WHAT GIVES : Is 10 a win?

Greg Harton gregh@nwarktimes.com

Posted on Sunday, April 23, 2006

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The Divinity Building Project

The Divinity project was initially proposed as a 225-foot-tall, 15-story structure, but was reduced in response to objections raised before the Planning Commission. The project approved by the council is 157 feet tall at its highest point, with the majority of the structure at 112 feet tall. The argument over the project centered around whether it was compatible with and adequately melded with surrounding buildings. Planning staff originally recommended denial, but later supported the project after changes were made. There are several lawsuits pending against the project.

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It wasn't exactly divine intervention last week that helped keep the Barber Group's controversial Dickson Street project on track for an immediate public debate. It was more of a verse from the Book of Dan. Divinity, the hotel and condo vision of Brandon Barber and Co., started its public life as a 15-story building that would have overwhelmed every other building nearby. As of last Thursday, the development group appears to have recognized that, yes, the other people who live and do business in Fayetteville do matter when it comes to proposals that seek to so significantly change Fayetteville's skyline and influence the character of the city's heart and soul, Dickson Street.

The new question is this: Can they win with 10?

The Barber Group shaved five floors - 33 percent - off its proposal, hoping that would move within the comfort zone of more people in the community, and it undoubtedly has. The actual height change is not as dramatic. In that regard, the building as now proposed is 20 percent shorter than its previous incarnation - 225 feet vs. 181.6 feet at its tallest point.

I suspect they're betting that city leaders will find it difficult to oppose a 10-story structure just weeks after giving approval to the nine-story Loft at Underwoods project on the opposite end of Dickson Street. That may be a winning bet. Aldermen last week heard the first reading of an ordinance that would set a limit of six stories on buildings within C-3 zones - primarily Dickson Street and the immediately surrounding area - but it's unlikely such an ordinance would affect Divinity's future.

Of course, the same folks who will eventually vote on broader building height limits will be the ultimate decision-makers on the Divinity project as well, so it's not like the two discussions are independent. Call me foolish, but I can't imagine a city council approving a 10-story building, then deciding to adopt a height standard of six stories. Then again, nobody says six stories is the magic number, either. There's still a lot of debatin' to go.

So, what's the scenario for a 10-story building? It's a lot harder to predict than the 15-story proposal. Last week, the Barber Group met with Dickson Street merchants in a private session to which our reporter was denied access. Afterward, Brandon Barber said "100 percent of the people there seemed to support it."But can we extend that to the broader population, or even everyone who owns property on or around Dickson? No, because Barber's meeting was an invitation-only event, and some retailers and property owners along Dickson didn't get invited.

Mayor Dan Coody clearly seems to be sold on the project. He scrambled Thursday to intervene when Planning Commission members voted to take the Divinity project off Monday's meeting agenda. Commissioners were clearly uncomfortable with the late submission of details by Barber, with some questioning why the Barber Group should get special treatment. In an unusual step, Coody showed up before the end of the agenda-setting session and pleaded for the project's return to the agenda, acknowledging the Barber Group's tardiness with information, but stressing the need to move public debate forward. "The only reason I'm here is I've worked real hard with the Barber Group to get them to work with us to bring forward a package that might be more palatable to you and to the community and the City Council,"Coody told commissioners. "They've worked in good faith with us, and from our perspective, of course, we all want to work in good faith with them."

I was surprised to see the architectural renderings, too. Earlier in the day, a Barber Group representative told one of my reporters they wouldn't be available until just before Monday's Planning Commission meeting. Someone must have done some fast drawing after that conversation.

My point is this: It's critically important, now that the new plans have been revealed, that the community have ample time to review the proposal before any decisions are made. City leaders should not let the hurried nature of Thursday's debate, which was entirely created by the Barber Group's actions, become the norm for a major, skyline-changing project.

This project needs an in-depth debate to clearly understand what's possible and what's not. The Barber Group a few weeks ago was unequivocal in its response to questions about the building's height: The hotel/condo project simply could not feasibly be built at anything less than 15 stories, they said. The height, they said, was necessary to sell the condos and the lucrative condos were necessary to mitigate the investment necessary to create a "boutique"hotel. The community, Barber said, needed to accept the height in order to get all the good things the project offered.

With, shall we say, encouragement from the public, the Barber Group uncapped their Mont Blanc pens and went back to the drawing board, discovering that the project can be shorter and still workable.

Those are the sorts of things that are possible when there is a real discussion that attempts to blend the desires of the community with those of the developers.

And finally, some appear to believe that the strong opposition to Divinity's 15-story plan simply reflected a desire to avoid change. Boiling down opposition to such a simple argument makes it easier to dismiss, but it's an entirely unjustified approach. To be a supporter of positive change doesn't mean one must accept any and every proposal that represents change. Change is good, but not all change must be viewed as good.

The Barber Group, to its credit, has done what was necessary to create opportunity for a broad discussion about whether its plan is positive change, rather than just a debate about height. At 15 stories, nothing else seemed to matter to most folks. At 10 stories, there is at least the possibility that issues such as the economic development benefits of the hotel project can be heard.

Creating a great hotel on Dickson Street is a fantastic idea. None of the most hard-hitting criticism of the Divinity project has successfully targeted the sales taxes, the jobs, the property taxes and the overflow economic benefit to other businesses that a hotel on Dickson Street offers. The vast majority of criticism has been focused on height, not the economic benefits that can be realized.

Can they win with 10? If I knew the answer to that, I would be rich enough to be able to afford one of those condos. But at the least, the Barber Group's decision that 10 stories can be divine enough broadens the debate to include the many other issues this project entails. That's a good thing.

Greg Harton is executive editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times. His column appears on Sundays.

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