# 2025-04 Conway City Council Adopts O-25-37 O-25-38 and O-25-39 On April 22, 2025, the Conway City Council adopted three Project Stratus land-use ordinances 8-0 in a single regular meeting: **O-25-37** (annexation of approximately 296.21 acres east of Lollie Road into the City, designating the territory I-3), **O-25-38** (annexation of approximately 39.50 acres east of Lollie Road and abutting 1300/1320/1350 Lollie Rd), and **O-25-39** (rezoning the 160-acre Adams Property from A-1 to I-3 at the NE corner of Lollie Rd and Donnell Ridge Rd). All three ordinances were recorded with the Faulkner County Circuit Clerk on May 12, 2025. Mayor Bart Castleberry was absent; Councilman Andy Hawkins chaired. ## Sources - [[Annexation Ordinance O-25-37 (Lollie Rd)]] — recorded text of O-25-37. - [[Rezone Ordinance O-25-39 and REZ-0425-0052]] — recorded text of O-25-39 plus the underlying rezone-case file. - [[Conway City Council Agendas and Minutes on Project Stratus]] — executed minutes of the April 22, 2025 meeting (`04.22.2025 COUNCIL MTG.pdf`). - O-25-38 is recorded only in the council minutes; the separate ordinance PDF does not appear in the production. ## What happened The April 22, 2025 regular Council meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by Councilman Andy Hawkins (Mayor [[Bart Castleberry]] absent). City Clerk [[Denise Hurd]] and City Attorney [[Charles Finkenbinder]] were present. Eight councilmembers present and acting: Hawkins, David Grimes, Drew Spurgers, Shelley Mehl, Mark Ledbetter, Spencer Hawks, Theodore Jones Jr., and Shelia Isby. After approval of the April 8 minutes and the monthly financial report from Tyler Winningham, the meeting moved to standing committee reports. **Item A1: Waiver of three readings.** Hawkins presented A1 (waiving all three readings for the ordinances on the agenda). Spurgers moved; Ledbetter seconded. Motion carried 8-0. **This procedural action collapsed the Project Stratus ordinances from a multi-meeting adoption process into single-meeting adoption.** **Item A2: O-25-34** (an unrelated White Bluff and Independence Steam Electric Stations co-ownership agreement). Adopted 8-0 with the emergency clause. Brett Carroll of Conway Corporation addressed the Council on this item. **Item B3: O-25-37 (296.21-acre annexation, Lollie Rd).** [[Anne Tucker]] showed the Council a map of the parcels to be annexed. She said the Planning Commission passed the request unanimously the prior day, adding that there was one gentleman present who spoke in opposition. [[Jamie Gates]], with the Conway Development Corporation, addressed the Council. "He told the Council that after the Planning Commission meeting, he had met with some of the residents of the area that were concerned about the development and felt that there had been a good conversation." Gates noted "many steps to the project, but that annexation is the first." He "gave them a brief history of the CDC's participation in the development of the Lollie Road area, and how the parcels came to the present zoning and why the request is for I-3 zoning. He said by annexing and rezoning it would eliminate the A-1 island and create a contiguous I-3 development to site plan around which would create control over the entire development of the area." [[Alan Rice]] addressed the Council in opposition, representing his son [[Jeremy Rice]] who is a property owner in the area. "His main concern was noise and a disturbance to the quality of life in the area if a data center was to be built on the property in question." Jamie Gates responded to Rice's concerns. Councilwoman Mehl confirmed with Tucker the multi-step regulatory path. Councilman Spurgers "reiterated that much of the property in question is undevelopable and would create a large buffer for neighboring properties." Councilman Grimes noted the rezone footprint was over 300 acres (counting both ordinances) with options for development location. Councilman Spurgers asked about financial obligation: "if the annexation and rezoning were passed, but the developer did not follow through, the City would not be financially obligated for any future costs." Tony Salter asked whether the rezoned property could be subdivided if Project Stratus did not proceed; Tucker confirmed it could but would require replatting. Spurgers moved adoption; Ledbetter seconded. Roll call: Grimes, Spurgers, Jones, Hawkins, Hawks, Isby, Ledbetter, Mehl all aye. **The Ordinance passed 8-0.** **Item B4: O-25-38 (39.50-acre annexation, Lollie Rd).** Hawkins presented. Spurgers moved; Ledbetter seconded. Roll call: Ledbetter, Spurgers, Hawkins, Isby, Mehl, Grimes, Hawks, Jones all aye. **The Ordinance passed 8-0.** **Item B5: O-25-39 (rezone Lollie Rd / Donnell Ridge Rd A-1 to I-3).** Hawkins presented. Tucker showed Council the rezone map and pointed out the designated parcels and surrounding zoning. Isby moved; Jones seconded. Roll call: Mehl, Ledbetter, Grimes, Spurgers, Jones, Isby, Hawks, Hawkins all aye. **The Ordinance passed 8-0.** (Items B1 — EV parking O-25-35 — and B2 — private-club permit O-25-36 — also adopted earlier in the meeting; both unrelated to Project Stratus.) After Items C1 and C2 (Best Friends Animal Society agreement and the natural-landscaping ordinance repeal — 7-1 with Grimes dissenting on the latter), the meeting adjourned. The three ordinances were certified by Denise Hurd on April 28, 2025 and recorded with the Faulkner County Circuit Clerk on May 12, 2025. ## Significance The April 22, 2025 Council meeting completed the front-end regulatory framework Project Stratus needed to "close on the property and begin the IRB(tax abatement), planning, and permitting processes" (per Gates's April 1 [[Project Stratus Next Steps and Sequence|sequencing memo]]). Three observations: 1. **The three-reading waiver collapsed the procedural window.** Conway's standard ordinance-adoption process requires three readings, providing the public with time to organize between readings. The waiver folded the three readings into a single April 22 adoption — eliminating that window. The [[Conway Internal Staff Teams Chats on Project Stratus|staff Teams chats]] indicated this acceleration was anticipated; the [[Project Stratus Public-Comment Correspondence Record|constituent correspondence]] from late-April 2025 was sparse and arrived effectively after the deciding vote. 2. **CDC's pre-existing land-banking shows in the boundary descriptions.** Both ordinances reference [[Conway Development Corporation]] parcels as boundary markers — DB 2012 P 1063 on the annexation and DB 2003 P 20243 on the rezone. The "contiguous I-3 development" Gates described is in part assembled out of CDC's prior holdings flanking the Adams Property. 3. **The "if the developer did not follow through" question.** Spurgers's question, and Salter's follow-up, anticipated the possibility that Project Stratus might not proceed. The Council's answer — that the rezone would persist and the property could be subdivided to other industrial uses — implicitly elevates the rezone's permanence over the project's contingency. The April 22 actions are not reversible if the Forgelight Ventures deal collapses; the land is now I-3 indefinitely.