Dear Fayetteville City Council, Planning Commission, Environmental Action Committee, and Urban Forestry Advisory Board,

As I write this, the total number of signatures so far on our petition to save Markham Hill from development and make it a nature and wildlife preserve is 1905. It's been only two weeks. When a person signs the petition they have the option of writing down why they are signing. Please see the attachment. As you read through the comments (really great!), please think of the people in the neighborhoods you represent. Sometimes it feels like our City cares more about the developer than us. For example, should zoning in a neighborhood be determined by an outside developer whose goal is to make money or by the people who actually live in that neighborhood? This has been a problem throughout Fayetteville.

Back to the petition, these signers aren't just anybody but people who really care about Markham Hill, the environment, Fayetteville history, wildlife, forests, plants, trees, natural habitat, rock formations, photography, reptiles, birds, hiking, running, strolling, horseback riding, plein air painting, needing a place away from civilization to be alone, water and air quality, climate change, springs and water flow, Native American artifacts, Evangeline Archer, Joy Markham, etc. - all things that make Markham Hill what it is.

Here is a list of many of the groups I notified about our petition:

1. Ozark Society - Highlands Chapter
2. Sierra Club - Ozark Headwaters Group
3. OMNI - Center for Peace, Justice, & Ecology
4. Buffalo River Rescue: Mission Possible!
5. Beaver Lake Watershed Alliance
6. Ozark Water Watch
7. Arkansas Retired Teachers Association
8. Washington County Master Gardeners
9. Dept of Arkansas Heritage
10. Kent Bonar
11. NWA Land Trust
12. U of A Razorback Athletics - Track & Cross Country
13. George's Majestic Lounge
14. American Association of University Women (AAUW)
15. Humane Society of the Ozarks
16. Fayetteville History
17. The Nature Conservancy
18. Arkansas Nature Conservancy
19. Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association
20. Help Save Lewis Park
21. Washington County Historical Society
22. Preserve Arkansas
23. Botanical Garden of the Ozarks
24. Fayetteville Flyer
25. Fayetteville Parks & Recreation
26. St. Paul's Episcopal Church
27. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
28. St. James Missionary Baptist Church
29. Arkansas Forestry Commission
30. Northwest Arkansas Audoban Society
31. Watershed Conservation Resource Center
32. Fayetteville Roots Festival
33. Walton Family Foundation
34. Friends of Fayetteville Forests
35. League of Women Voters - Washington County
36. Tri Cycle Farms in Fayetteville
37. Arkansas Wildlife Federation
38. Illinois River Watershed Partnership
39. Butterfield Trail Village
40. Natural Heritage Commission
41. Arkansas Natural Resources Commission
42. Arkansas Native Plant Society
43. Arkansas Master Naturalists
44. Keep Arkansas Beautiful
45. Ozark Natural Science Center
46. Arkansas Environmental Education Association
47. Arkansas Forestry Association
48. Crop, Soil, & Environmental Sciences at U of A
49. Arkansas Resource Conservation & Development
50. Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office
51. Exploring Arkansas - TV Show
52. U of A Dept of Biological Sciences
53. Buffalo National River
54. U of A Office of Sustainability
55. State Parks of Arkansas
56. Arkansas Environmental Federation
57. Arkansas Rising
58. Arkansas Dept of Health
59. Ozarks At Large
60. University of Arkansas Press
61. Artists of Northwest Arkansas
62. Plein Air Painters of the Ozarks

Thank you for caring about all the signers of the Save Markham Hill petition.

The Friends of Markham Hill want no change to the current PZD and RSF-4 zoning on Markham Hill.

The current PZD and RSF-4 zoning protects the tree coverage and natural habitat of the 144 acres of Markham Hill the most. It also allows Specialized Real Estate Group to make money by fully utilizing the Pratt Inn and Event Barn and by doing Serenbe-type conservation development in the 72-acre RSF-4.

Fully utilizing the Pratt Inn would be splitting the large guest rooms upstairs into smaller ones so they can have more guests, having a restaurant in the Dining Room on the first floor, and leasing out the many rooms in the basement to artists for studio space, massage therapists, yoga teachers, etc.

I recommend that the City Council asks Specialized REG to prove to Fayetteville that they can do Serenbe-type conservation development. That means preserving the tree coverage and natural habitat of at least 50 acres (70% of 72 acres) and by building only 25 houses (the correct density for 72 acres which corresponds to Serenbe's 350 houses in 1000 acres). Specialized REG will be destroying at most 22 acres of tree coverage and natural habitat under the current zoning, if they truly followed the Serenbe model as they claim. The City Council would need to insist on this percent of preservation and density. Specialized REG would need to resubmit their development plans, actually following the Serenbe model they claim to follow.

We don't want any development in the 72-acre PZD and no more commercial uses than the already existing Pratt Inn and Event Barn. This keeps a promise made to the surrounding rural residential neighborhoods by a previous City Council and by Mayor Jordan. This can be an example to Fayetteville residents that the City does consider the people in the neighborhoods they represent more important than the invisible out-of-state owner of a property in their midst or the developer the owner hired to make as much money as possible off the property no matter the harm to the locals, their tree cover, urban forest, wildlife, environment, quality of life, air and water quality, storm water, rural residential neighborhood, and emotional well-being.

However, what we really want is for RMD Properties (the owners we are still trying to find) to put all 144 acres into a conservation easement with the NWA Land Trust so that Markham Hill can become a nature and wildlife preserve for the City of Fayetteville. RMD Properties can still make a nice profit on their investment by simply selling the Pratt Inn and Event Barn.

Thank you for reading another of my letters. I really do appreciate your time.

Sincerely,
Lisa Orton