The Eureka Springs Planning Commission continued its months-long discussions on a pair of proposals and seems close to finally handing the baton on those issues over to the city council.
At a pair of workshops held Tuesday, March 10, the commission discussed a revamped vision plan for the city, along with a plan aimed at repairing damaged and dilapidated sidewalks.
On the sidewalk issue, the planning commission appears ready to turn the issue over to the council, which has continued to discuss and address the topic despite asking planning to move forward with ideas.
“When things are typically given back to planning commission, and we work on them, we’re interested to do that,” commissioner Ann Tandy-Sallee said. “I don’t appreciate the sidewalks being given back to us, and the city council is continuing to do their thing. So, I’m in the mindset, let’s just give it back to them.”
Commissioner Susan Harman agreed.
“I agree with you, but I do think that it is beneficial to provide the input because we do have some legitimate points for sidewalks, and I think I’m trying to be positive on this, but I think the more thoughts and input that you can have, it will spark someone to say, ‘oh yeah, that’s a good idea,’” Harman said.
Tandy-Sallee responded: “I’m OK with submitting what we’ve got so far, and then they can do what they want.”
The workshop involved talks on the type of concrete or asphalt needed to repair sidewalks and which businesses in the area could provide such a service.
Commissioners also discussed whether the city would be willing to work out a deal with a local company to agree to provide the work for multiple addresses, and possibly offer a discount to help residents.
In the end, the planning commission opted to submit the proposals on sidewalks as they currently exist. Commissioners will review a presentation at their April meeting before presenting it to city council, which has already discussed having its own discussion on sidewalks in a workshop sometime in late April or in May.
On the vision plan — a topic primarily brought to the forefront by council member Rachael Moyer several months ago — the planning commission went through an older version of a plan page-by-page, discussing what needs to be removed and what needs to stay.
Things that commissioners say need to remain in the plan include topics such as traffic signals, policies on large vehicles such as RVs and tour buses, additional sidewalks, the city’s walkability and a parking plan.
Another item that the planning commission agreed should remain in the plan is a no-car zone in areas of downtown, something that has been experimented with in recent months when cars were forced to leave downtown streets for parades, temporary entertainment districts and events.
“I think they’re working on the theory of it, how well it’s going to work,” planning commission chair Ferguson Stewart said.
Under economic development, commissioners agreed that some of the wording that included promoting tourism, and using public improvements to stimulate private investments was already happening, but should remain in a plan.
Commissioner Michael Welch, who led the discussion of going through the past plan, said he felt it was important for the CAPC and others to do a better job of marketing Eureka Springs as a retirement community.
That’s something that differs a bit from a lot of the CAPC’s focus in recent years to try to market to younger families.
“This is a retirement community, really, and a lot of upscale, wealthy retirees come here regionally, mostly from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas,” Welch said. “I want to keep this [in the plan] because I think we should work with CAPC to start advertising ourselves as a retirement vacation home and start advertising in Dallas, New Orleans, big cities to get big-city retirees to come here and live.”
TREE REMOVALS APPROVED
At its regular monthly meeting on March 10, the Board of Zoning Adjustment approved a pair of tree removals.
Five trees were OK’d for removal at 49 Mountain.
Several of the trees are dead and are damaging a retaining wall next to the property, commissioners were told.
In addition, one tree was approved for removal at 7 East Mountain. The tree is leaning over a home on the property with part of the trunk and roots pulling up asphalt, commissioners learned.
In the planning commission portion of the meeting, the proposed construction of a wedding event venue pavilion at 2044 East Van Buren was tabled.
Commissioners were told that a 3,322-square-foot event and banquet center was being planned for the property, with a portion being utilized for weddings.
However, city code enforcement officer Paul Sutherland told owners that the property was shy more than 50 required parking spaces, something that would need to be addressed before approval.
Commissioners decided they wanted to see the property first-hand and voted to have a site visit to the location before making any decision.
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