ROGERS -- The city may make some changes to the administrative process for temporary street and parking lot closings but not yet.
City Council members turned down a proposed change Tuesday night to the city's code of ordinances concerning the regulation of closings.
The ordinance would have changed the administrative process and deleted the second, third and fourth subsections of section 52-4 of the city's code of ordinances, which outline the process of requesting street and parking lot closings. The first subsection specifies that the council's Transportation Committee "may approve, create, and enforce temporary closures or experimental regulations, as they may relate to city streets and city owned parking lots."
The ordinance had been tabled by the Transportation Committee at its Oct. 11 meeting. At that committee meeting, the city's senior staff attorney John Pesek said the ordinance would streamline the closure request process and send requests through the community development, safety and street departments instead of the committee. The committee would still be in charge of experimental regulations, which are also included in section 52-4 of city code, he said.
Mandy Brashear, a member of the committee, said at the time that she thought the changes should be more clearly communicated and explained. She also said she was concerned about moving away from the committee and council when she thought more transparency around the process was needed.
On Tuesday evening, Mayor Greg Hines said procedurally the item still had to come up as a matter of old business on the council's agenda.
The item could not be sent back to the committee, according to City Attorney Andrew Hatfield.
An amendment to city code is meant help event organizers avoid "unnecessary bureaucratic crunches of time" and clarify whether a charitable element is a requirement for the events, Hines said.
The regulation of street closings is best left with staff and procedural protocol, he said.
One recent road closure was approved by the committee, which closed a street for four days, and Hines said that probably should not happen.
The closing blocked off West Wood Street between Second and Third streets, just north of Susie Q Malt Shop.
The city had to intervene because the organizers misrepresented the event as a "bike safety expo" when the closed road became the site of a "concert venue," according to Hines.
"It's an area we can probably make some progress in," he said.
Brashear and Betsy Reithemeyer, also a member of the committee, said they expected the committee would get to discuss it further and said they would not approve the ordinance as it was written. Marge Wolf said she would also vote against the ordinance.
Brashear pointed out that the ordinance does not actually address all of the issues mentioned by the mayor.
Reithemeyer said she would like to see some clarity on those issues before approving an amendment.
In other business, an organic grocery store, shopping center and apartment space near the corner of Promenade Boulevard and New Hope Road got conceptual approval from the council.
Commissioners unanimously approved a rezoning of an 8.67-acre empty lot off Promenade Boulevard, east of Home Depot and between Seminole Drive and Seneca Road.
The rezoning moves the property from the highway commercial zoning district to the uptown commercial mixed use zoning district. A large-scale development plan will have to be approved by the city before any construction can begin on the project.
The mixed-use development by Atlanta, Ga.-based firm SJC Ventures will be centered around an organic grocery store, according to a representative of the firm. SJC's only project in Arkansas so far has been the Whole Foods Market in Fayetteville, according to its website.
The project's estimated opening is in late 2024, the representative said.
Council members voted unanimously in the case of each ordinance. Mark Kruger was absent.
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The Rogers City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved:
• Spending $15,000 to upgrade GPS surveying equipment. The city will buy the equipment from Navigation Electronics Inc. of Lafayette, La., using funds from its general reserves.
• A final plat for a 53-lot single-family subdivision at Cottonwood Place near the intersection of Cottonwood and Ninth streets. A final plat is a drawing that provides data related to the development of land for a subdivision and is certified by a land surveyor or civil engineer, according to the city’s code of ordinances.
• The rezoning of 0.32 acres at 318 N. C St., north of Walnut Street and east of Arkansas Street, from the residential duplex and patio home zoning district to the neighborhood transition zoning district.
• The rezoning of 15.6 acres east of North Eighth Street and south of West Hudson Road from the highway commercial and residential duplex patio home zoning districts to the light industrial zoning district, which allows industrial operations and activities as well as the storage and transfer of goods.
• Approved unanimously the amendment of the city’s budget to recognize insurance reimbursements for repairs made last year to Pleasant Ridge Bridge and move a total of $38,769 into the city’s trails maintenance fund. The bridge was damaged by flooding in 2020.
Source: NWA Democrat-Gazette