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05/10/2023 • • MINUTES WEST MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL May 10, 2023 A Special'Called meeting of the West Memphis City Council was held on May 10, 2023, at 4:00 p m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 205 S."Redding, West Memphis, Arkansas. Invocation was given by Pastor Anthony King of Faith International Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Sr. Deputy City Clerk, Patricia Lane. Mayor Marco McClendon called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. City Clerk, Patricia Joplin called the roll. Those present were City Attorney Michael Stephenson, and Council Members: Gheric Bruce, Tracy Catt, Wayne Croom, Hellen Harris, James Holt, Lorraine Mohammed, Willis Mondy, David Murray. and Charles Wheeless. Absent was City Treasurer, Charlie Suiter Jr and Councilor Melanie Hutchinson, Also, present was Evening Times Reporter Donald Wilburn. Quorum being present Mayor McClendon proceeded with the meeting. BID OPENINGS: NONE OLD BUSINESS NONE NEW BUSINESS: Councilor Mohammed made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to read 0-1 by title only.. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. 0-1 AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT I-40 AND COLLEGE BLVD, PERMITTING A TRAVEL CENTER IN SC- 2 SUBURBAN COMMERCIAL 2-OPEN DISPLAY ZONING DISTRICT Mayor McClendon said that the ordinance was being presented for council's approval. The Planning Commission recommendations were approved at the council meeting on May 4, 2023. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the FIRST time. Councilor Croom made the motion seconded by Councilor Wheeless to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading. Councilor Catt abstained from the vote. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only for the SECOND time. Councilor Mon dy made,the motion, seconded by Councilor Bruce to further suspend the rules and place the;ordinance on its third reading. Councilor Catt abstained from the vote. Upon voice vote, voting was unanimous. City Attorney Stephenson read the ordinance by title only,for the THIRD AND FINAL time. Councilor Croom made the motion seconded by Councilor Wheeless to approve the ordinance. Discussion followed: Ms. Christine Donhardt a representative for Race Trac Travel Center came before council to present renderings of what the project will look like. Ms. Donhardt said that they also submitted two site plans because they are trying to buy some right of way from ARDOT. Mayor McClendon said the ordinance was accidently left out of the packets and was not put on the agenda at the last council meeting, but that it had already been approved by the Planning Commission, and due to the special use permit it still needed to come before council, so they are taking action to correct the matter. There being no further discussion. Mayor McClendon asked for a roll call vote, City Clerk, Patricia Joplin called the roll. The roll call vote was as follows. YES: Bruce, Croom, Harris, Holt, Mohammed, Mondy, Murray, Wheeless NO: None ABSTENTION: Catt ABSENT: Hutchinson With 8 Yes votes, 0 No votes, 1 Abstention votes, 1 Absent vote the ordinance was adopted and assigned No. 2635. • PERMISSION REQUEST: PERMISSION TO GRANT A SIX (6) MONTH MORITORIUM TO PROHIBIT THE INSTALLATION OF MOBILE HOMES IN THE DESIGNATED ZONING AREAS MIXED RESIDENTIAL HIGH DENSITY (MRH) FROM BROADWAY TO 25TH STREET. 25TH STREET TO S.L. HENRY and S.L. HENRY TO WALKER UNTIL AT SUCH TIME PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT CAN RESEARCH THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS FROM THE ABUNDANCE OF MOBILE HOMES IN THESE AREAS. Mayor McClendon said that he had the opportunity to review the recording of the last council meeting held on May 4, 2023, and wanted to clear up some misunderstandings and bring some things to councils' attention. The mayor said that there are two new schools being built in that area of over a Hundred-million-dollars in investments in the building of two new schools and a new housing development. The Public Facility Board has purchased a majority of the properties in the area and the City Demolition Department has gone in and demolished abandoned trailers, cleared away debris and cut the grass at the properties. Mayor McClendon said for far too long this area has been known as drunk town. Mayor McClendon said that he has always said that if nothing changes, nothing changes, he has also spoken with the two council members that represent that area of town Councilor Harris and Councilor Mondy as well as Councilor Bruce who grew up in the area and they all know something needs to change. Mayor McClendon said had this area gotten like it looks during his,term he would take the blame, but this has been going on for decades and it needs to be addressed and by allowing the Planning Department to identify ways to provide new things around the million-dollar schools is needed. Mayor McClendon and Planning &Development Supervisor, Marilyn Phelix met with Mr. Stan Fitterman of LISC who shared information on affordable housing and information on how the city, developer or owners