ORD NO 03-2020 CITY OF VAN BUREN,ARKANSAS
ORDINANCE NO. 3 -2020
BE IT ENACTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL, FOR THE CITY OF VAN BUREN,
ARKANSAS, AN ORDINANCE TO BE ENTITLED:
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE 23-1996 FOR THE
CONTROL OF ACCESS TO STREETS AND HIGHWAYS,ADDING
RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISIONS AND SITES TO THE APPEALS
SECTION,CLARIFYING THE APPEALS PROCESS; DECLARING
AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
WHEREAS, the City adopted Ordinance 23-1996 for the purpose of establishing regulations
governing control of access to streets and highways in the City of Van Buren; and
WHEREAS, notice of a Public Hearing was duly published,and a Public Hearing was conducted
by the Van Buren Planning Commission on January 7, 2020 to consider these
proposed amendments; and
WHEREAS, the proposed changes herein were recommended by a majority vote of the entire
Planning Commission.
NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT ORDAINED AND ENACTED BY THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF VAN BUREN, ARKANSAS, THAT:
SECTION 1: Article 6 of Ordinance No. 23-1996 is amended to read as follows:
Any developer of a proposed residential, commercial or industrial subdivision or
site,of a proposed improvement to an existing residential,commercial or industrial
subdivision or site may request a variance from the literal interpretation of this
ordinance when such request indicates that a hardship will result from the strict
enforcement of this ordinance. Such hardship(s) that are indicated in the request
must be unique to the property in question and not shared by other properties in the
immediate area. Such hardship(s) must indicate that the strict enforcement of this
ordinance would render the property in question useless and prevent the owner or
developer from practical utilization of the property. Variance applications will be
reviewed by the Van Buren Planning Commission. The procedures for processing
a variance application shall comply with the requirements specified in Article VIII,
Section 3 of the Van Buren Zoning Code.
SECTION 3: Severability: The various provisions and parts of this Ordinance are
hereby declared to be severable, and, if any section or part of a section,
or any provision or part of a provision herein, is declared to be
unconstitutional, inappropriate, or invalid by any court of competent
jurisdiction, such holding shall not invalidate or affect the remainder of
this Ordinance and to that extent the provisions hereto are declared to
be severable.
SECTION 4: Emergency Clause: The passage and approval of these amendments
to the Van Buren Ordinance 23-1996 will allow citizens immediate
access to an appeal process for residential subdivisions and sites.
Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist and this Ordinance, being
necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety and/or
welfare shall be in full force and take effect immediately upon after its
passage.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the City of Van Buren, Arkansas, by its City Council, did pass,
approve, and adopt, by a vote of (p for and O against, the foregoing Ordinance at its regular
meeting held on the 27th day of January 2020.
04
Josep urst
May,.
ATTESTED: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
nfiktui. ,:ukkevt>k
Phyllis Thomas Can.�y
the
City Clerk/Treasure\D "46LL1 a�
City Attorney
•
City of Van Buren, Arkansas
Municipa' Annex
111 North 12th Street • Van Buren, Arkansas 72956
VAN BUREN CITY COUNCIL MEMORANDUM
TO: MAYOR JOE HURST AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: WALLY BAILEY, PLANNING DIRECTOR
SUBJECT: AMENDMENTS TO THE CONTROL OF ACCESS ORDINANCE
NO. 23-1996
DATE: JANUARY 14, 2019
The purpose of the proposed amendment to Article 6 of the Control of Access Ordinance No. 23-
1996 will provide clarification to the appeal process.Article 6 is the section within the Ordinance
that allows the developer of a proposed development to request a variance from the literal
interpretation of the ordinance. The changes to this Article are as follows:
• Includes residential developments to the list so that a variance request will be available to all
developments. Currently Article 6 only identifies commercial and industrial subdivisions and
sites as being eligible for a variance request.
• Corrects a misspelled word (riot with not). This mistake is in the 5th line of the paragraph.
• Adds clarification that the variance request permitted by this section will be reviewed by the
Planning Commission and clarifies the procedures for how the variance application will be
processed. Currently the Ordinance does not specify which entity will review the variance
appeals and how it will be processed.
Attached is a copy of Article 6 with the proposed changes highlighted.
The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the proposed change.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
ARTICLE 6. Hardship
Any developer of a proposed residential, commercial or industrial subdivision or site,of a proposed
improvement to an existing residential,commercial or industrial subdivision or site may request a
variance from the literal interpretation of this ordinance when such request indicates that a hardship
will result from the strict enforcement of this ordinance. Such hardship(s)that are indicated in the
request must be unique to the property in question and Diet not shared by other properties in the
immediate area. Such hardship(s) must indicate that the strict enforcement of this ordinance would
render the property in question useless and prevent the owner or developer from practical utilization of
the property.Variance applications will be reviewed by the Van Buren Planning Commission.The
procedures for processing a variance application shall comply with the requirements specified in Article
VIII,Section 3 of the Van Buren Zoning Code.