The Planning Commission settled into a long meeting last Tuesday, May 14, and revisited some areas of concern from recent meetings.
Public comments, whether delivered in person or by email, took up more than 15 minutes at the start of the session. Most of those comments registered opposition to allowing any more bed and breakfast operations in residential neighborhoods.
Linda McBride began the comments period by suggesting that some B&Bs do not have an on-site manager, and some do not offer breakfast, as required by the city. She listed some adverse effects of B&Bs, including parking problems and increased costs to rent or purchase a home. The city currently has a moratorium on new B&B permits, but she urged commissioners to work toward a permanent restriction.
Melinda Large urged the commissioners to “please listen to the citizens” who oppose further B&B permits. “We want the tourists in the motels, and residents in their community,” she said. Large called for more enforcement on existing permit holders who violate the terms of their Conditional Use Permit (CUP).
After several others registered their objections at the microphone, Kyle Palmer, the city’s Director of Planning and Community Development, read 19 emails complaining about various effects of B&Bs. Several mentioned the difficulties of finding and affording a place to live, and one email said boarding houses would serve the city better than B&Bs.
Another email suggested that B&Bs in operation before the city passed regulations could lose their grandfathered status if they failed to pay taxes for six months to the City Advertising and Promotion Commission.
Commissioners have held a series of workshops dealing with B&Bs. A workshop on this subject preceded the regular meeting, and Palmer described it afterwards as “the most attended workshop the commission has seen in a while.” Video of that workshop has been posted to the city’s Youtube channel.
In the discussion that followed, commissioners touched on several areas of concern. Commissioner Ann Tandy-Sallee has consistently argued in favor of establishing a definition of the word “unit,” and that term will be used to describe a single bedroom which sleeps two people. The commissioners have noted that some businesses have not paid CAPC taxes, and no CUPs should be renewed or transferred if those taxes are not up to date. Any violation of operating conditions could lead to revocation of a CUP.
Such violations might include failure to serve breakfast or having a rent-paying tenant serve as on-site manager.
Tree-cut applications
Commissioners continued work on revisions to the application for cutting trees. Some members raised questions about the ability of Building Inspector Jacob Coburn to issue a permit to remove a “hazardous” tree. Coburn has issued permits for diseased trees or trees leaning more than 15 percent. Commission Chair Susan Harman said, “We need to be clear on what Planning should approve, and what Jacob approves.”
Commissioner Tom Buford noted that no trees had been declared hazardous in the past seven years, and he was concerned that the category was now being used to remove unwanted trees. He suggested restricting the building inspector’s role to a recommendation, with the final decision reserved to the commissioners. Tandy-Sallee expressed caution, saying, “We need to be very careful, because none of us is an arborist.”
In other business:
- City Clerk Ida Meyer discussed her efforts to update city codes. After codifying all current ordinances, she explained how she will keep commissioners’ copies of the codes up to date.
- State laws restrict a city’s ability to curtail crypto-mining operations, although cities can decide on appropriate zoning. Palmer said the only industrial zoning would be near the sewer plant. Commissioner Fergie Stewart said a crypto facility would not make sense here, because those operations require a large physical space and abundant power supplies.
- Although no wind turbines have been proposed near Eureka Springs, commissioners discussed the possibility of setting restrictions within the five-mile territorial jurisdiction the state allows. Mayor Butch Berry had asked the commission to review the wind and crypto issues and make any appropriate recommendations.
- The commissioners discussed the possibility of increasing the size of the city. An area completely enclosed by the city could be annexed by ordinance, but any other annexation would require approval by affected residents. The city would also have to provide city services to the area, including water and sewer. Harman said the city would have to weigh any increased tax revenue against the city’s costs in providing services to an annexed area.
Passion Play Road already has city water and trolley service, and commissioners discussed the possibility of annexing along the road from U.S. Hwy. 62 to Magnetic Springs Road, including the Passion Play property. A majority of landowners would have to approve the annexation.
Some other annexation targets were mentioned, including areas along US Hwy. 62. Providing city services to those areas might be prohibitively expensive.
- The annexation issue will remain on the agenda for the June 11 meeting, along with wind power, crypto-mining, and sidewalks.
- The commission still has two vacancies.