gonna be testing these in the area, you're gonna uh test them at a different uh airspace or that's correct.

We our our facility in Fayetteville is for the the manufacturing of certified aircraft.

We are in the process of building a prototype aircraft in California where we will do all of our experiments and testing.

Okay.

And then so the only flying these will do is is kind of flying out to their final use uh final destination.

Is that accurate or that's correct?

So these aircraft will have um will be finished and assembled on an airport, never in any factory.

They will then be fueled on an airport.

There will be ground testing, no flight testing, and then they will be they will send on a delivery flight to the final destination.

And this is similar to other carbon fiber manufacturing where you basically have the fabric, you you have a resin, you cure it uh at a res reasonably low temperature, and then you trim, drill, assemble, and and that that's pretty much the the gist of it.

That's correct.

And the the processes we're using and the reason that we are using them uh are safer and require less post-processing, these advanced manufacturing so we're investing in the equipment um to do so.

Okay, thank you.

Um is our is our economic development uh Devin.

I think I have a can I ask a question of Devin and Allen?

Devin, if you are available to answer, you're certainly welcome to come up.

Devin, I know that uh one concern I've heard raised, and one concern I have is if we deny this appeal um of a company that that's come here, you know, kind of gone through the process and and uh got their license, everything, and they they may lose their ability to uh uh operate here.

Uh what do you have concerns for future economic development in Fayetteville if this appeal is denied?

And and could you you know let us know what those concerns are?

Yes.

Thank you, Councilmember Stafford for the question.

I see three big concerns for economic development as it relates if this appeal is not granted.

Um, first, this severely damages Fayetteville's reputation as a city open for employment and investment.

And you heard Mike Malone talk about that.

Employers, site selectors, and the brokers that represent them to make these decisions will not gonna are not going to be recommending a community where their clients are going to face unnecessary unnecessarily or uncertainty, shifting expectations, political conflict, it's risk.

And at the end of the day, risk is what's really the enemy of all business operations.

Companies looking to expand and invest into this region and invest untold sums of money, they're gonna choose the risk, the least riskiest location.

And our competitors, um, this is doing this could do a good job for them.

And it means our economic development team can't compete for these projects that come in because the projects aren't going to come in.

And especially on the moving the wages, that's really where I have big concern.

But risk doesn't just touch big companies, council.

Risk touches companies of every single type.

The very lesson of entrepreneurship is a lesson of risk and survival.

And so, in and of all that, that leads me to my second issue I see.

This has created uncertainty for existing industry that's already operating in Fayetteville.

I have received calls that have asked, am I next?

What if I secure a defense contract?

Is you're gonna come after my license?

Is it gonna be revoked?

These are questions as an economic development team.

We do not want businesses in our community to have to consider.

Existing employers operating in Fayetteville are going to consider future expansion plans, and we need them to do that here because if we have if we get loose face of our even our existing employers, that too is gonna have a detrimental impact on job creation.

Most new jobs that come in a community come from our existing employers.

It's why our existing base matters so much.

And I want to keep it to related to uh Mr.

Stafford's question.

Did that answer your question?

I think so.

I I I do have a follow-up.

Um just um, and I don't know, I think this is for you, but it might be for for someone else.

Uh do you know about how many businesses we have open in this like come to Fayetteville year or a month, like an average month or it varies.

Our quarterly report stated uh McBro's that we saw about 20 businesses per month open up in the first quarter of this year.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Okay, um Mr.

Wiedaker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, this is a question for Mr.

Kirth, and it's specific to um zoning.

If you could just refresh our memory and remind us about the difference between use unit 22 businesses and some examples of 20 use unit 23 businesses, I would appreciate it.

Thank you for the refresher.

Certainly.

Uh use unit 22.

You saw some of the examples that I shared operating in the city today.

Um I can compare that to use unit 23.

And in doing so, I I tend to avoid reading ordnance verbatim to you all, but I think in this instance, because this is a fairly technical, nuanced uh responsibility that our technical staff has.

I think it may be beneficial.

Starting with use unit 22.

It is uh it is written in ordinance.

