# Conway City Council Agendas and Minutes on Project Stratus Chronological collection of Conway City Council agendas and minutes touching the Project Stratus project — the 2023 background agendas where the Council adopted the data-center noise ordinance, the April 22, 2025 regular meeting where the annexation and rezone ordinances were adopted, the May 12, 2026 agenda where the project did NOT appear despite constituent demand, and the City Council Committee Meeting PDF. The April 1, 2025 Special Meeting minutes (the MOU-adoption record) is on its own page at [[Project Stratus MOU and April 1 Special Council Meeting]]. ## What's inside - `City of Conway Special City Council Agenda July 25 2023.pdf` — Special Council Meeting agenda for July 25, 2023, 10-page PDF. Predates Project Stratus by ~21 months; in the production because it touches the broader hyperscale-development framework Conway had been working through. - `City of Conway City Council Agenda Sept 26 2023.pdf` — Regular Council agenda for September 26, 2023, 14-page PDF. Includes the adoption of O-23-55, Conway's data-center noise ordinance. - `April 22 2025- City Council Agenda.pdf` — Apr 22 2025 regular Council agenda (7.2 MB). - `April 22 2025 City Council Agenda .pdf` — duplicate / image-only version of the same agenda; PDF portfolio with inner attached agenda. - `04.22.2025 COUNCIL MTG.pdf` — the executed Apr 22, 2025 minutes. 4 pages. Identical duplicate `04.22.2025 COUNCIL MTG (1).pdf` (same sha256). - `City Council Meeting Minutes 4-22-25.pdf` — alternate/copy of the same Apr 22 minutes. - `May 12 2026 City Council Agenda.pdf` — the May 12, 2026 regular Council agenda. Duplicate `May 12 2026 City Council Agenda (1).pdf` and `May 12 2026 City Council Agenda (1) (1).pdf`. - `City Council Committee Meeting.pdf` — undated City Council Committee Meeting record. ## Key takeaways - **April 22, 2025 Council meeting.** All three Project Stratus ordinances adopted 8-0: O-25-37 (296.21 acre annexation east of Lollie Rd), O-25-38 (39.50 acre annexation east of Lollie Rd abutting 1300/1320/1350 Lollie Rd), and O-25-39 (rezone two parcels NE corner of Lollie Rd and Donnell Ridge Rd from A-1 to I-3). The same meeting also adopted O-25-34 (White Bluff and Independence Steam Electric Stations agreement — a separate Conway Corp matter unrelated to data centers), O-25-35 (EV parking amendment), O-25-36 (private-club permit), and O-25-40 (repealing the natural-landscaping ordinance). All votes 8-0 except O-25-40 which passed 7-1 with Grimes dissenting. Mayor Bart Castleberry was absent — Councilman Hawkins chaired. - **The "waiver of three readings" procedural action.** Item A1 of the April 22 agenda: "Consideration to approve waiving all three readings for the ordinances on the April 22, 2025 City Council Agenda" — adopted 8-0 first. This converts the Stratus ordinances from a three-meeting adoption process to single-meeting adoption (with an emergency-clause justification). Standard Conway practice but the speed-up means there was effectively no second reading at which the public could organize. - **Council adopted the annexation ordinances under "Community Development Committee" reporting**, not "Economic Development Committee." The Project Stratus item routing went: Apr 1 (MOU under Economic Development) → Apr 21 (PC under Planning) → Apr 22 (annex + rezone under Community Development). This is procedurally normal (each committee has its own subject-matter docket) but means the MOU's economic-development substance and the annex/rezone's land-use substance were never voted on together as a single Project Stratus item. - **Constituent participation at the rezone hearing.** Alan Rice (speaking for his son Jeremy Rice) opposed; Jamie Gates (CDC) responded; Tony Salter asked the post-rezone subdivision question. Three named public speakers on the April 22 record. - **September 26, 2023 — the noise ordinance adoption.