The Eureka Springs Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustment approved all but one request at its regular meeting held Tuesday, Jan. 14.
The only item denied was a request to remove a “hazardous” tree at 70 Clay.
Paul Sutherland, city building official and code enforcement officer, wrote in a letter to BOZA that the tree was “compromised by the root ball impacting the public street by uprooting, causing a large bump in the street and breakage of the asphalt.”
Sutherland wrote that the tree also posed a hazard to the structure of the house “should the compromised root ball continue to rise.”
“Should this tree remain, it will continue to impact the street causing more damage, and is a danger to the house structure itself,” Sutherland wrote. “It is in our opinion that the solution to these issues is the removal of the tree.”
Despite Sutherland’s recommendation, the removal was defeated 3-2 with some commissioners saying they felt the tree was healthy and wasn’t in danger of damaging the home at the address.
Another tree removal request approved was for two “hazardous” trees on the property of a home at 4 Armstrong.
Mike Larrew, who said he was a certified arborist, said the two trees were “highly decayed” and hollow.
“I don’t often try to talk to people into cutting down hrees that don’t need to be cut down, but those two trees definitely need to come down,” Larrew said. “… There’s just no way to save them there. They’re hollow. They’re cracked. One of them is leaning over the public walkway, leaning over power lines. It’s just a matter of when they’re going to fall down. It’s not an if.
Commissioners approved the request 4-0. BOZA also granted an appeal of a stop work order on a sign project at 52 E. Van Buren which was placed into effect in October.
The city’s planning commission voted unanimously to continue the legal non-conforming status for the four-unit apartment building at 1 Washington, which is under renovations after a fire on St. Patrick’s Day in 2022.
The building, which features four two-bedroom apartments, is being rebuilt in the same manner as it was before the fire, owners John Rankine and Bill King said.
Earlier in the month Eureka Springs fire marshal James Cowan wrote a letter saying that the project had passed fire inspection.
NEW OFFICERS
The commission elected new officers for the year with Ferguson Stewart selected as chair, Ann Tandy-Sallee as vice chair and Tom Buford as secretary.
Commissioners also voted to continue to follow the Relaxed Robert’s Rules of Order and to keep meeting once a month, on the second Tuesday of every month.
