Fayetteville, Arkansas

[Mith242]

Those people should move further away from the city. They'd be more comfortable in a town of 10,000 that isn't growing than a town of close to 80,000 that is growing.

I do think that's going to be a growing problem for people in this area. A lot of people don't want this area to become so large. They remember how it was before or people moved here because they wanted more of a small metro feel. I think it's going to be a while before the 'urbanites' outnumber the others who want to keep more of a 'small town feel'. But I think it will happen and people will end up moving somewhere else. Maybe places like Mountain Home and such.

[mzweig]

I do think that's going to be a growing problem for people in this area. A lot of people don't want this area to become so large. They remember how it was before or people moved here because they wanted more of a small metro feel. I think it's going to be a while before the 'urbanites' outnumber the others who want to keep more of a 'small town feel'. But I think it will happen and people will end up moving somewhere else. Maybe places like Mountain Home and such.

Speaking strictly for myself, I can live in small, medium, or large cities. I just had bad, ugly, poorly-planned, alienating sprawl. Cities such as Dallas and Houston, for example, are the worst types of places to live. I think some people equate all growth with this end result. It doesn't have to be like this. Take a look at Boston, for example. It's a lot larger than Fayetteville but is not full of bad development.

[Mith242]

Speaking strictly for myself, I can live in small, medium, or large cities. I just had bad, ugly, poorly-planned, alienating sprawl. Cities such as Dallas and Houston, for example, are the worst types of places to live. I think some people equate all growth with this end result. It doesn't have to be like this. Take a look at Boston, for example. It's a lot larger than Fayetteville but is not full of bad development.

True, I do think some people equate larger cities like that. There just seems to be a general consensus among a number of people I've talked to, that they want as many of the amenities of a larger city/metro without NWA getting that big.

[cowbreath]

I have this possible misconception that southern cities seem to be more sprawling than more northern cities (Canadian cities, New York, Boston, Chicago, Portland). Is that because people in colder weather like to be closer to each other?

[vbfl85]

Sprawl is pretty bad in the north, escpecially considering it started in the north (Levittown, PA). Chicago is a great example of northern sprawl as is the huge metro that basically runs from DC to Boston.

Maybe the reason that it seems worse in the south is because the south has experienced more grownth in recent years.

Edited January 17, 2007 by vbfl85

[jiggyK]

you know, i was reading the morning news and came across an artical about coody's state of the city speach and how he is touting environmental responsibility and sustainabilty for fayetteville's future. and that's great. expanding recycling was mentioned, among other things. but one thing that i'd like to see addressed that i've heard no talk of is cleaning up fayetteville's creeks. fayetteville has several really nice creeks within its borders, and every one i've see is trashed. i drive by tanglewood branch creek in the south part of town every day, and it sickens me to look at an otherwise beautiful natural feature. i was out around lake fayetteville a while back and was amazed at the trash in the creek bed on east side of the lake, near mission. and there are others. honestly, just driving around in general i see trash everywhere. maybe it's because all the folage is off and it's easier to see stuff that's otherwise covered. but i don't see how we've been awarded all these "blooms" in this america in bloom contest we always win. if the judges were around in the winter, i don't think we'd score so high.

i guess it's not called "the dirty south" for nothing.

as soon as this cold spell breaks i plan on cleaning part of tanglewood branch in the frisco trail area. be looking for results.

[Mith242]

I have this possible misconception that southern cities seem to be more sprawling than more northern cities (Canadian cities, New York, Boston, Chicago, Portland). Is that because people in colder weather like to be closer to each other?

