A proposal to rezone .94-acres for an office building on property along Veterans Parkway that is surrounded by the large Pinewood Forrest development in west Fayetteville has received a recommendation for office zoning rather than the PCD (planned community development) zoning requested by developer Jimmy Pace.
Pace at the June 27 meeting of the Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission noted that, given the surrounding Pinewood Forrest development, the property would be inappropriate for residential development. The property is currently zoned R-70 (residential).
The property is located near the the intersection of Veterans Parkway and Sandy Creek Road.
The proposal calls for a structural steel and brick building, with windows to replicate an early 1900-era industrial warehouse converted to Class A office space. It will be called the Overlook.
The building’s name stems from the upper balcony amenity meant to provide an outdoor feature to the office building. The plan also calls for a cart path to be located along the front of the property.
The vote to recommend O-I (office-institutional) approval was 3-1, with Commissioner John Reeves opposed.
Planning staff recommended that the property be zoned O-I rather than PCD given that PCD customarily requires a minimum five-acre tract and the proposal did not include a neighborhood development.
Pace said he originally considered O-I zoning until he reviewed the PCD zoning requirements and found that the smaller tract with a single-use could obtain PCD zoning. Additionally, said Pace, the property was zoned PCD in 2015.
During his comments on the proposal, Pace said conceptual plans call for the three-story building to total 18,000 sq. ft. and be outfitted with an underground stormwater retention pond. Pace said an underground system is more expensive but offers the best solution in that stormwater runoff stays on the property.
Pinewood Forrest representative Rick Halbert in opposing the rezoning said the Pinewood enterprises surrounding the approximate 1-acre property have 870 acres under contract.
“We tried earnestly to deal with this portion, without success,” Halbert said.
Addressing the proposal, Halbert said it would be a single-use and questioned the space needed for underground stormwater retention.
Halbert said final plans for Pinewood Forrest had significant buffer bordering Veterans Parkway and suggested that other properties along Veterans Parkway would want to build closer to the road if the proposal by Pace is approved.
“I’m humbled that someone went to that much trouble to oppose this,” Pace said in response.
Pace said the property owned by Tom Lamb is under contract for an agreeable price that could not be achieved before.
Pace noted that the owner of Pinewood Forrest “said he supported my move.”
Halbert later in the meeting referenced Pace as one of the people involved with Pinewood from the beginning, stating that the Pinewood Forrest ownership and management support Pace as a person, but does not support this project.
Also speaking in public comments was local business owner Rich Hoffman, who said the .94-acre site is too small for PCD zoning though it could be zoned O-I.
Final approval for rezoning will come from the Fayetteville City Council.
