LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Neighbors in the Pecan Lake subdivision say they feel misled by the Little Rock Board of Directors after a series of changes left them without a clear path to stop a mental health group home from moving into their neighborhood.
Last month, the board upheld a decision allowing The Gardens, a mental health therapeutic group home, to move into the area.
The facility plans to operate out of an abandoned church at the entrance of Pecan Lake.
Ed Bullington, who lives in the neighborhood, said residents were initially told there was a way to potentially reverse the board’s decision.
“The city attorney gave us a very explicit pathway to have the vote that they took at a previous board meeting to get it rescinded. And then they pulled that rug out from under us last night with ‘change of circumstances,’” Bullington said.
The issue began when Pecan Lake resident Denise White filed an appeal of the Little Rock Planning Commission’s approval of a conditional use permit for The Gardens. When the board of directors voted on that appeal on October 21, five directors voted to repeal the commission’s decision, while three voted to uphold it, needing 6 votes to cancel the group home’s permit, so the permit stood.
Afterward, neighbors asked city leaders what options they had to challenge the outcome. Mayor Frank Scott Jr. told them they could try to persuade a director who voted to uphold the decision to rescind their vote.
“You all can talk to someone who’s not here to get them to talk to someone who voted, to rescind their vote. But it would have to be not of the 5. It would have to be of the 3,” the mayor said.
A week later, Vice Mayor and Ward 7 Director BJ Wyrick, who represents the Pecan Lake area, gave notice that she planned to rescind the board’s previous vote.
“I want to give notice that I want to rescind the vote and that should happen on next Tuesday,” Wyrick said during the October 28 agenda meeting.
That vote was scheduled for the next board meeting.
But before it could happen, The Gardens closed on the property on October 31, effectively changing the circumstances and halting the board’s ability to revisit the issue.
“The applicant closed the property. So that was circumstances changed,” Wyrick said.
City Attorney Tom Carpenter confirmed that once the property was purchased, the situation changed from a potential sale to an actual sale based on the board’s previous action.
Now, city officials say the only option left for neighbors is to pursue a petition under Article 5, Section 1 of the Arkansas Constitution. That process would require signatures from 15% of voters who cast ballots in the last mayoral election, more than 9,000 signatures within about two weeks.
“It’s an impossible task,” Bullington said. “We only got 10 days or 15 days.”
White added that she’s lost confidence in the process.
“I really don’t trust that even if we got it they wouldn’t come up with something else. At this point I don’t trust them,” she said.
In a statement to Channel 7, The Gardens co-owner Georgia Johnston said, “We’re looking forward to providing quality care to our most vulnerable citizens and remain committed to being a good neighbor in Pecan Lake and the surrounding community.”
Some neighbors say they’ll still try to gather signatures, but many have accepted that The Gardens will soon move into the subdivision.