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COMMISSION BACKS HISTORIC DISTRICT REZONING

By AmyJo Brown/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Monday, May 19, 2008 10:09 AM CDT

Commissioners for the city’s Historic District Commission voted Friday to publicly support a proposal to rezone the Fifth Avenue Historic District from a mostly commercial use to one that focuses on preserving residential properties.

The proposal, presented by city planners to the Planning Commission last month, would change the zoning for a three-block area near downtown Pine Bluff from a B-4 zone to a new HD-1 zone. It affects about 30 property owners, most of whom own residential properties that would not be impacted by the rezoning, planners have said.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect anyone negatively,” Jerre George, a planner with the Southeast Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, has said.

The proposal was tabled at last month’s planning commission meeting for further study.

Dave Sadler, chairman of the historic district commission, said that the rezoning would be unique for a historic district in Arkansas, allowing the use of the land to match the design and aesthetics of the area.

“It parallels what we’re doing,” he said.

Also Friday, the historic commission approved a final draft of a handbook for any remodeling or new construction that takes place in the district, an area bound by South Poplar Street, South Beech Street, the railroad tracks and, roughly, West Seventh Avenue.

The handbook outlines the requirements for property owners who wish to change the design, materials, color or general appearance of the exterior of their homes. Applications for the work are submitted to the city’s inspection and zoning department, and will be reviewed and approved by the historic district commission during their monthly meetings.

The commission has yet to receive any such applications.

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