Maybe it has more to do with the fact they are in general older and built during a time when cities were simply developed that way.

you know, i was reading the morning news and came across an artical about coody's state of the city speach and how he is touting environmental responsibility and sustainabilty for fayetteville's future. and that's great. expanding recycling was mentioned, among other things. but one thing that i'd like to see addressed that i've heard no talk of is cleaning up fayetteville's creeks. fayetteville has several really nice creeks within its borders, and every one i've see is trashed. i drive by tanglewood branch creek in the south part of town every day, and it sickens me to look at an otherwise beautiful natural feature. i was out around lake fayetteville a while back and was amazed at the trash in the creek bed on east side of the lake, near mission. and there are others. honestly, just driving around in general i see trash everywhere. maybe it's because all the folage is off and it's easier to see stuff that's otherwise covered. but i don't see how we've been awarded all these "blooms" in this america in bloom contest we always win. if the judges were around in the winter, i don't think we'd score so high.

i guess it's not called "the dirty south" for nothing.

as soon as this cold spell breaks i plan on cleaning part of tanglewood branch in the frisco trail area. be looking for results.

Yeah I've noticed a number of creeks also like this. The bad thing is that other cities are probably just as bad if not worse. I think if you go into any city you're going to see some sort of trash problem if you look hard enough. But yes it would be nice if a little more could be done about this.

[strmchsr77]

Another taller building may be coming to the downtown square area of Fayetteville if the PC approves a small change to the current height restrictions. The building will replace a one story structure just to the east of the Town Center with a 7 story mixed use office and residential building. The current area only allows a maximum of 6 stories or 84 feet tall, whatever is less. But the developers are proposing a 7 story structure that will be less than 84 ft in height. Planning staff recommends approval of this project.

Here is some more info from the upcoming PC meeting: New 7 Story Building on the Square

[Mith242]

Another taller building may be coming to the downtown square area of Fayetteville if the PC approves a small change to the current height restrictions. The building will replace a one story structure just to the east of the Town Center with a 7 story mixed use office and residential building. The current area only allows a maximum of 6 stories or 84 feet tall, whatever is less. But the developers are proposing a 7 story structure that will be less than 84 ft in height. Planning staff recommends approval of this project.

Here is some more info from the upcoming PC meeting: New 7 Story Building on the Square

Very interesting Colby, thanks for posting this. When you say just east of the Town Center do you mean the actual structure? Just trying to figure out which building they're talking about taking out here. I'll have to go get some Google Earth images to try to clearify.

[Mith242]

By the way, for those of you interested I post some pics of the Lewis Brothers Hardware Building over in the Picture of the Day topic.

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...8381&st=880

Edited January 21, 2007 by Mith242

[zman9810]

Funny, I work downtown and walk by there often and never noticed they are two separate buildings. I did think it strange the sign wasn't up front facing Mountain. I guess it's like my door code at work- I punch it in everyday automatically but when someone asks me what it is, I can't remember.

[Mith242]

Funny, I work downtown and walk by there often and never noticed they are two separate buildings. I did think it strange the sign wasn't up front facing Mountain. I guess it's like my door code at work- I punch it in everyday automatically but when someone asks me what it is, I can't remember.

I'll be honest with you I've never even really noticed that small building before. It's very close to the Lewis Brothers Hardware Building. The only thing separating the two is a small staircase that goes up to the Fayetteville Town Center level and the top of the Lewis Brothers Building.

[cowbreath]

Yeah, it was passed last year when two or three people started complaining about the number of taller buildings blocking their views from who knows where and who knows what. There are differect areas of downtown that have different height maximums now unfortunetly. Around the square and Dickson street is limited to 6 floors or 84 feet (whichever is less). Other parts are limited to 12 stories and other sections are limited to 4. Anything that was passed before this time is grandfathered in.

Bleh... I guess a lot of smaller multistory buildings is a good start though. They get great visibility from being on a hill there.

Thanks for finding that news for us. It's really cool to hear some more development news for our little town.

[strmchsr77]

Bleh... I guess a lot of smaller multistory buildings is a good start though. They get great visibility from being on a hill there.

Thanks for finding that news for us. It's really cool to hear some more development news for our little town.

yeah, development news seems to have slowed down over the past few months. I guess that is due to colder weather and the holidays. You have to start somewhere, I would much rather be seeing 20+ story buildings announced but that is not going to happen in our downtown for quite some time.

