Hearing, I'll ask everybody to please stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Under God.

All right, I'll ask uh Secretary for the roll call, please.

Brett Taylor.

Present.

Vicky Newton.

Zach Ledford.

Rod Coleman.

Kelly Wilson here.

Griffin Hannah.

David Tyler.

Matt Marshall.

Sean McCaffrey.

Here.

We have nine commissioners present.

All right.

I'll uh ask if the commissioners have opportunity to review the February 10, 2026 minutes, and if so, I ask for a motion to approve.

All in favor?

Any opposed?

All right.

I'll ask staff comments and procedures for tonight's meeting.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the March 10th, 2026 Planning Commission meeting.

The Planning Commission is comprised of a group of volunteers appointed by the mayor who offer diverse expertise and perspectives guiding the development and growth of Fort Smith.

This evening, the Planning Commission will be reviewing the following items Platts, temporary use permits, and conditional use requests.

The Planning Commission's actions this evening on the Platts, temporary use permits, and conditional use requests will require a majority vote of those members present and voting and will be final unless an interested party appeals the decision of the planning commission to the City Board of Directors.

Appeals will be presented to the City Board of Directors for their review at a future study session, which is located here at the Blue Lion at 101 North Second Street.

The Board of Zoning Adjustment, which consists of members from the Planning Commission will also be reviewing variance requests this evening.

The action of the Board of Zoning Adjustment will be final unless appealed to a court of jurisdiction.

All right, uh thank you, Maggie.

Uh the first item on tonight's agenda is the uh consent agenda, some preliminary and final plates.

Um I'd ask for a motion for those to be approved unless there's any comments or questions from anybody out in the audience or the commissioners.

Motion to approve of the addition of staff comments if applicable.

Seven.

All right.

I'll ask for a roll call of vote on all the four items on the consent agenda.

Sean McCaffrey.

Four.

Brett Taylor?

Four.

Kelly Wilson, four.

Rod Coleman?

Matt Marshall, Vicky Newton.

Griffin Hannah?

Zach Ledford?

David Tyler.

Eight in favor, one abstention.

Commissioner Coleman.

All right, we'll move uh then forward to the item uh number two, the temporary use permit uh for Southside High School.

I staff to present.

Thank you, Chairman.

Temporary use permit 1326 is a request by MAHG Architecture, agent for Fort Smith Public Schools, Southside High School for a temporary use permit approval for two portable temporary classrooms in an REI zone at 4100 Gary Street.

Approval of the temporary use permit will allow for two 1,632 square foot modular temporary classrooms until Jane July 31st, 2026.

This object property is south of Gary Street and west of Lee Avenue, and the track contains an area of approximately 28 acres.

The one-story temporary buildings are approximately 12 feet tall and are 24 by 68.

The modular building facades are composed of both wood and steel metal panels.

Section 273271 of the UDO allows the director to grant special temporary use permit, non-retail for religious revivals, temporary recreational facilities, temporary medical facilities, temporary classroom facilities for public or private institutions, and similar uses that do not involve retail or or food or beverage sales activities.

This is provided that the uses shall comply with parking signs, sanitation requirements, etc.

for the area and shall not constitute a nuisance for adjacent neighboring or proper nearby properties.

The temporary use permits shall be granted for a period not to exceed 60 days and are renewable for 60 day periods thereafter.

Permits for periods in excess of 120 days, which is equal to one one initial period plus one renewal period, must be reviewed and approved by the planning commission.

The existing modular buildings received approval for a temporary placement on October 21st, 2025, which expired on February 18th, 2026.

This school is seeking approval to extend the timeframe for the placement of the two modular modular classrooms until July 31st, 2026, allowing roof construction of the on the primary building to be completed and staff recommends approval.

All right thank you very much are those here in uh speak in favor of this application tonight if there's any questions please raise your hand those here anybody from the school or the applicant this anybody opposed all right if not I'll ask for a motion to get this on the floor please.

Motion to approve of the addition is that comments.

