More parking could be required

GENTRY — Home builders in Gentry may soon have to provide an additional parking space per housing unit if the council approves a recommendation made by the planning and zoning commission at its Thursday meeting.

After granting a request to rezone a portion of land on Orchard Drive belonging to George Ellis, Lewis Wilmoth and Cher Vang from R-2 to R-4, making it possible to build six-plex housing units in the rezoned area if space is sufficient for parking, the planning and zoning commission voted to recommend two ordinancechanges to the city council to deal with parking issues created by developments without adequate parking.

The first would ban parking along a 155-foot strip of Orchard Drive. The recommendation was made because of concern that larger multi-family housing units could cause excess street parking and make it difficult to safely access other dwellings on the street.

The second recommended change to city code was to require developers to provide a minimum of two off-street parking spaces per housing unit. Current code only requires one space per family unit.

Commission member JimKooistra suggested adding a third required parking spot for guests, but other commission members were unwilling to require more than two per unit.

The recommendation to increase the off-street parking requirement to two was made because most families have more than one vehicle and one space per housing unit results in cars parked in yards and on the street in front of other homes, commission members said. Inadequate parking also makes streets too congested, difficult to navigate for school buses and emergency vehicles and could cause a safety hazard for those living in the area.

The recommendations could be taken up as soon as the June 7 council meeting. If rules are suspendedand an ordinance is passed on three readings with a single vote, with an emergency clause attached, the parking requirement could become law next month.

In other action, the commission approved a lot split for Gilbert Ulibarri onArkansas Highway 12 West even though members had concerns about the way in which the lot was split, making it impossible for any future splits of one of the lots without putting in a street and forming a subdivision.

After the unusual split was granted, city attorney Jay Williams told commission members they could not vote down a lot split which meets the letter of the law but could exercise discretion in rezoning decisions.