[Mith242]

Yeah winter time is usually slow on the development news area. Things will pick back up in the spring.

[strmchsr77]

I was out driving around 6th street and I-540 today and noticed that the Southern View Town Center (I think that is what it is called) has really gotten alot done since it finally started. I wish I had my camera with me maybe I will try again next week. It looks like a interesting project. Has anyone else been by there lately?

[cocothief]

I was out driving around 6th street and I-540 today and noticed that the Southern View Town Center (I think that is what it is called) has really gotten alot done since it finally started. I wish I had my camera with me maybe I will try again next week. It looks like a interesting project. Has anyone else been by there lately?

Yeah I saw it the other day. It does look interesting, and its definitely and improvement over the standard strip mall.

It looks a little crammed onto the site, and I'm curious to see how well the second floor office space leases out.

Access is limited by the one way frontage road, too.

Regardless of how it turns out, nice try whoever did it.

[strmchsr77]

Yeah I saw it the other day. It does look interesting, and its definitely and improvement over the standard strip mall.

It looks a little crammed onto the site, and I'm curious to see how well the second floor office space leases out.

Access is limited by the one way frontage road, too.

Regardless of how it turns out, nice try whoever did it.

Yeah, the cramped style kind of gives it the downtown look and feel they are going for. So I really don't mind that. I am not sure how the access is going to work, but I am sure they have a way to get to Old Farmington road or somewhere.

[Mith242]

I guess I haven't because it's not ringing any bells. Maybe I saw the early stages and just assumed it was more apartments or something else. Looks like weather could be cloudy with precip again this weekend. I'm not having an easy time getting out to take pics on my days off lately. Maybe I can take a camera over Friday afternoon.

[zman9810]

I think that is another Lindsey development called Southern View Phase II. Retail on the first floor and apartments on the top 2 floors. He said at one of the planning commission meetings that if those new residential design standards passed that it would mean more vertical buildings. I guess he foresaw the future and decided to get a head start.

[masons_dad1]

I think that is another Lindsey development called Southern View Phase II. Retail on the first floor and apartments on the top 2 floors. He said at one of the planning commission meetings that if those new residential design standards passed that it would mean more vertical buildings. I guess he foresaw the future and decided to get a head start.

Wow! Lindsey actually doing something different.

[Mith242]

Wow! Lindsey actually doing something different.

I think that is another Lindsey development called Southern View Phase II. Retail on the first floor and apartments on the top 2 floors. He said at one of the planning commission meetings that if those new residential design standards passed that it would mean more vertical buildings. I guess he foresaw the future and decided to get a head start.

Okay I think this is what I saw the early stages of then. I think I had gotten the impression it was something Lindsey so then I basically started ignoring it.

[strmchsr77]

Okay I think this is what I saw the early stages of then. I think I had gotten the impression it was something Lindsey so then I basically started ignoring it.

Yeah, it is a Lindsey project but it is something completely different. There is also a sign in front of it along Old Farmington Rd. It has a picture of it. A much more interesting project than any other Lindsey apt complex.

[cowbreath]

Yeah, it is a Lindsey project but it is something completely different. There is also a sign in front of it along Old Farmington Rd. It has a picture of it. A much more interesting project than any other Lindsey apt complex.

I still don't trust him. If he wants to change his ways at all he should never let another Lindsey apt complex be built again. I looked at a nice house the other day except that the doors and walls were kind just like Lindsey apartment interiors (door was cheap and light like balsa wood and the walls were also of cheap quality). I couldn't help but wonder if Lindsey built it, or why would anyone ruin a promising house by cutting corners so much on quality (yeah I know--increased profits).

[cocothief]

Well hooray for Lindsey.

This could be something nice, particularly if he decides to expand the development and create a larger mixed use area.

I didn't realize the upstairs were housing. Given the scale of the project I assumed they were offices.

It still doesn't make up for the hideous apartments on the hillside or those directly north of this project.