could apply for up to $25,000 to be able to buy a home or help with the down payment on a home or to help with closing cost to be able to redefine that area. The mayor said that the city has another area where they just built two new schools and if you can imagine, if they were to tear down duplexes in that area and allow people to bring in mobile homes what it would look like. The young lady that came before council was proposing to bring in mobile homes that were in the same poor condition as the ones that were torn down and are still there and did not meet the minimum standards for mobile homes. Mayor McClendon is asking council for their consideration in approving the moratorium to allow them time to produce a plan to properly address mobile homes going forward. Mayor McClendon said that he takes a lot of heat about not cleaning up the city, but he does not understand it., since his administration they have demolished close to 200 dilapidated houses and removed blithe that have been a nuisance to the community in his first term. The mayor said he feels it is reasonable to ask for councils support of the six-month moratorium to allow them time to come up with a plan to improve the community. Councilor Bruce asked if this area were zoned for mobile homes and if they could not come back and rezone the area for a different type of housing. The mayor said council can do that because there are other areas that are zoned for mobile homes. Ms. Phelix said it is also zoned for small houses. Councilor Bruce said if they don't rezone it then people will continue to drag more dilapidated mobile homes in that do not meet the minimum standards. Mayor McClendon said if council approves the moratorium and gives them time to conduct the study and the information supports rezoning that is what they will do. Councilor Catt said in reviewing the current ordinance, one thing that he would like them to touch base on is making sure that the HUD minimum property standards for manufactured housing is incorporated in when rewriting the new ordinance to ensure that they are meeting US Department Housing minimum standard requirements. Councilor Bruce said he looked at the mobile trailer that was brought in and it was not up to the standards that they are wanting for that area. Councilor Croom said that he thought that where the young lady that came before council was wanting to place her mobile homes was in a different area. Councilor Bruce said that they determined at the last council meeting that she wanted to place her mobile homes in the area in question off of S L Henry. Councilor Croom said he was for the moratorium and he himself visited the area off of 25th and SL Henry Street after the last council meeting and he was in agreement that the area was unsightly. Mayor McClendon informed council that Barton Home Center has invested in the community as well and has donated material to build the new fence. City Attorney Stephenson reiterated that the six-month period of time for the moratorium needs to not be just an arbitrary period it needs to be related to a study or whatever it is going to be for them to make a determination. City Attorney Stephenson said there needs to be a rational relationship to that moratorium period of time. If the study can be done in less period of time than that is what it needs to state in the moratorium if need be they could extend it if they needed more time. He said what he is saying with moratoriums is the less period of time the better, if it was to be challenged at another period and time. City Attorney Stephenson said that he has researched some cases with the U S Supreme!Court cases in regard to the 5th amendment rights on if your taking someone's property without providing them just compensation and that is what they need to avoid, he said they do not want to be taking somebody's property when they could be using it for something else or another purpose, looking into the zoning ordinance to see if they need to make some changes as a result of Wonder School being built there is a good reason, looking at property values and trying to solve some of the crime problems are all legitimate city and governmental interest. He just wants to make sure that they are not throwing out an arbitrary time with the six-month time period. Councilor Mohammed wanted to know who would be conducting the study. Mayor McClendon said the study would be internal, but he has hired two Planners and both individuals presented great ideas about the possibilities of what can be done to improve that area. Councilor Catt asked that they make this matter a standing item over the next 90 days for the second meeting of each month to ensure that everything is evolving as quicky as possible so that they make a decision about what they might or might not want to do over a length of time. Councilor Catt said they need to keep the public informed on their progress and give them an idea of how much time it is going to take them to get there. Councilor Mohammed asked once they start conducting the study what will be their criteria and what if someone were wanting to bring a nice mobile trailer into the area would they be allowed to. or do they not want any