All right any comments or questions by the commissioners think they have a building permit so everything's proceeding so I'm kind of curious kind of the timeline of when they plan to not need the temporary structure I guess it's based on the roof repair.

So is that supposed to be within a six month time period you'll state your name and address for the record please my name is Nate Deason a partner at MAHG architecture.

My address is six uh six sixty four hundred Riley Park Drive in Fort Smith.

Yeah uh to your question it's it's just going to wrap up at the tail end of the construction which is expected to wrap up in at the end of July so it just kind of coincides with all that and just to give a little bit of context to why we've got some temporary buildings out there during the span of uh the original re-roof project it was uncovered that there was quite a bit of damage to the existing structure.

So when uh that was revealed we had to do some more extensive renovations into the building which is why the kids and the the items that were in the space were moved out into into these temporary structures so when the uh construction is completed all those items will be moved back into the building and the temporary structures will be removed.

Yep any other question okay thank you right thank you I have a motion and second on the floor I ask for a roll call vote then on item two.

Red Taylor four.

Kelly Wilson abstain Rod Coleman Matt Marshall Vicky Newton Griffin Hannah 4.

Zach Ludford David Tyler Sean McCaffrey eight in favor one abstention Commissioner Wilson.

All right we'll now move to items three and four a conditional use and a variance at 3510 North Street and ask city to present these items.

Thank you Chairman.

Conditional use 3326 a request by half agent for AHBG investments for a primary and secondary school in an industrial light I1 zone at 3510 North Street.

Approval of the conditional use facilitates the construction of a 35,798 square foot two-story primary and secondary school with 25 classrooms and 100 parking spaces.

The subject property is on the south side of North Street northeast of high streets.

The track contains an area of 5.1 acres with approximately 590 feet of street frontage along North Street and uh 440 feet of street frontage along high street.

Some of the site features include the driveway on the uh north uh street side consists of two lane exit and a one lane entry uh high street will have a double lane entry driveway and a single right turn exit driveway uh the landscaping uh it will contain uh uh it will all uh be compliant with UDO it will have perimeter landscaping and uh parking lot screening and also interior uh the landscaping to the north along the uh uh single family that actually exceeds the UDO uh also on that side where the single family will also include a six foot uh tall wood privacy fence up there and uh some of the the parking will have a hundred parking spaces with five ADA spaces included uh the architectural features of the proposed facade consist of 51 percent high quality material including texture tilt up uh concrete panels and uh tinted glass uh a neighborhood meeting was held on Monday March 2nd uh 2026 at Midland Heights uh church uh 3500 North 6th Street there were six neighboring property owners that attended the meeting uh with general questions regarding the operation of the school uh no one in attendance expressed opposition to the project um staff comments a uh companion variance application from the required exterior side yard setback in an industrial light I1 zone accompanies this application

A neighborhood meeting was held on Monday, March 2nd, uh 2026 at Midland Heights uh Church, uh 3500 North 6th Street.

There were six neighboring property owners that attended the meeting with general questions regarding the operation of the school.

Uh no one in attendance expressed opposition to the project.

Um staff comments a uh companion variance application from the required exterior side yard setback in an industrial light I1 zone accompanies this application.

Uh the proposed new development facilitates construction of the academy of math and science school for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Uh the development includes uh the two-story building with 25 classrooms and a gymnasium.

Uh the site will provide a hundred parking spaces and a soccer field.

Uh staff recommend staff recommends approval of the uh request with the following conditions.

Uh construction must comply with a submitted development plan.

Changes or amendments to the submitted development plan are permitted but limited to those described in sections 27307 of the UDO.

Any changes greater than those described in the section uh will require planning commission approval.

Uh second condition is approval of the companion variance application.

Uh third is the planning must be completed prior to the issuance of a building permit.

Uh the fourth condition, an automatic irrigation system must be installed and the required landscaping.

Uh fifth, uh all site lighting shall be completed uh shall be completely shielded and comply with a section 276025 of the UDO.

