Historic District Commission — Fayetteville, AR
Date: 2025-09-11
Time: 17:30

100 W. Rock St. Suite 246
 Fayetteville, AR 72701

 Historic District Commission Agenda
 Rock St. Meeting Room / Virtual Meeting Via Zoom
 Thursday, September 11, 2025
 5:30 PM


 Members
 Chair Christine Myres (Exp: 06/28)
 Vice Chair Cheri Coley (Exp: 06/27)
 Meredith Mahan (Exp: 06/26)
 Jennifer Didway (Exp: 06/27)
 Tommie Flowers Davis (Exp: 06/27)
 Mark Harper (Exp: 06/27)
 Karen Rorex (Exp: 06/28)

 City Staff
 Long Range and Historic Preservation Planner Kylee Cole
Long Range Planning and Special Projects Manager Britin Bostick
Historic District Commission Agenda September 11, 2025
Meeting




Zoom Information

 Webinar ID: 898 3725 4965
 Registration Link: https://fayetteville-
 ar.zoom.us/j/89837254965?pwd=UZynDao2Q31A4C2q2QllDbYpQYNPCP.1


Call to Order

Roll Call

Minutes
 Approval of the August 14, 2025 Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes.


Unfinished Business

 Downtown Design Overlay District Review


New Business

 2026 CLG Grant Application

 Discussion and Possible Recommendation of the 2025 CLG Grant Application
 Project(s) and Fund Request(s)


 Local Historic Districts

 Discussion on two petitions for local historic districts and review of procedure.


Other Business

Announcements


City of Fayetteville, Arkansas page 2
Historic District Commission Agenda September 11, 2025
Meeting


 Downtown Plan


Adjournment




City of Fayetteville, Arkansas page 3

Meeting of the Historic District Commission
 August 14, 2025, 5:30 PM
 City Hall Room 101 & Zoom

NOTE: The August 14, 2025 Historic District Commission meeting was held in person and
online, with commissioners attending in person and online. Staff were present in person.

Members: Chair Christine Myres, Meredith Mahan, Mark Harper, Cheri Coley, Jennifer Didway,
Tommie Flowers Davis, and Karen Rorex

City Staff: Kylee Cole – Long Range & Preservation Planner; Britin Bostick - Long Range
Planning & Special Projects Manager

 Call to Order: 5:30 PM

 In Attendance: Chair Christine Myres, Cheri Coley, Jennifer Didway, Mark Harper, Karen
 Rorex, Kylee Cole, and Britin Bostick. Commissioners Flowers Davis and Mahan were absent
 at the time of roll call, with Mahan joining later.

 Approval of Minutes from the July 10, 2025 Meeting: Motion to accept by Commissioner
 Coley, second by Commissioner Didway. Motion passed unanimously by voice vote.

 Unfinished Business:
 1. Downtown Design Overlay District: Chair Myres asked about the section of code
 sent to commissioners via email as the document length appeared short. Cole
 replied with specifics about the code section and how it relates to the full Unified
 Development Code. Cole needed a moment to connect to the internet for the
 presentation. Commissioner Mahan arrived at 5:34pm.

 Cole's presentation was not fully functioning due to unknown technical issues but
 she proceeded with her presentation verbally, explaining that there are three
 building types: residential, commercial, and mixed use. There are also three eras
 or ages within those three types: contemporary, older, and historic construction.
 The term "historic" is a legal term for a resource, building, or structure that is at
 least 50 years old. The frustrating thing about guidelines for the Downtown is that
 there is no real differentiation for those building types, and all of the requirements
 have to be applied regardless of type or age.

 Cole proposed to focus on residential, which has single-family, duplex, triplex,
 multi-family, etc. There are the three ages as well as architectural styles.
 Commissioners are welcome to refer back to the style guide in their binder.
 Today's presentation and discussion will focus a bit narrowly today and use this
 framework to review some of the current language.
Cole referred to the section on marquees and awnings and directed commissioners
to the next section below - balconies - as marquees and awnings do not typically
appear on residential buildings. Cole noted that "back of curb" can be understood
as "built up to the street". Chair Myres asked for clarification on the definition of
"back of curb" and staff replied with a detail explanation that covered measurement
uses, dimensional standards, the situation of the absence of a curb, and how
building fronts may be placed in relation to a curb.

