City expands commercial activity in C-2 zone

File photo of City Hall, as seen from Convention Boulevard. - File photo by The Sentinel-Record
File photo of City Hall, as seen from Convention Boulevard. - File photo by The Sentinel-Record

An amendment to the city's zoning code will allow vehicle sales and leasing along more of the city's major corridors, a change intended to spur development in older commercial areas.

The enabling ordinance the Hot Springs Board of Directors recently adopted allows vehicle sales and leasing as a conditional use in the general business district, or C-2 Zone. The activity was limited to the regional commercial/outdoor display district, or C-4 zone, where it's allowed as a permitted use. The city said in its request for the amendment that C-4 is the city's most permissive zoning designation.

"We have a considerable amount of C-2 zoning, especially when you look at our Grand Avenue corridor," City Manager Bill Burrough told the board earlier this month. "We feel like it will help drive additional businesses within that corridor to be able to display vehicle sales and leasing. Almost all of our major corridors are C-2 that roll into C-4."

In addition to Grand Avenue, Third Street, Hobson Avenue, Albert Pike Road and the northeast section of Airport Road are zoned C-2, according to the city's planning map. Central Avenue from Orange Street south to Trivista Street and Malvern Avenue from Garden Street south to Crescent Avenue are also zoned C-2.

District 2 Director Elaine Jones proposed amending the zoning code's table of uses. Parts of the West Grand, Central and Malvern avenue corridors are in her district.

"I believe by increasing the land use it will benefit economic opportunities in District 2 as well as the entire city," Jones said in a Sept. 1 letter to Burrough.

Conditional-use status requires applicants to petition the planning commission for approval of land-use proposals.

"If the table is amended, a proposed vehicle sales and leasing business in the C-2 zone district would require planning commission approval of a detailed site development plan, hours of operation and more in order to carefully evaluate the impacts to the neighborhood and the city and to weigh conditions and methods proposed by the commission or by the applicant to ameliorate those impacts," the city said in its request for board action.

Most of the city's auto dealers are concentrated in C-4 zones in south Hot Springs.

"The description of the C-4 zone specifically refers to something you can access from an arterial or a highway," Planning and Development Director Kathy Sellman said. "Typically people who are looking for a car are looking for an area where they're going to find choices. The C-4 zone, because they tend to be along those arterial and highway locations, are typically bigger sites and more suited to that kind of activity.

"The C-2 sites tend to be smaller and in older parts of the city. The request from Director Jones included the information that it might be a use that could help some of the older commercial areas to redevelop."

The planning commission unanimously endorsed the amendment to the table of uses at its Oct. 8 meeting. Two people spoke in favor of it at the public hearing. The board doesn't weigh in on conditional-use permits, unless an appeal is brought against the commission's decision to approve or deny an application.

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