Jump to content

Fayetteville's ridiculus height ordinance


Shantytown Architect

Recommended Posts

I was thinking the other day (surprising) and I was thinking that the greentops area where the doctors offices, tyson/staffmark, cox, hospital, etc. are would make an interesting commercial and residential district. I had some romantic idea of an Amsterdam-esque district in Fayetteville. But, I presumed that the height ordinance was 10 storys. But I had doubts and I looked it up.

Six stories / 84 ft? Is Fayetteville trying to kill high-density development? What subdivision developer had their hand in that decision? Kimpel Hall, Yocum & all the other dorms, and the downtown hotel are all already taller than this.

I can see two outcomes from this ordinance: (1) the ordinance is repealed; or (2) the law stays in place and all of the high density developments move to Springdale, Rogers, or Farmington.

Thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 5
  • Created
  • Last Reply
I was thinking the other day (surprising) and I was thinking that the greentops area where the doctors offices, tyson/staffmark, cox, hospital, etc. are would make an interesting commercial and residential district. I had some romantic idea of an Amsterdam-esque district in Fayetteville. But, I presumed that the height ordinance was 10 storys. But I had doubts and I looked it up.

Six stories / 84 ft? Is Fayetteville trying to kill high-density development? What subdivision developer had their hand in that decision? Kimpel Hall, Yocum & all the other dorms, and the downtown hotel are all already taller than this.

I can see two outcomes from this ordinance: (1) the ordinance is repealed; or (2) the law stays in place and all of the high density developments move to Springdale, Rogers, or Farmington.

Thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I certainly agree the height ordinance is ridiculous. That is one of the things the outspoken anti-development minority in town got passed when the Divinity mixed use project on Dickson was being discussed. A project away from the downtown area would probably meet with less reisistance. When the cancelled 16/12 story Bellafont high rise towers and 13 story University Club tower in north Fayetteville were passed they didn't receive a lot of opposition, although that was under the outgoing mayor and not the mayor-elect.

I don't see the ordinance being repealed anytime soon but when the economy recovers there will be pressure for it to be revisited. Anything could be built now if you can get the variances. In the meantime Rogers/Bentonville may get some of what Fayetteville turns away although Rogers also has a height ordinance and a recent 10 story project there received a lot of opposition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was/is a highly debated topic. The history if its implementation is a little ... off as well. But, what the ordinance is wanting to accomplish is to have everything grow up slowly and spread out. If you have one building that sprouts up and is 15 floors and all of the other buildings around are only 1-3 then there is a problem. First it looks bad, second it will take decades for the area to absorb that building and be able to allow further development.

Fayetteville was able to pass this because people want to live in Fayetteville and not Farmington or Springdale and so on (they do of course but hear me out). Fay is viewed as being the better city to live in so what happens when people want to live in only one area? There can be more restrictions and continue to have growth. Of course this will spread out the growth to other areas that would have been in Fayetteville but that was one of the tradeoffs. Also you can build higher in certain areas like downtown. You can also petition to have sections rezoned. The mall district is becoming more and more downtown like so I am sure it could eventually receive a similar zoning as the square.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I certainly agree the height ordinance is ridiculous. That is one of the things the outspoken anti-development minority in town got passed when the Divinity mixed use project on Dickson was being discussed. A project away from the downtown area would probably meet with less reisistance. When the cancelled 16/12 story Bellafont high rise towers and 13 story University Club tower in north Fayetteville were passed they didn't receive a lot of opposition, although that was under the outgoing mayor and not the mayor-elect.

I don't see the ordinance being repealed anytime soon but when the economy recovers there will be pressure for it to be revisited. Anything could be built now if you can get the variances. In the meantime Rogers/Bentonville may get some of what Fayetteville turns away although Rogers also has a height ordinance and a recent 10 story project there received a lot of opposition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was/is a highly debated topic. The history if its implementation is a little ... off as well. But, what the ordinance is wanting to accomplish is to have everything grow up slowly and spread out. If you have one building that sprouts up and is 15 floors and all of the other buildings around are only 1-3 then there is a problem. First it looks bad, second it will take decades for the area to absorb that building and be able to allow further development.

Fayetteville was able to pass this because people want to live in Fayetteville and not Farmington or Springdale and so on (they do of course but hear me out). Fay is viewed as being the better city to live in so what happens when people want to live in only one area? There can be more restrictions and continue to have growth. Of course this will spread out the growth to other areas that would have been in Fayetteville but that was one of the tradeoffs. Also you can build higher in certain areas like downtown. You can also petition to have sections rezoned. The mall district is becoming more and more downtown like so I am sure it could eventually receive a similar zoning as the square.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.