Fayetteville, Arkansas

[zman9810]

I don't think I heard if this impact fee ever passed. Does anyone know what the outcome was? The last I heard it was 1 vote in favor but there were still a couple of votes out of the country.

Looks like it was a tie but who knows what that will mean? http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/04/...7wzelection.txt

[strmchsr77]

It looks like the Impact Fee vote has finally been decided by a tie vote. This means that it did not pass because it did not have a majority of votes. I am not sure if there will be some sort of law suit on this deal but knowing Fayetteville someone will probably try eventually.

[jiggyK]

i know i've posted a link to this website before, but i thought i would remind folks of it 'cause a lot has been added since then. check it out and add your favorite spots in nwa! you just might learn something about the region that you didn't know before or you could enlighten others about things you know that might not be well-known! Here's the link!:

http://wikimapia.org/#y=36070054&x=-94...amp;m=a&v=2

it's easy and fun!

Hooray!

[jim9251]

Know what I really like? After being gone for a while and seeing downtown from I-540. That is a great view and let's me know I'm home.

[masons_dad1]

Know what I really like? After being gone for a while and seeing downtown from I-540. That is a great view and let's me know I'm home.

Especially after driving through the wilderness for close to an hour that is an impressive view, especially at night.

[mzweig]

Know what I really like? After being gone for a while and seeing downtown from I-540. That is a great view and let's me know I'm home.

It is, indeed, a great view! Thanks.

[Mith242]

Looks like it was a tie but who knows what that will mean? http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/04/...7wzelection.txt

Yeah I heard about all of that. It's pretty wild it came down that way. You almost wondered if someone could find out the results and tell one of the few overseas to hurry and vote and change the results. I"m still not sure how I felt about the whole thing. I can see both sides of the argument.

[cowbreath]

I thought I'd post some other pics I took three weeks ago. The first is of the Southern View Town Center development off of the Northbound access road near 6th street and I-540. Following that are some random pics of other places like the new Hunan Manor restaurant on W. Wedington, the Washington Regional hospital addition, and the Courtyard at the Marriott going behind some restaurants between Joyce and John Paul Hammerschmidt Highway.

[cocothief]

That little Southern View Town Center is a nice example of a NU development. Its an awful location, but its a great effort anyway.

Now, imagine how much better it would be if it didn't back up to a traditional Lindsey-style apartment complex, but something more integrated into a traditional street grid.

We'd have a nice little slice of urbanity developing there on the SW end of town. As it stands, its choppy because there is no connectivity with either of two large apartment complexes on that side of the hill.

This is the kind of stuff the city is trying to head off by denying The Links. Hopefully they will follow through.

[mcheiss]

So that's the name of it...Southern View Town Center. I agree about how nice it is and the poor location of it. Hopefully it can spring decent developments along 6th and take away some of those nasty gas stations.

[cowbreath]

Yeah, it would have been nice in a grid environment (kind of defeats the purpose otherwise in my mind). Anyone know who is building it? I saw Lindsey's stamp on the sign, but I don't know if they should be the real estate agent or what not.

[zman9810]

Here are some pics of the EJ Ball building improvements. This is the outdoor cafe and covered entrance being built. It should turn out to be nice but the glass in the building really needs replacing. That would do more to improve that building than anything.

Edited May 8, 2007 by zman9810

[masons_dad1]

That Southern View Town Center is really nice. Sort of an old timey version of the Shoppes at Pinnacle Hills.

[Mith242]

Thanks for the pics guys. Yeah I drove by the Southern View Town Center recently and thought it looked interesting from what I could see.

[zman9810]

While I was out and about with my camera I snapped a couple of shots of the new water feature on the square. A dude drove up and jumped in just as I was scoping out a good angle.

Edited May 8, 2007 by zman9810

[Mith242]

Yeah that water feature was finished a little while back. Maybe I forgot to ever post a pic of it. Anyway thanks for th pics.

[Mith242]

Fayetteville has revamped their website.

http://www.accessfayetteville.org/

[strmchsr77]

Fayetteville has revamped their website.

http://www.accessfayetteville.org/

I checked it out on Sunday and I don't like it as much because I can't find what I am looking for. They used to have the tenative agendas for the City Council and Planning Commission but now I can't find them. If someone comes across that info, let me know.

[Mith242]

I checked it out on Sunday and I don't like it as much because I can't find what I am looking for. They used to have the tenative agendas for the City Council and Planning Commission but now I can't find them. If someone comes across that info, let me know.

Yeah it's going to take some time to figure out where everything is again. But I do like the look of it better than their previous layout.

