By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
A request for rezoning and a variance of the 20-foot landscape buffer was brought before the Forrest City Planning Commission on Tuesday afternoon.
Kevin Lewey, representing Anna Marie Jones Hunter and Paulette Anderson, discussed rezoning the property at 727 East Garland Street from residential (R-2) to commercial (C-2).
"The property we are wanting to rezone is east of Times-Herald Printing," said Lewey. "There is a house on the property now that is in disrepair. I want to tear the building down and possibly build a building in its place. The main problem we have now is a ditch that runs through the middle of the property. We are wanting to clean the ditch out to help prevent flooding of the property to the east of the property in question."
Barbara Williams, representing the owners of the property at 731 Garland (the property north of 727 Garland) asked for clarification on the eastern boundary of the property.
She did not voice opposition to the variance or rezoning after the option of building a privacy fence was agreed upon.
Commission Chairman Danny Capps gave his opinion on the variances.
"The lot is zoned for R-2, and it can't really be used for that since the ditch cuts right through that property. He is wanting to tear down a building not in use and willing to clean out an overgrown ditch. He is also willing to build a privacy fence between his property and the northern property if needed. I feel that granting his request will improve the area," Capps said.
The commission granted Lewey's request for both variances, with the stipulation that if the owners of the 731 Garland property ask for a privacy fence on the east side, Lewey would comply.
The matter will now be voted on by the city council.
Two sites in St. Francis County have been listed on the national Register of Historic Places. They are both associated with the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
They are the Memphis to Little Rock Road -- Village Creek State Park Segment and the Blackfish Lake Ferry Site.
According to a press release from the Department of Arkansas Heritage, the Village Creek State Park Segment of the Memphis to Little Rock Road is a 1.5 mile remnant of an early 19th-century road. It was built to connect Little Rock with the Mississippi River through the vast swamps of eastern Arkansas.
The section was completed in 1828, and was used during the Indian removals of the 1830s.
The segment of road is "probably the most intact surviving segment of the roads traversed by the Bell Detachment during the Cherokee Removal," according to the National Register nomination. "Its association with the earlier Choctaw, Creek and Chickasaw removals, and its role in opening eastern Arkansas to west-bound migration augments its importance."
A ferry, established by William D. Ferguson around 1830, is the Blackfish Lake Ferry Site. It was located at the point where the Memphis to Little Rock Road hit Blackfish Lake, and was used during the Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Cherokee removals.
It is significant, according to the National Register nomination, "as the sole known surviving ferry site along the Memphis to Little Rock Road." It was also traversed by the Bell Detachment.
Anyone wanting more information on the National Register of Historic Places program may contact the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 1500 Tower Building, 323 Center Street, Little Rock, AR 72201, or call (501)324-9880. The AHPP also has an Internet web site at www.arkansaspreservation.org.
The AHPP is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state's cultural resources.
Railroad officials performing a routine inspection of a north/south railway in Forrest City arrested a subject on drug charges Tuesday afternoon.
A press release from the Forrest City Police Department, which assisted two Union Pacific officers in the case, said the arrest occurred just after 4 p.m. at the West Broadway Street railroad crossing.
UP officers found 18 rocks of suspected crack cocaine in the pants pocket of a subject who told police his name was Marvellous Walker. A further investigation revealed the suspect was actually Claude Van Zant, 33, 1011 Truman St., Forrest City. The drugs, weighing about four grams, have an estimated street value of $400, police reported.
Van Zant is charged with possession of a controlled substance, crack cocaine, with intent to deliver near certain facilities, criminal trespassing and criminal impersonation for providing false information to officers. He was scheduled to be arraigned in St. Francis County District Court this afternoon.
A FCPD official said UP officers based in Memphis often inspect tracks in Forrest City, and issue citations to individuals found trespassing on the railroad tracks.