Prairie Grove City Council rezoned 15 acres on Mock Street from agricultural to residential last week to make way for a senior adult living community.
Property owners Burl and Phyllis Orr requested the rezoning on behalf of Cove Creek Development, which has a contract to purchase the land located just south of Prairie Grove Health and Rehab Center on Mock Street. The contract was contingent on the rezoning.
The land will be rezoned to R-3, which allows multi-family units.
Jerry Coyle with Cove Creek last week said his firm is proposing to build duplexes with one- and two-bedroom units for adults 55 years and older. Coyle, Mark Beavers and Brad Smith are partners with Cove Creek. Coyle Enterprises will be developer of the project and Cove Creek Development will own the facility. Coyle said Bates & Associates has been hired as the engineering firm for the project.
Coyle said the large-scale development plan will be submitted to the city of Prairie Grove for approval. The concept plan shows the first phase would have 16 buildings with 32 units. Coyle said he wants to start on the infrastructure in the winter and break ground on the buildings in spring.
Many senior adults in Prairie Grove have indicated they would be interested in living in a complex restricted to older residents. The monthly lease would include utilities and appliances. Residents would not be responsible for maintaining their yards or landscaping. Coyle said the firm has not determined a monthly lease yet.
In other action, council members approved a bid of almost $188,000 from Medora Corp., for three solar-powered reservoir circulators or aerators for Prairie Grove Lake and the city's water treatment plant.
The council also adopted a fence ordinance that prohibits sight restricting fences in front yards and does not allow them within the front setback of a lot, with the exception of retaining walls or fences not more than 36 feet in height.
The purpose of the ordinance is to restrict sight restricting fences where back-to-back lots exist and a back yard expands to a street behind the house.
A non-sight restricting fence, such as a chainlink fence, may not exceed 48 inches high when located in a front yard.
The ordinance takes effect 60 days after its posting.
Another ordinance to regulate signs was placed on first reading. The six-page ordinance provides different restrictions, depending on the property zone. For residential districts, for example, one sign, not exceeding eight square feet, is allowed per tax parcel.
Portable and temporary signs are allowed by conditional use permit only.
Signs for elections are exempt from the restrictions during the period 60 days prior to and seven days following an election that takes place within the city limits of Prairie Grove.
General News on 07/27/2016