[Mith242]

It's still in the early stages but looks like another hot topic could be coming up soon. Affordable housing is starting to be looked into more by the city. I also saw something in the editorial of the Northwest Arkansas Times supporting the Links development and mentioning supporting it would be supporting more affordable housing. Although I think that's as relevant since they're mainly talking about more cheap apartments and not actual homes that would be affordable. While I would certainly like to see more homes that are affordable to a larger group of people. I'm still not sold on letting Lindsey put in a lot more cheap apartments. I don't see that that helps the city of Fayetteville, especially in the long run.

[cocothief]

It's still in the early stages but looks like another hot topic could be coming up soon. Affordable housing is starting to be looked into more by the city. I also saw something in the editorial of the Northwest Arkansas Times supporting the Links development and mentioning supporting it would be supporting more affordable housing. Although I think that's as relevant since they're mainly talking about more cheap apartments and not actual homes that would be affordable. While I would certainly like to see more homes that are affordable to a larger group of people. I'm still not sold on letting Lindsey put in a lot more cheap apartments. I don't see that that helps the city of Fayetteville, especially in the long run.

I read the article, too. It was entertaining hearing the council members being confused and shocked by the numbers presented by city staff as "attainable housing". The majority of council members seemed to want a specific $ amount, like $90-120k to be set into code. Of course, they weren' thinking about how, in the future, those numbers would change along with the area's median income, etc. etc..

I get the feeling that the majority of the Fayetteville City Council wakes up every day and is shocked and flabbergasted by much in the world around them. They don't come off as incredibly informed or intelligent in the televised meetings, or when their opinions make news stories.

I can't believe these folks are making these huge decisions for our city.

Now that I'm done bashing the council... I agree, it will be a hotly debated topic. Considering that many of the quality of life issues that are taken into consideration with each new residential development in Fayetteville directly impact the cost of doing business in Fayetteville, its going to be tough to squeeze developers even further by forcing them to provide housing that is offered at these "attainable" prices in every development.

What I always think about when I hear about things like requisite "attainable housing" is that if these properties are built in conjunction with other, better developments, they will remain "attainable" briefly, then upon changing hands as the market dictates, they will flip and no longer fit into that "attainable" price formula.

I don't like this whole idea. I like the ideal which inspires it, but I don't know how feasible it really is to codify. And I certainly don't think our council will be able to come to come kind of ordinance without wasting about a year on circuitous debate and ignorant posturing. Thats the one thing I am sure of.

[Mith242]

Yeah I wonder how they'll handle all of that. If they make something cheap enough for others to buy what's to keep someone else from buying it then selling it at a higher price to make a profit on it?

[cocothief]

Yeah I wonder how they'll handle all of that. If they make something cheap enough for others to buy what's to keep someone else from buying it then selling it at a higher price to make a profit on it?

Seems to me like an even better way to beat the system is to sell them from your LLC or LLP or whatever to your "buddy" who is a real estate agent, who then flips them for market rate and splits the profits with you.

I really don't understand how they intend to enforce these prices independent of market conditions. I really REALLY don't understand how they expect homes in Fayetteville to be built and sold new for $90k, with impact fees, greenspace allowances and tree preservation, street improvements, etc etc etc......

That wacky city council...

[strmchsr77]

I get the feeling that the majority of the Fayetteville City Council wakes up every day and is shocked and flabbergasted by much in the world around them. They don't come off as incredibly informed or intelligent in the televised meetings, or when their opinions make news stories.

This is the quote of the month...

They always say they want affordable housing but they think that every development has to be New Urbanism and it is just extremely hard to make that completely affordable. They also make developers pay for road upgrades, impact fees, park land, or money for park land, and anything else they can think of. So developers then can't afford to build cheap housing. The land has just gotten too expensive in town. So the only option is to build this stuff on the edge of town which creates sprawl. So it is kind of a cycle. What can they do??

[Mith242]

This is the quote of the month...

They always say they want affordable housing but they think that every development has to be New Urbanism and it is just extremely hard to make that completely affordable. They also make developers pay for road upgrades, impact fees, park land, or money for park land, and anything else they can think of. So developers then can't afford to build cheap housing. The land has just gotten too expensive in town. So the only option is to build this stuff on the edge of town which creates sprawl. So it is kind of a cycle. What can they do??

Yeah even though I've been big on having affordable housing in Fayetteville. I guess I've been thinking of it on those lines and just thinking that realistically people will probably have to look elsewhere like Springdale if they want cheaper housing. But I still hope to avoid becoming more like Santa Fe. Where it's very expensive to live and it's now mainly just rich people from both coasts who own most of the homes there now.