Conway BZA approves variance allowing leasing office at 706 Highway 544 with conditions

The Conway Board of Zoning Appeals on March 27, 2025 voted to grant a use variance allowing a leasing office to continue operating at 706 Highway 544, provided the business obtains a City of Conway business license and meets any other city requirements within a reasonable timeframe.

The variance affects a parcel annexed and rezoned to Conway’s mixed‑use district on Oct. 2, 2017, and the leasing office serves what staff called the student housing development behind the parcel, identified in meeting materials as Rand Coastal Student Living.

Staff told the board the leasing office at 706 Highway 544 has never been approved by the City of Conway and has never held a city business license. “Prior to a business license being issued, the site would have to come into compliance with the current UDO,” staff said during the presentation. Mr. Martin, agent for property owner Pete Hughes, told the board the building has been used for commercial purposes since at least 1999 and argued that the use is a continuing nonconforming use. “This property has been a commercial, site that has been utilized by various businesses since 1999,” Martin said. He added records show continuous electrical service dating to 1994 and described multiple prior tenants.

Martin said the Hughes family requested mixed‑use zoning in 2017 to support future development of housing over commercial uses; those mixed‑use plans did not materialize for this parcel. He told the board the city’s enforcement position left the leasing office unable to obtain permits or a business license without a variance. “They have no [business license]…the only way to get one is granting the variance,” Martin said.

A board member moved to grant the variance “as requested with the conditions that the business license be obtained and any other parameters that the city requires are met at a reasonable time frame,” and a second followed. The board approved the motion by voice vote. The transcript does not list individual roll‑call tallies.

The staff memo presented to the board cited the city Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) governing mixed‑use districts and the BZA’s duties and powers, including the requirement that an affirmative two‑thirds vote of members present is required before a variance may be granted for a use prohibited in a district and that the City Council may overrule the BZA within 30 days.

The board’s action allows the leasing office to pursue a business license and any required permits; staff said other permits will be addressed once a business license is in place or violations are corrected. The record does not show a timeline for achieving full compliance, only that the variance was conditioned on obtaining the license and meeting city requirements.

The decision could be subject to review by the City Council under the UDO’s procedures for BZA use variances.