Uh and then the last uh condition the existing water line and sewer line abandonment and design must be completed and approved by the utility engineering department prior to uh building permit issuance.

Uh moving on to the uh variants, uh variants uh 62 uh 6326.

It's a request by half agent for AHBG investments for boarding of zoning adjustments consideration of a variance request from a hundred feet to twenty five feet, exterior side yard setback in an industrial I zone at 3510 uh North Street.

Approval of the variance facilitates construction of a uh two-story uh 35,798 square foot primary and secondary school that encroaches the exterior side yard setback adjacent to the residential development.

Uh uh for the hardship, the applicant states that the lot has an unusual shape and setback variance is required uh for the site to accommodate the on-site queuing and uh drop off.

Uh if the BZA approves this variance, staff requests that it substantiates its reason for approval in accordance with section 2737-2 of the UDO, which permits the granting of a variance only when it is demonstrated that such an action is uh keeping with the spirit of the and intent of the provisions of the zoning chapter.

The uh staff recommends approval of this uh following with the following conditions.

Uh conditions must comply with the submitted development plan.

Changes or amendments to the submitted development plan are permitted, but limited to those subscribed in sections 27 through 307 of the UDO.

Any changes greater than those described in this section will require planning commission approval.

Uh plating must be completed prior to the issuance of the building permit.

An automatic irrigation system must be installed for the required landscaping.

Uh all site lighting shall be completed uh completely shielded and comply with section 27602 of 5 of the UDO and the existing water line and sewer line abandonment and design must be completely uh completed and approved by uh utility engineering department prior to the uh building permit issuance.

And we do have uh representative from the school if you have any questions on the development.

All right, very good.

Uh is there anyone here in opposition to these applications tonight?

All right.

Uh sir, do you have anything to add from this school's perspective?

If I may, sure.

Uh Matthew Gunderson, Vice President of Growth Academies of Math and Science.

I just want to say uh how overwhelmingly grateful we are for this whole experience and the opportunity to serve that neighborhood that had a great institution for a very long time in trusty elementary.

We do hope to be um to bring our our proven academic uh program to a neighborhood that used to have a lot of you know a neighborhood school, and we we really look forward to becoming a part of the community and offering an academic program that's got a proven track record of closing achievement gaps for kids who may have been historically underserved in in schools that are underperforming.

So we we've got something that can give back to the community, and we really look forward to being a part of the community, partnering with local not-for-profits and investing in a millions of dollars into a facility that will be a source of pride and and a fun place for kids to learn and grow.

Thank you.

And again, it's it's K through eight.

K through eight.

And how many students?

Six hundred students.

Thanks.

What's that?

Glad to have you here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good development.

Any other questions for the applicant?

All right, let's move forward then.

Um with a uh did we get did we get a motion on item number three, the conditional use?

All right, I'll ask for a motion and on conditional use.

Motion to approve with staff comments.

All right.

Any other comments or questions?

All right.

I'll ask for a roll call vote on the conditional use.

Kelly Wilson, four.

Rod Coleman?

Four.

Matt Marshall?

Vicki Newton?

Four.

Griffin Hannah?

Four.

Zach Gladford.

David Tyler?

Four.

Sean McCaffrey?

Four.

Brett Taylor?

Four.

Nine in favor, zero opposed.

All right.

Uh we'll reassess the planning commission and convene the Board of Zoning Adjustment to consider the companion variance item.

I'll ask for a motion on the variance.

Motion to approve with the additional staff comments.

Second.

Any other comments, questions?

All right.

All right, I'll ask for a roll-call vote on item four.

Rod Coleman?

Matt Marshall?

Four.

Vicky Newton.

Four.

Griffin Hannah?

Four.

Zach Gladford?

David Tyler?

Four.

Sean McCaffrey?

Four.

Brett Taylor?

Four.

Kelly Wilson?

Four.

Nine in favor, zero opposed.

All right, and with that, we'll adjourn the meeting.

Thank you, staff and everyone in attendance.

Yeah, right.