Proposed Best Western Motel Raises Concerns

Fort Smith residents of a neighborhood near the east-end of Rogers Avenue learned last week of Developer Tim Whitten’s plans to begin construction on a Best Western motel. The site of this hotel, currently an empty lot that the former owner leases to people selling their cars, is zoned half commercial and half residential. The proposed motel is causing controversy among nearby residents who have expressed concern about the traffic the new motel will bring to their neighborhood.  

Vincent Hug, a 29-year resident of the aforementioned neighborhood, says, “My initial reaction was that I didn’t want it up there.” Though Hug believes the motel will be built anyway, he wants residents of the neighborhood to have a say in certain things pertaining to its construction and operation.  

Garry Cathcart with the Fort Smith Planning Department says, “Rezoning is for the portion of the building that’s going to lie within that residential.” The development company ahs agreed to leave 75 feet of this portion zoned residential so as to provide a boundary between the motel and the surrounding neighborhood.  

Whitten believes that the site is the best location for his motel. It will be among the first things people will see when exiting interstate 540 and heading east on Rogers Avenue, but this location is one of the busiest on Rogers. Traffic typically backs up at the light on the hill, but Whitten points out that Rogers is busy no matter where you go. Whitten thinks that most guests will make right turns into the motel’s parking lot from I-540 and right turns as they drive downhill to nearby restaurants. To turn west, however, they would have to attempt a seemingly-impossible left turn onto Rogers Avenue.  

Hug and fellow residents of the area have many more questions for Whitten. “First where the water’s going, second where the traffic’s going, what it’s going to look like, and what it’s going to do to property value,” Hug asks. He says the developer has told him the motel will be built. If the rezoning is not approved by the Planning Commission, Whitten plans to shift the building and sell part of the land; possibly for apartments, but Hug doesn’t want that either. Whitten, Hug, and residents will know more about the plans for construction of the Best Western after the Planning Commission’s Tuesday night meeting.