** Conway's 2023 Data Center Noise Ordinance (O-23-55) was adopted at the Sept 26, 2023 Council meeting (per the agenda reference; the agenda PDF is image-only). Predates the MOU by ~18 months — i.e., Conway had been preparing the regulatory framework for hyperscale data-center reception before Project Stratus surfaced as a specific project. - **July 25, 2023 special meeting.** Apparent earliest data-center-related council activity in the production. OCR'd; specific Stratus references unlikely (the project codename did not exist yet) but the broader framework context. - **The May 12, 2026 Council agenda contains NO Project Stratus item.** Despite the heavy constituent demand to add Project Stratus to the May 12 agenda (97 of 204 unique constituent emails per [[Project Stratus Public-Comment Correspondence Record]]), the May 12 2026 agenda as produced contains no Stratus item. **This is itself a documentary finding: the Council declined to re-open Project Stratus to constituent comment 13 months after the rezone adoption, despite organized pressure.** - **City Council Committee Meeting** — undated, image-only PDF. Procedural background, not Project Stratus-specific. ## People and orgs mentioned - Mayor [[Bart Castleberry]] (signed; absent April 22; present April 1; present at later 2026 meetings). - City Clerk/Treasurer [[Denise Hurd]]. - City Attorney [[Charles Finkenbinder]]. - Councilmembers: [[Andy Hawkins]] (Council chair when Mayor absent), David Grimes, Drew Spurgers, Shelley Mehl, Mark Ledbetter, Spencer Hawks, Theodore Jones Jr., Shelia Isby. - Speakers at April 22 on Project Stratus: [[Anne Tucker]] (Planning); [[Jamie Gates]] ([[Conway Development Corporation]]); Alan Rice (opposition); Tony Salter (citizen). - [[Brett Carroll]] (Conway Corporation; spoke on the unrelated O-25-34 White Bluff agreement). - Tyler Winningham (city finance; monthly financial report at April 22). - Spencer Clawson (Animal Welfare / Public Works at April 22 — separate items). ## Concepts invoked - Conway Land Development Code / Zoning Code (the rezone implements an amendment to the boundary map). - "Waiver of three readings" Conway Council procedure under Conway Municipal Code (and Ark. Code § 14-55-202). - 2023 Data Center Noise Ordinance O-23-55 (adopted Sept 26, 2023). - Standing Committees: Economic Development Committee (Chamber, CDC, Downtown Partnership, Conway Corp); Community Development Committee (Airport, Community Development, Code Enforcement, Permits & Inspections, Transportation, Planning & Development); Public Service Committee (Physical Plant, Parks & Recreation, Sanitation). ## Events documented - [[2025-04 Conway City Council Adopts O-25-37 O-25-38 and O-25-39]] — April 22, 2025 votes. ## Cross-references - [[Project Stratus MOU and April 1 Special Council Meeting]] — the April 1 Council vote on the MOU (the predecessor event). - [[Annexation Ordinance O-25-37 (Lollie Rd)]] — the annexation instruments. - [[Rezone Ordinance O-25-39 and REZ-0425-0052]] — the rezone instrument. - [[Conway Data Center Noise Ordinance (O-23-55)]] — concept page for the 2023 ordinance. - [[Project Stratus Public-Comment Correspondence Record]] — the constituent agenda-inclusion demand the May 12 2026 agenda did not honor. ## Open questions / follow-ups - The Sept 26, 2023 adoption of O-23-55 (the data-center noise ordinance) is referenced via the agenda but the ordinance text itself is not in this production. The reply could ask for the executed O-23-55 ordinance file. - The September 26 2023 and July 25 2023 minutes (as opposed to agendas) are not in this production. The reply could ask for the minutes corresponding to the agendas that were produced. - The May 12, 2026 minutes (the meeting itself) were not yet held as of the production date (2026-05-26 download), so the agenda is the most recent record. - The "City Council Committee Meeting.pdf" is undated; its purpose in the production is unclear. - A separate "audit trail" of the agenda-inclusion-request emails (the staff handling of the 97 constituent requests to add Project Stratus to the May 12 agenda) is not surfaced in this production — those would be City Clerk / Mayor's Office routing emails. The reply could ask whether such records exist and were withheld.