MODERN TIMES
by Art Hobson
ahobson@uark.edu
NWA Times 13 May 2006
AN INCOMPATIBLE
BUILDING
By passing an ordinance restricting building heights on Dickson Street, the City Council has spotlighted the question of the "compatibility" of the Divinity Building with its surroundings. It's too late for the Council to rely directly on the new ordinance to reject the outsized structure, because the project's developers filed for their permit before the ordinance existed, thus "grandfathering" the building into pre-existing law. But an older ordinance still allows the Council to deny permission if it finds the building "incompatible" (not harmonious, not congruent) with its surroundings.
By now, it's clear that Fayetteville believes this building to be incompatible with Dickson Street. This is reflected not only in the City Council's 6-2 vote for the height ordinance, but also by the Fayetteville Council of Neighborhoods' expression of "deep concern about building heights that compromise the integrity of downtown and Dickson Street," and by the six-story limit that emerged from the highly democratic Downtown Master Plan project.
We're not talking about small differences here. The new height ordinance limits Dickson Street structures to six stories or 84 feet, whichever is shorter. The Divinity Building is said to have ten stories, but this is misleading because it will be as high as a normal 14-story American building. At 182 feet, it will tower over twice as high as any of the six-story buildings that will be allowed by the new ordinance. It's impossible to argue that this is "compatible" either with the surrounding 84-foot limit, or with the desires of Fayetteville.
What are other successful cities doing? Fayetteville's future is bound up mostly with the University of Arkansas, intellectual capital, high technology, entertainment, and visitors. It's especially important that such a city be visually harmonious. One comparable city is Boulder, Colorado, a city of 96,000 that is home to the University of Colorado. Boulder has a 55-foot (four stories) height limit. Santa Fe, New Mexico, a high-quality town of 62,000 that attracts lots of tourists, has a 3-story height limit. The much-visited Charleston, South Carolina, population 330,000, has a 4-story limit that includes strict rules requiring that new construction fits its surroundings. The historic Savannah, Georgia, with 140,000 people, has limited its buildings to 5 stories ever since 1733, with a few exceptions that are considered by city leaders to be mistakes. Berkeley, California, home of a University of California campus, is a city of 100,000 with a height limit of 65 feet (5 stories) outside of a four-block downtown core where some buildings reach as high as ten stories. Thus Berkeley is quite comparable to Fayetteville. It's worth noting that an aerial photo of Berkeley shows it to be very dense, with none of the flat parking lots and other underused land that plague downtown Fayetteville.
These success stories argue for a height limit of less than the proposed six stories. Many townspeople, including me, would prefer four stories.
Restrained building heights are part of the appeal of many large and medium-sized European cities. I spent half of 1985 in Stockholm, Sweden, where the quality of life is one of the best I've ever experienced. With few exceptions, building heights in this city of 1.5 million reached a maximum of six stories.
Divinity supporters argue that the new hotel, condominium, and convention space will promote infill, pedestrians, and business. I enthusiastically support infill, pedestrians, and business, but it seems to me that we are more likely to have all three if we deny the proposed project and maintain a height restriction. Taller buildings will drive up Dickson Street's already-high land prices, making further building unaffordable. And a few tall buildings will absorb so much of the demand for floor space that, again, additional buildings will be less profitable. The result will be some isolated tall buildings, little infill, and not many people. Shorter but denser infill, as in Berkeley, would be preferable.
It's been argued that it's not fair to deny Divinity's building permit, since the height restriction was only passed since the developers made their application. But the "compatibility" requirement has existed for years, and the Planning Commission recommended the height restriction some time ago, and the Master Plan project has included discussions about height restrictions for the past two years. The developers should have been aware that 182 feet could be a problem on Dickson Street.
The economic argument for tall buildings on expensive downtown land is similar to that for big box stores on cheap land outside of town: maximum floor space for minimum dollar. But the cheapest way of doing things isn't usually best for the city, and in the long run it's not best for business.
These economic arguments and the entire debate are similar to the great sign ordinance debate of 1975, when some Fayetteville businesspeople tried to kill the city's restrictions on the size and location of advertising signs. Then, as now, most of the business community was on one side and most people were on the other. Then, as now, the business community argued for free enterprise and profits, and lamented the loss of business that the restriction was thought to cause. Then, as now, popular opinion supported quality of life above profits, and argued that in the long run the restrictions would in fact create better economic conditions. The quality of life argument carried the day, and today nearly everybody, including the business community, agrees with that outcome.
Maintaining strict height restrictions, beginning with the Divinity Building, will be truly compatible with a high quality of life and a great business climate in Fayetteville.