Council approves special use for 305 Phillips Road event center with 500-person cap and security requirement

The North Little Rock City Council on third reading approved a special-use ordinance allowing an event center at 305 Phillips Road, adopting amendments that require licensed security at large alcohol-serving events and limit the facility's occupancy to 500.

Council Member Robinson offered amendments addressing security and parking during the third-reading debate. The council approved Robinson's security amendment requiring licensed security at events serving alcohol and specifying a minimum of two licensed security guards for events at or above the Council-adopted occupancy limit. A separate amendment that would have required all site parking and drive aisles be paved and meet the fire marshal's weight-load requirements before a business license could be issued failed on a roll-call vote.

The amendment debate included neighborhood testimony and technical testimony from the city's fire marshal. Shirley Abel, a Rose City resident, said the site is close to homes and raised safety concerns about parking-area lighting: "this event centre location is only 7 tenths of a mile from our nearest residence" and "there's no lighting for the comedy club parking." Darlene, who identified herself as a minister and retail owner, urged the council to approve the center, saying it would bring activity and positive programming to the neighborhood: "I stand again, in support of the events that are coming to Rose City to bring some life." The applicant, identified in the hearing as Mr. Clifton, told the council he was "perfectly willing to accommodate his parking spaces, whatever he needs."

The fire marshal (Sean) provided the council with an occupant-load and parking analysis based on drawings provided to his office and cautioned against relaxing life-safety-related allowances: "On the life safety aspect of the building, I would not give any I can't give any allowances for, like, egress capacity ... we don't want to make that mistake." The fire marshal's calculations were presented to show how paved parking, gravel overflow and total site area translate into the number of required spaces under the fire marshal's occupancy guidance.

After further motion and second, council members voted to amend the ordinance by setting the facility's maximum occupancy at 500 and to incorporate the approved security requirement; the amended ordinance was adopted and the emergency clause was declared. Council members who voted in favor included Ross, Hamilton, Hart, Robinson, Baxter, Harris, Fowler and Insalaco; the paving-focused amendment failed and was not included in the final ordinance.

Council discussion and public comment highlighted three recurring concerns: on-site parking adequacy and surface type (paved vs. gravel), nighttime lighting for safety, and preserving access to parking for adjacent uses such as a church and a barbershop. The applicant said he had been working with nearby property owners and the fire marshal's office on parking and access.

The ordinance amends zoning to allow an event center in an I-2 zone at the specified address; final conditions adopted by the council include the 500-person occupancy limit and the licensed-security requirement for events serving alcohol. The council left open enforcement and inspection steps to staff (business license issuance, fire marshal approval), and no additional paving requirement was imposed by ordinance.

The council recorded the votes on the amendments and the final adoption during the meeting's public session.