SPRINGDALE — A proposed warehouse district continued its journey between the Planning Commission and the City Council on Tuesday after the commission denied rezoning for the project.

The rezoning, for 115 acres south of Apple Blossom Road and east of Graham Road, came before the commission or the council for the fourth time. The proposal was tabled once in front of the commission, voted down at a later meeting, appealed to the council and returned to the commission after a compromise was offered by the owners, the Brooks family, at the council meeting.

The commission voted 2 for and 4 against the rezoning, with Fadil Bayyari abstaining. Bayyari owns warehouses in the area.

The denial of the rezoning will be appealed again to the council, according to Joe Brooks.

The Brooks appealed the commission’s decision on the original proposal, which would have rezoned 130 acres from agricultural to warehouse. The compromise left a 300-foot bu◊er between the warehouse zoning and the residences to the east and a section of the north border.

Similar to earlier meetings, residents of Walden Street attended speak against the rezonings. The warehouses would create noise and trash, said Lynn Still, a resident of Walden Street. New warehouses would lower the value of homes on the street.

“There are empty warehouses east of our houses,” Still said. “They can go there if they need space.”

People are living in homes on all sides of the property, said Ron Mynatt, a resident of Graham Road.

“Warehouses don’t fit in with the neighborhood,” Mynatt said.

“The area is not developed,” said Bill McClard, who represented the owners, “except on the east. One residential street had been sat down in the middle of an area that is mostly agricultural and industrial.”

David Gilbert, a resident of Walden Street, questioned if the rezoning fitting city plans, since the land use plan called for residences in the area.

McClard noted the proposed U.S. 412 northern bypass would cross the southern end of the property.

“The land use plan for the area may call for residences, but that should change when the road is built,” McClard said.

Springdale does not have an area this size for a large development, McClard said.The warehouse district could bring in jobs for the community.

“Springdale has to have growth and jobs,” Brooks said. “It can’t be just a bedroom community.”

Residents of Walden Street complained about the farming of the land, according to Marjorie Brooks, trustee for the Brooks family.

“They complain when I put on fertilizer, about the dust when I bail hay and the smell when cows are on it,” Marjorie Brooks said. “I can’t please these people.”

“We hope Springdale is not becoming an anti-growth, anti-business community,” Joe Brooks said, “especially in this economic environment.”

News, Pages 8 on 11/04/2009

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