Originally posted in Fayetteville Flyer: https://fayettevilleflyer.com/2025/08/12/planning-commissioners-voice-support-for-camden-court-concept-despite-streamside-protection-hurdle/

FAYETTEVILLE — A proposed downtown apartment and parking project won encouraging comments from Fayetteville Planning Commissioners on Monday, even as its developer acknowledged the plan would require a significant regulatory change before it could move forward.

Architect Rob Sharp, representing developer Brian Reindl, presented detailed concept plans for Camden Court, a mixed-use development on a 0.6-acre lot at South Gregg Avenue and Center Street, where an apartment building once stood before it was destroyed by fire. The site is currently undeveloped and was originally purchased to provide valet parking for Reindl’s planned Upper Ramble hotel near the Walton Arts Center.

The property sits across Center Street from a massive Trinitas Ventures project now under construction on the former quonset hut site. That 764-bed student housing development spans the north side of the street, opposite the proposed Reindl development. Sharp said Camden Court’s smaller scale would help “step down” the massing toward the South Gregg neighborhood.The Camden Court concept calls for a two-story parking structure with 118 total spaces — 67 for the hotel and 51 for residents — topped by a three-story, 42-unit apartment building designed for owner-occupants rather than students. Plans also include 1,200 square feet of ground-floor retail space, widened sidewalks, and a small public park with terraces and water features along Tanglewood Branch creek to connect with the Lower Ramble trail system.

A rendering shows the proposed spillway and public terrace area planned along Tanglewood Branch as part of the Camden Court development in downtown Fayetteville. The design would filter debris from stormwater before it enters the Lower Ramble and provide public access to the water. (Courtyard Building and Block via City of Fayetteville)Sharp said the design would hide all parking from street view, use the site’s grade changes to separate hotel and residential parking, and create public “streamside appreciation zones” where people could see and interact with the water.

But for the project to be legal under city code, the City Council would need to amend Fayetteville’s streamside protection map to remove this section of Tanglewood Branch from the protected zone. Staff engineer Alan Pugh told commissioners that under current rules, extending the culvert under the site is not allowed, even though the creek is already piped underground immediately upstream. Removing the segment from the map would lift those protections, allowing the culvert to be extended from Center Street to Gregg Avenue.Sharp said the request would not be to randomly remove a natural stream from protection, but rather to match the existing culverted conditions adjacent to the site. The area now functions as a channelized parking lot outfall, and Sharp argued the project could be designed to improve water quality by filtering out trash and debris before it enters the Lower Ramble.

Commissioners were not asked to take action Monday. Sharp said he wanted to gauge whether the project’s design and benefits were compelling enough to justify pursuing the map amendment, which could be a costly and time-consuming process.

A site plan shows the layout for the proposed Camden Court development at Center Street and South Gregg Avenue in downtown Fayetteville, including a two-story parking structure, corner retail space, residential terraces, and public areas such as the collecting pool and spillway along Tanglewood Branch. (Courtyard Building and Block via City of Fayetteville)Several commissioners said they were impressed by the mix of uses, architectural detail, and focus on non-student housing close to downtown.“

This is exactly what I want to see in Fayetteville, said Commissioner Nick Castin. “I don’t get excited by developments very often, but this is one that I find very exciting.”

Commissioner Mary McGetrick said that given the site’s existing culverts, “it doesn’t seem like a huge stretch to culvert it here.”Others raised questions about the intent of the streamside ordinance, the aesthetics of intermittent water flow, and ensuring the culvert is large enough to handle increasingly intense storms.

While formal review will come later if the developer pursues the necessary code change, Commission Chair Andrew Brink summed up the general sentiment.“It’s a good design, and I think it’s a cool use of a stream,” said Brink. “I would be in favor of moving a dot on a map.”