Unit 22 consists of industrial uses, which usually generate some adverse environmental effects, and for this reason they should be located away from uses which do not produce adverse effects.

So that that is the use unit that staff has determined is appropriate for Swarm Arrow.

Uh juxtaposed with use unit 23, which is heavy industrial.

That reads unit 23 consists of uses which cause the greatest adverse environmental and excuse me.

Consists of uses which cause the greatest adverse environmental effects because of odor noise, unsightliness, air pollution, and explosions.

Uh the examples that are written in code are have to do with uh scrap metal processing that have to do with a lot of raw material handling.

If you think of foundries, for example, uh the ones that are licensed in Fayville currently include two concrete plants uh as well as um rot White River Hardwoods down on Happy Hollow is a prominent one given that they get raw wooden materials and they turn it into finished products.

Uh so that that's the most prominent juxtaposition between those two.

Uh and then the one additional one that bears mentioning, uh given I think council members stafford's question about the handling of ordnance.

If they were handling explosives, that's a fully separate use unit in our our development code, which is unit 33, and that consists of facilities which are heavy industrial in nature.

So you're building on use unit 23.

They're heavy in that industrial in nature, but which have the potential to have adverse effects, such as odor or the potential for explosions.

So again, staff has found that swarm arrow best fits the definition of use unit 22.

Does that answer your question, Councilmember Whitaker?

It does.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um Dr.

Jones.

Uh yes, this question, I believe, is for probably Devin.

Where are you, David?

Oh, there you are.

If he could come in.

Yes, yes, yes, Michael.

Please, yes.

Sorry, Mr.

Halland, go ahead.

Uh Devin, there's a lot of conversation about uh economic development.

Can you tell us?

And I think someone mentioned it earlier about job creation.

How many jobs would they bring the first year and what would be the education requirement?

I would ask um the company to speak on that level, those thresholds if they can.

Okay.

Hi, I'd be glad to address um we we anticipate at full rate production if we were to ever reach those levels of employing over uh 600 people in Fayetteville, uh, a majority of which would not require a four-year college education, which is important to a community that less than half adults have a college education.

Um we are working with, as mentioned Don Tyson School of Innovation as well as NWTI and the university on workforce development for all segments of the local population.

Um developer has put it to me, the three E's, the enrolled, the enlisted, and the employed.

We want to be a home for all three here in Fayetteville.

In the near term, we have six employees, um, and we are looking to expand to about eight to ten by the end of the year, and then we'll slowly ramp up from there.

I think um in the near term, I would expect somewhere in the the order of 350 is a number that we've been throwing around um in the next three to five years.

Okay.

What about average salary?

Um average salary.

So we most of the jobs that I've I've mentioned and fall under those categories are above the median salary for the for the city.

Um we have engineers in the um like attractive six-figure range starting in the low six figures.

We have a number of skilled technicians that can get up to six figures and start above the median wage across all technician jobs, and then a variety of operations and and administrative staff to support that janitorial um HR finance, etc.

As well as supply chain logistics, everything on top of that.

It'll be a full ecosystem.

Okay.

And if for some reason, if things don't work out here, what are you in?

Have y'all thought about perhaps what other places in Northwest Arkansas that y'all may consider or have considered, or is that we see yes?

I mean, we we looked all over the country before coming here, and we and I spent, as I mentioned, two and a half years coming here.

I have family in Fayetteville that lived here for the last 15 years.

Um we're very committed to Fayetteville.

We're very committed to the location.

Uh I I wouldn't want to speculate on what we might do next.

We're we're we're very interested in staying here if we could.

And this is one question that I've I'm I'm trying to find the most appropriate way to ask.

But can you tell us the big concern is from the community?

Um there a lot of people, there's fear.

How would you address that?

Yeah, I I think that's a a great question.

Uh it's one that I think we need to spend more time addressing, and I'm grateful for this opportunity to not only speak to you all but to the community about some of these concerns.

I think that we as a company could have done a better job of of communicating.

This partly my fault.

I got married at the end of March.

I was on my honeymoon during the Board of Assessments hearing, and in the in the aftermath, I'm recently coming to town.

I'm I I now am committed to to finding ways that we can engage the community.

