Will the future of a one-acre tract on Veterans Parkway be a tangle of trailers and sheds, an office building or none of the above?
That’s the decision the Fayetteville City Council is faced with Thursday night as a controversial development comes up for a final vote.
Jimmy Pace wants to develop a .94 acre tract on Veterans Parkway for a three-story office building. The parcel is currently zoned R-70, but was zoned PCD in 2015, in hopes the surrounding developer, Pinewood Forrest would purchase the site. Currently, the property is filled with trailers and sheds.
The site was never sold or developed, so Pace is acting on the behalf of owner Tom Lamb to build an office building on the site.
“I believe PCD is best for the property. It was already zoned PCD once,” said Pace.
He added the new office building would feature several amenties, such as a balcony for people to work outside, and would look better than the current sheds.
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.
But Pinewood Forrest representative Rick Halbert had a different take on the issue.
“Shoving a building next to us is not what we want,” he said.
Pinewood Forrest owns all the property surrounding Pace’s proposal.
Halbert said he would be happy in seeing the property remain residential, and two weeks ago Mayor Ed Johnson reminded Halbert that the City Council had to consider what is truly best for the city.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Fayetteville City Hall.
