Alexander Planning Commission schedules zoning hearing for August

The City of Alexander Planning Commission has set August 10 as the date for a public hearing on a request by My Ample Storage to zone approximately 1.73 acres of land from Open Space/Recreational (OS/R) to Highway Commercial. My Ample Storage is located along Highway 5 west of North Alexander Road.

The property was annexed into the city in 2018. When the new zoning map was established in 2019 the property was given the OS/R designation as required for all undeveloped annexed property, under the newly established zoning ordinance.

Attending the July 20 planning commission’s special meeting were Engineer Jacob White, of Bond Consulting Engineers, Inc. in Jacksonville, Arkansas and My Ample Storage owner Terry Bean. Plans were presented showing how the rezoned property will be used, along with a 3.27-acre parcel which was annexed in January 2017. That parcel is already zoned Highway Commercial.

The plan is to build additional storage buildings along with units for indoor storage of boats and recreational vehicles. Some of the new storage buildings have already been built.

Much of this construction is due to a plan by the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDoT) to widen Highway 5 from North Alexander Road to Highway 183 in Bryant. According to ARDoT’s plan, the widening project includes four lanes of traffic (two lanes in both directions), a center left turn lane, with bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides. Construction is slated to begin in 2024.

The widening will will take out My Ample Storage’s brick wall that borders Highway 5. To replace it at least one row of storage sheds must be removed.

The zoning hearing will be held August 10 at 6:30 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex along Highway 111. Following the public hearing the planning commission will hold its regular August meeting, at which the decision will be made whether to recommend rezoning the property to the city council.

Also during the special meeting, Chairman Michael Huck reported that Metroplan has begun writing the survey that will be used to get opinions from city residents concerning future growth. The survey is the next step in writing a comprehensive development plan for Alexander.

He said Metroplan will send a preliminary survey for review. Commissioners and council members will be given the opportunity to review the survey and make any suggestions to the list of questions.