Commissioner Coley asked if the standards should be rewritten to section out the
building types. Cole provided examples of the standards not successfully applying
to residential and continued with the explanation of balconies with a Downtown
Fayetteville property with a balcony as a visual example. Cole has been reviewing
Downtown building types for visual examples for the Commission. Commissioner
Coley asked for a definition of "principle facade". Cole provided a description of the
front different from the sides. Commissioners and Cole had a discussion about
balcony conditions, depths, design possibilities, and the challenges of applying the
current standards to a broad set of buildings and site designs.

Cole showed and described another example from Dickson Street with shallow
balconies or "Juliet balconies" as a design feature that did not allow occupation,
which is different from balconies supported by columns that may be much deeper.
This creates a condition in which the pubic is walking under the balcony. Balconies
of this type are required to have illumination and the example building did, with
several light fixtures visible on the underside of the balcony above the sidewalk.

Another example showed a historic home with a small second floor balcony
extending over a first floor porch roof. Commissioners and Cole agreed to revisit
the standard of measuring or requiring balcony depth.

Cole proposed to skip forward to turrets and cupolas. The current size limitation
does not accommodate differences in building size. Chair Myres proposed a
percentage of building footprint as an alternate. Cole paused to define turrets and
cupolas. Chair Myres asked to have illustrations in the updated code as sketches
and drawings can help a lot to make the language more clear to readers. Cole
noted that the standards were written to be interpreted by architects, which is not
ultimately the system that was set up. Commissioners and Cole discussed the
terms and how to define turrets and cupolas and reviewed street view images.
Chair Myres proposed also separating the architectural elements instead of
treating them the same. Cole asked if it's reasonable to expect new construction to
include these elements? Commissioner Coley pointed out that if someone did
choose that and the standards did not address it then a challenge may arise. Chair
Myres discussed both sides of the question. Cole proposed to remove the height
requirement as other portions of the code would restrict height. Commissioner
Harper referred back to Commissioner Coley's caution about not having the




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 language if someone should attempt it. Commissioner Mahan had been reviewing
 images of turrets on her phone and shared her findings.

 Cole noted the conversation time and offered to work to bring back her
 presentation successfully at the next meeting, recommended that Commissioners
 review the rules in the meantime, and suggested Commissioners think through
 how to "break" the rules so that accidental loopholes are not created. Problems
 with existing buildings are a great way to point things out that could be good
 improvements to the requirements.

 Commissioner Coley asked for an updated working draft for reference to capture
 changes.

 Chair Myres noted the book by Virginia McAlester "A Field Guide to American
 Houses" would be a helpful reference for residential architectural styles. The
 Library has a copy.

New Business: None.

Other Business: None.

Announcements:
  1. We are under contract with Post Oak for Phase 1 of the citywide windshield survey,
 which is approximately the southeast quarter of the city.
  2. We are in the season to be ready to submit projects for our 2026 CLG grant application.
 Phase 2 of the survey is the obvious next step, but staff would like to coordinate Phase
 2 to focus on the Downtown area up to north street, west to Garland, and south to MLK.
 There are a number of demolitions in these areas so staff would like to prioritize these
 resources as well as coordinate with the upcoming Downtown Master Plan. Cole
 proposes to bring a boundary for Phase 2 at the September meeting. A second idea is to
 request funding for a consultant to develop design guidelines for the Historic Southeast
 Fayetteville neighborhood as they are currently gathering petition signatures to request
 the creation of a local historic district and staff would like to hire a consultant to provide
 the additional capacity for that project. Cole will have more information at the September
 meeting and will be asking for a recommendation to Council on the grant application.
 o Chair Myres asked if the grant required in-kind match. Cole replied that cash is
 not required but in-kind work will be provided from staff. Staff and commissioners
 discussed funding histories and amounts and how projects are decided and the
 high quality results that have been delivered over the last few years.
  3. Bostick announced the kickoff of the Downtown Plan on September 14 and will be
 bringing the plan information to the September meeting.

Adjourned: 6:37 PM




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