Washington County committee strips zoning section from proposed planning ordinance, sends standards package to full court

The Washington County County Services Committee voted to remove the zoning section of a proposed consolidated planning and zoning ordinance and forwarded the remainder — a standards package covering technical building and infrastructure rules — to the full Quorum Court.

The action follows months of public concern about an early draft map and an extended committee debate in which Judge Chris Deakins and county staff defended a consolidated update intended to replace dozens of scattered ordinances.

Judge Deakins, who led the staff effort on the draft ordinance, told the committee the first map release “got misrepresented very early on” and said staff regrets that release. “I regret that map that was ever released,” he said, describing the map as an early demonstration of how criteria would look along highways rather than a final proposal.

Why it matters: committee members said removing Section 5 (the zoning rules and map) preserves the county’s existing conditional-use (CUP) process while allowing the technical standards — road, drainage, stormwater, lot standards, and related development requirements — to be updated and consolidated into a single document. Committee members and staff repeatedly said the change preserves the court’s legislative control over zoning while speeding adoption of standards county departments and applicants need for consistent review.

What the committee did: Justice Massengill moved to remove Section 5 from the ordinance; the motion passed at committee. Committee members also approved an amendment changing certain appeal procedures so that some administrative appeals would go to the Quorum Court rather than directly to the county judge — a shift proponents said would increase transparency for applicants and residents. The committee then voted to forward the standards package, with the approved appeals change, to the full Quorum Court for final action.

Key arguments: opponents of the proposed zoning section said the draft map and the shift from a conditional-use system to a zoning map felt like ‘‘spot zoning’’ to residents and asked for more time and local control. Supporters, including JP Kyle Lyons, argued the consolidated ordinance simply gathers scattered standards into one place and that a defined zoning framework is needed to guide infrastructure planning and to respond to recent state legislative activity. Lyons said the size of the zoning text in the draft was limited: “The size of section 5, which is the zoning…is 22 pages,” he said, adding that most of the 300‑page draft consolidated existing standards rather than introducing brand-new technical rules.

State bills and timing: Judge Deakins warned the committee to watch two bills at the Arkansas Legislature he identified as relevant to county planning: SB 324, a change to who can serve on planning boards, and HB 1510, which he described as removing some municipalities’ extra‑territorial planning jurisdictions and thereby increasing county-level planning responsibilities. He urged the committee to adopt the standards package even if the zoning section is deferred, arguing that the county needs baseline development rules as state law evolves.

What’s next: removing Section 5 leaves the county’s current CUP-based process in place; the committee directed staff to continue work on the zoning section separately. The standards package and the appeals amendment will go to the full Quorum Court for consideration and final vote.

Ending: Committee members urged more outreach and better public materials — including clearer maps and explanations — before any future vote on zoning. Judge Deakins and planning staff said they will keep working with the court to refine the zoning section if the Quorum Court asks them to return it for later consideration.