trailers at all. Mayor McClendon said they have homes being developed in the area. Councilor Mohammed said she was just trying to get an understanding. Mayor McClendon said it is currently zoned for mixed high density and they are looking at developing the area with homes and as Councilor Catt pointed out if they do allow mobile home trailers they will have to meet the US Standards of minimum requirements, which is different from the trailers that the young lady was proposing to bring in that did not meet those requirements. Councilor Mohammed wanted to know if someone brought in a really nice trailer during this moratorium would they not be able to bring it in. Mayor McClendon said if council approved the moratorium for six months no one would be able to bring in trailers at all during that time. Councilor Bruce said he felt that they did not necessarily have to do a moratorium but they could rezone the area to not allow anymore trailers and once the trailers that are there leave you could not bring another one in, but allowing them to do a moratorium would give them the opportunity to conduct a study to see what kind of an impact the trailers have on the community and it would not allow anyone to bring anymore in until the study is conducted and a decision is made. Councilor Bruce said the problem that they have is the people that live in the trailers do not own them and most of the owners that own the trailers to do not live in West Memphis and do not maintain them and the area is in horrible shape and what they are trying to do is improve the community by developing affordable housing. The city has invested a lot of money in that area to improve that area and he agrees there is need for improvement all over the city, but they have to start somewhere. Councilor Harris said that the East end of Broadway is a gateway into West Memphis and there is a need for improvement. Councilor Catt said that there is need to develop standards compliant with the guidelines by the US Standard of Minimum Housing requirements throughout the city not just in this specific community in regard to manufactured housing. Councilor Bruce made the motion, seconded by Councilor Croom to approve the permission request for the moratorium. City Attorney Stephenson reiterated that one of the things that they need to keep in consideration is that you can impose a moratorium on certain issues, but they must be rationally related to protecting the health, safety and welfare and property values of other property owners. City Attorney Stephenson said he just wants to make sure that they are taking that into consideration if they are talking about imposing a moratorium. Councilor Mohammed said she needed to understand the request fully before making a decision. Councilor Mohammed asked if what they were asking council to vote on was not to allow anyone to bring any more mobile homes into that area within the next six months to allow the Planning Commission and administration time to set some guidelines for the allowance of mobile homes going forward or was the goal not to have mobile homes at all. Mayor McClendon asked for a roll call vote. City Clerk Patricia Joplin called the roll the roll call vote was as follows: YES: Bruce, Catt, Croom, Harris, Mondy, Murray, Wheeless NO: Holt ABSTENTION : Mohammed ABSENT : Hutchinson With 7 Yes votes, 1 No vote, 1 Abstention vote and 1 Absent vote the motion to approve the 6-month moratorium passed. CITIZENS REQUEST: NONE APPOINTMENTS: NONE PRESENTATIONS: NONE COMMITTEE REPORTS: NONE ANNOUNCEMENTS: Councilor Catt said budget would like to meet Tuesday May 16, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. Finance Director, Tori Perry will be giving council an update on the First quarter financial numbers. Mayor McClendon said that a murder was committed the other night in West Memphis, and he was told the clerk's office sold a permit for a block party and it was his understanding that anytime someone calls regarding a block party that they are referred to the Police Department. Mayor McClendon deferred to Sr. Deputy City Clerk, Patricia Lane for an explanation. Ms. Lane confirmed that no privilege license was issued to anyone to have a block party within the City of West Memphis, and it is the standing policy set by administration and in compliance with city ordinance that the clerk's office cannot and will not sale a license to have a block party. Mayor McClendon reiterated that at no time are any privilege licenses to be sold to conduct block parties. Mayor McClendon said the block party that was held off of Redding & 111 Jackson had over 400 people and as a result of the shooting they have had some repercussions that he and the West Memphis Police Department and are trying to get in front of before there are further problems. Having no further business to come before the City Council, Councilor Mohammed made the motion, seconded by Councilor Bruce, to adjourn. Upon voice vote, the voting was unanimous. The meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m. PASSED and APPROVED this 18th DAY OF MAY 2023. i-t MAARCO MCCLENDON MAYOR ATTEST: PATRICIA JOPLINg CLERK Minutes prepared by, Patricia Lane, Sr. Deputy City Clerk