We we opened a town hall last week to try to address some of those concerns, and I welcome uh everyone to come learn more about us.

But um to answer your question, I think that the QA that we've provided today, the FAQ um addresses some of those uh concerns, and that we we owe it to the public to continue to educate them on what we're doing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, Mr.

Berna.

Oh, and and I'm sorry before I think Jonathan earlier, can you clarify the use unit that you were talking about?

I think it was thirty you were speaking about 33, and you might have meant 31, is that correct?

When I was answering Council Member Weedakris question, yes, there were three use units.

I'm sorry, he only asked about two.

Okay.

Use unit 22 manufacturing is what staff has determined is the use for this business.

Okay.

Use unit 23 is the heavy industrial use uh that I I've heard discuss as an alternative to that.

And then the last one I described was use unit 31.

I'm sorry if I misspoke, which is the facilities that that handle explosives and could admit OT.

Okay.

All right, great.

Thank you.

Mr.

Bernard.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um Sebastian, could you uh could I ask you to come back up and and uh mayor would could would you allow me to ask Jeremy Ashley some questions if he's in earshot, have him go ahead and come in the room.

If um if somebody can get Chief Ashley from um, I don't think he can here.

There we go.

There we ask and he and he shall appear.

There is, yes.

Um could you tell me some examples, some real life examples of we we've all heard about the end product that you are talking about, but the the process by which you're gonna use to create your product.

Could you give us real life examples of everyday products that we already see made and utilized uh every day?

Could you give us some examples?

Sure.

Uh I'm from Southern California.

Surfboard manufacturing is very common in where I'm from, and that is uses the same similar processes as ours.

Um in my previous work in composite manufacturing golf club heads were a very popular example.

Some bicycle frames are using composite manufacturing as well.

Okay, thank you.

Um and Jeremy, uh Chief Ashley, if if you don't mind uh there's been a lot of concern raised about the safety of the of the company, and I'm I'm assuming that the fire department has evaluated uh the operations and made a determination that they're meeting all standards.

Yeah, Kit, is it all right if I give just a little bit of background, a little bit of context to that?

So what we do is we determine what the the fire code definition of occupancy type is for a building.

So we go in and we look at the you know what is being done in this building, what is the use for that building, uh what you know, what is being stored in that building, and then so we use the fire code to determine uh a specific occupancy type.

Now that occupancy type drives everything in the fire code from the life safety systems that are in place to the uh the amount of exit distancing from uh of every exit uh all life safety systems.

Uh and so when they originally came here for the business license, all they asked for was a uh a business occupancy, they were not using the rest of the plant.

So we went to them and and we did a business occupancy.

We treated it like we would any other business occupancy.

So a dentist office or um a uh a tax attorney, um, because the the front office is all they were they were being that was all that was being utilized at the time.

We told them that before they could do anything else with their manufacturing, we would need to come down, have conversations, do uh some more inspections uh about what their use is in the manufacturing side before we could allow them to do any of that.

Uh in conversing and going down there inspecting and and reviewing everything, we've determined that they are an F1, which is a factory one occupancy, uh that is a moderate hazard.

Uh they are also an S1.

So they're they're uh one building can have multiple uses.

Uh they've got their business occupancy, which is a B, uh an F1, which is uh factory moderate hazard, and then an S1, which is storage, uh, which is also moderate hazard.

Okay.

Um so it's F1 S1B?

That's correct.

All three, all three occupancy types are included in this building.

Okay.

And I assume the previous occupant had to have the uh uh a similar determination.

That's correct.

Can you tell me what that determination was?

They were the same.

Um F1, S1, and a B occupancy.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah.

And then uh Jonathan Um I was when he mentioned when um Sebastian mentioned summer products that didn't mean to choke you up.

Um the similar products that uh use some of the same processes that that they do.

And um he mentioned golf golf club heads and he mentioned bicycles, and that that kind of sh uh struck home to me because my wife and I both have bicycles that you can lift up with you know a couple fingers, uh very light composite materials.

Um so I it it got me thinking um if this appeal was denied, and say a bicycle company wanted to come into that same building, considering they use the same processes as this company, would they be able to go into that building without with just coming to staff and getting a business license My instinct is no, they would not.

