More Is Better?

Changes allowed to Mount Kessler resort plan

STACY RYBURN

sryburn@nwadg.com

FAYETTEVILLE — A plan for a luxury recreational vehicle resort near Kessler Mountain will be able to accommodate more camping while maintaining the same amount of tree preservation originally associated with the project.
The Planning Commission voted 7-0 to approve changing the layout at the planned RV spot. Commissioners Sloan Scroggin and Leslie Belden were absent Monday.
The permit commissioners granted in February allowed 99 RV parking spaces on about 7½ acres. The changes the commission approved Monday allows 126 spots on just more than 11 acres.
The new plan expands the camping site west and adds another entrance on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the east, said Melvin Milholland with Milholland Co. Engineering & Surveying. There was already an entrance planned a little farther west on MLK.
About 8½ acres on the southern end of the property will be dedicated as a tree preservation. The new layout moves a few preserved acres from the southwest corner to the southeast corner.
The project has a different team behind it since the commission originally approved the permit, but the property’s owners, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, are committed to the same concept, said Tom Joseph with Griffin Commercial Real Estate.
Originally billed as a high-end experience in a rustic setting, that aspect of the plan has not changed, Joseph said. The name will be Mt. Kessler RV Resort, he said.
“I would consider it to be a resort in every definition,” he said.
The City Council last summer approved rezoning about 24 acres of the property facing MLK as an urban thoroughfare. The plan is to put in sit-down, thematic businesses and restaurants with landscaping elements that fit in with the vibe of Kessler Mountain, Joseph has said.
Three members of the public spoke, mainly asking about access for vehicles and how the plan might affect where they live.
The commission approved the requested changes, but did remove a column of four RV lots that would have stretched nearly to MLK.
In other business, commissioners approved 7-0 a development plan for 111 single-family homes on about 22 acres for the Sagely Place subdivision at North Old Missouri and East Zion roads.
Two members of the public from the Lakewood subdivision east of the property spoke against the plan. One representative of the property owner’s association there said the increase in traffic would create safety issues. Another said many drivers use nearby Randal Place as a cut-through from Crossover Road to Zion, and she feared a fatal accident could happen.
The city’s administration has added improvements at Zion Road to a preliminary list of bond renewal projects. A referendum is tentatively scheduled for next spring to renew the city’s existing one penny sales tax in order to pay for about $200 million worth of capital projects.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to hold off on development until that’s completed,” Commissioner Porter Winston said. “It’s in the works, it’s in the process. We’ll get there on that.”
The commission also allowed seven units at the planned Cottages at Hollywood to have five bedrooms, enabling up to five unrelated people to live in one dwelling. The city’s current limit allows up to four unrelated people to live in the same dwelling.
Plans for the Cottages at Hollywood call for 193 units on about 43 acres stemming off of Hollywood Avenue, west of the Beechwood Avenue and 15th Street intersection.
The request was made under a planned zoning district, which is essentially a rezoning request with very specific proposals. Only a planned zoning district can allow up to five unrelated people to live in a single dwelling, according to city code.

<em>The story was updated to change the name of the RV park.</em>

Next Meeting

The Fayetteville Planning Commission will discuss changing some design standards for subdivisions and amending its bylaws to more closely mimic the City Council’s rules for discussion with the public.

WHEN — 5:30 p.m. Oct. 22

WHERE — Room 219, City Hall, 113 W. Mountain St.