Gentry zoning requirements changed by the city council
Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/gentry/Community/2604/
GENTRY ó City council, at its June meeting passed ordinances changing zoning requirements.
An ordinance amending Appendix B, expanded the permitted uses of property zoned R-4 to include single-family homes, single-family manufactured homes, single-family dwellings with zero lot lines, townhouses, duplexes, multifamily dwellings, mobile home subdivisions, mobile home parks, rooming / boarding houses, churches, emergency facilities and gardens. The old ordinance had been more restrictive in that, while it allowed mobile homes, it did not allow uses permitted under the more restrictive classifications.
Another ordinance amended Appendix Bís off-street parking requirements, changing set-back requirements to five feet and adjusting the exceptions to requirements for parking which requires backing into a public street for egress. The exception allows parking in which a vehicle is required to back onto the street in oneand two-family residences, and in three- and four-family residents when two parking spaces per unit are provided and at least one of those spaces is an attached, enclosed garage. No more than two garages may be adjacent to each other to qualify for the exception.
Both the above ordinances were passed with rules suspended on three readings with a single vote. An emergency clause was also approved for both.
An ordinance establishing a document retention policy was also approved. The ordinance outlines the procedure by which public documents may be destroyed.
Under the ordinance, city ordinances, council minutes, resolutions, annual financial audits and year-end financial statements may not be destroyed. Police records related to crimes of violence, closed city files for felony or Class A misdemeanors offenses, together with expungement orders must also be permanently maintained. Other police records, including accident reports, incident reports and offense reports must be maintained for three years.
When documents are destroyed, a destruction affidavit must be prepared, specifying the documents to be destroyed, the time period to which they apply and the method of destruction. The affidavit must be signed by the city employee destroying the records and one council member. The city council must also vote to approve of the destruction before any documents may be destroyed.
By resolution, the council authorized the mayor to sign documents selling specific city right-of-ways to the Arkansas Highway Department for $ 2, 800, allowing the Highway Department to expand their current facilities along Arkansas Highway 59. Sales-tax measure
Two ordinances which were not acted on in the June council meeting but are scheduled for action at the July meeting would place on the November ballot a measure which would allow the city to continue to collect the one-half-percent sales tax which was authorized for payment of the library bond. The half-cent sales tax is set to expire once the bond is paid ó which, according to Mayor Wes Hogue, is expected to be yet this year. The proposed new ordinance calls for a new half-percent sales tax to be used for any purpose for which the cityís general fund may be used. Regional Mobility Authority
The city will also consider whether or not to join a regional mobility authority, made up of Benton and Washington Counties and of participating first-class cities within the two counties. The purpose of the new level of government is to address transportation needs in northwest Arkansas and funding options ó including voter-approved taxes and / or charging user tolls ó to build new highways in the area. Joining the regional mobility authority and having representation would give Gentry some input into plans for new highway construction in the area and funding options.
Possible highways which would likely be considered by the authority are an east-west bypass to the north of Springdale, an expanded Interstate 540, a beltway through the west side of Benton and Washington Counties and a bypass around Bella Vista.
According to proponents of the regional mobility authority, traditional funding from the state and federal governments are far insufficient to meet regional transportation needs and local planning and funding options are needed.