I I believe that would be inconsistent with the count if council determines that use unit 22 is not the appropriate application, that would have to be a factor in staff's evaluation moving forward.

Um existing businesses could potentially continue operating in their spaces in Fayetteville today if they were to uh that have a use unit 22 uh designation if they wanted to expand in the future, it that could also be an implication where we as they want to expand as we look at business or building permits as well.

It may be that they can't expand without having to rezone their properties or pursue conditional use permits or whatever tool is available to them under the zoning code.

So this decision doesn't just affect this company or this building, it could have multiple effects throughout the city.

That's possible, yes.

Okay.

Okay, I'll I'll let someone else speak.

I'm sorry, I was leaning forward, I think Teresa had her while I that's okay, thank you, Mayor.

Um so I've got a couple of different kinds of questions.

Um, you know, earlier today we were sent uh a memo.

I'm so sorry, I know this is incredibly rude, incredibly rude.

I need to point out a technical issue.

It seems like we've lost audio online, and so I just wanted to make sure, call that out and make uh IT staff aware so that they can be working on that.

Um Zoom is okay, it's on our YouTube feed, so media services and IT is currently on site and working on it.

Okay, great, okay, great, thank you.

Uh Ms.

Turk, I'm so sorry.

I wanted to make sure we got on that as soon as possible.

Please go ahead.

No problem.

Um first of all, I want to say thank thank you all for the um town hall meeting last week.

I wish it wish everybody had been a little bit more uh polite and respectful, but I think there were some really great questions that were asked, and I appreciate you all being there and trying your best to answer them.

Um so I today you all sent out uh I think through Mr.

And uh I wish that we had had this like two or three weeks earlier.

Uh but I also want to ask, is that information legally binding?

Uh or can that just be um informational and that and that's it, and maybe things don't work out exactly as uh was uh displayed with that uh pamphlet that we had today.

I I think I would have to lean on Jonathan to some degree, but I think in any business license application, there is some degree of we have to believe what this business is telling us they're going to be doing on this property, and then verify that through the additional staff interviews, the fire marshal visits, uh, and then I think if uh it were determined at a later time that they were not doing what they said they were doing, that they had exceeded what was allowed within that use unit or that zoning district, then staff has certain measures that it can take.

And I would I would defer to Jonathan on that particular part.

And that was the second part of my question.

So yeah, if if things didn't turn out exactly the way they anticipated, how would we go about changing the use unit in the future?

That could go a few ways.

I think Mr.

Pennington began leading into it.

Uh or if it could be identified in a few different ways.

I'll start there.

Uh one is by complaint.

If somebody notes that the activities have changed and they submit that to staff, we can evaluate it.

We also go through a business license renewal process annually that affords us the opportunity to look at what businesses are or are not doing.

And perhaps the most prominent one is when we have building permits submitted to the city of Fayeville.

Uh our planning group looks at all commercial building permits, and a component of that is a zoning evaluation.

And that is often uh if you pay attention to planning commission agendas, that's often the the genesis of of conditional use permits in particular in residential areas.

Someone wants to convert their garage to a yoga studio or a parlor.

I know it's apples to oranges with this example, but uh so that that is how we identify those issues.

So there are potential checkpoints built into the system for that.

To answer the next part of your question, how does somebody go about addressing a conflict with their use unit designation?

For example, if if Swarm does, if the appeal is approved tonight, they're given the use unit 22 designation and they do begin handling ordinance, for example.

Um the that is not an allowed use in the I-1 zoning district.

Their only option, if I'm remembering code right now, would to be rezone their property and then get a conditional use permit.

So that depending what the activity is, we would have to go back and evaluate it, like Mr.

Pennington noted.

And it could be possible that it's also an allowed use in that district, but it could also put them in a non-conformance where they cannot continue to operate.

Um or if they do continue to operate illegally, we can revoke their business license and then we go to the prosecutor.

Okay, thank you for that.

Um I have one question for you.

So when I was reviewing the materials that you sent today, um, and maybe I misunderstood this, but it looked like that you would be assembling the drones actually at the airport.