Through annexations A-356 and A-357, PotlatchDeltic is asking Little Rock to take in two large tracts next to Ferndale and Fletcher Valley. The city's own fire department and Public Works staff flagged serious problems, and staff recommended approval anyway. Ferndale residents live outside the city and get no vote on this.
Both petitions were filed July 13, 2026 by a single owner, PotlatchDeltic Real Estate, LLC, and both ask for R-2 single-family zoning. The Pulaski County Judge's orders were filed August 20, 2026, and the Planning Commission heard both on October 8 (LR Planning Commission agenda). The commission approved both despite objections (MyTownView). The final vote belongs to the Little Rock Board of Directors.
How we estimated: the city's Land Use Plan designates this land Residential Low Density, which allows up to 6 homes per acre (City of Little Rock), and R-2 zoning permits lots as small as 7,000 square feet (LR zoning outline). 730 acres × 6 is about 4,380 homes. Cars assume about 2 per household, and residents about 2.4 per household. The city's packet gives no dwelling count, which is part of the problem.
These maps come straight from the city's October 8, 2026 Planning Commission packet (LR Planning Commission agenda). The dashed white line is the land PotlatchDeltic wants annexed. The solid black line is today's Little Rock city limits. Use the buttons to switch views. Tap a map, or "Open full-size map," to zoom in.
513 acres, north of Denny Rd. and east of Ferndale Cutoff
Open full-size map
Look at the homes along Dixie Road and Skyhawk Circle. The annexation wraps around them on three sides, and Dixie Road is the only western way in. The flood map shows how many streams and drainage channels cross this land, draining toward Skyhawk Circle and Colvert Road, which already flood.
217 acres, north of Kanis Rd. and east of Walnut Grove
Open full-size map
This long strip runs along the ridge above Kanis Road. Its boundary stops 130 feet short of Kanis, so traffic would have to use Fletcher Valley Drive and Denny Road. The flood map shows the creek and floodway running along its southern edge.
The following findings all come from the city's October 8, 2026 Planning Commission packet (LR Planning Commission agenda).
“Dixie Road does not currently meet City fire-apparatus standards.”
“A need for additional fire stations, apparatus, and staffing.”
The Fire Department anticipates a need for more stations, apparatus and staffing for both tracts. For A-357, first-due coverage is "limited and dependent on travel via Ferndale Cutoff and Dixie Road."
Public Works says Dixie Road must be upgraded to collector standards, with more right-of-way, better pavement and drainage work. It also requires a Traffic Impact Analysis before approval, covering the Ferndale Cutoff intersections with Denny Road and Highway 10. The packet doesn't say who would pay for the upgrades.
Fire code requires two separate fire-apparatus access roads for more than 30 homes. Public Works says it is uncertain A-356 can meet that requirement. It also warns that the density R-2 zoning allows would exceed the capacity of Fletcher Valley Drive as the only way in and out.
The police entry says "no issues" for both tracts. Both entries give the same 3.65% increase to Patrol District 73, which covers 5,945 acres. But A-357 alone is 513 acres, about 8.6% of the district, and the two tracts together add roughly 12%.
Despite these findings, staff recommended approval of both annexations. LR Planning Commission packet, October 8, 2026
The packet also says, for both proposals, "County Planning: No comments received." That means there is no published county review of the effects on county roads and drainage (Little Italy Arkansas).
Traffic and stormwater don't stop at the city line. New subdivisions would send traffic onto Ferndale Cutoff and Dixie Road. Clearing and paving would send runoff through county culverts and onto neighbors' land. Some streets below the tract already flood (see the photos below), and the people who live there can't vote in Little Rock.
County taxpayers may get the bill. Dixie Road is a county-maintained road. Without a written agreement, nothing in the record says whether PotlatchDeltic, Little Rock or Pulaski County pays for the upgrades.
Annexation creeps. Once this land is inside the city, nearby rural parcels become contiguous to Little Rock, which makes the next annexation easier.
Ferndale has fought for its voice before. Act 314 ended city extraterritorial planning jurisdictions (ETJs), so Little Rock no longer controls planning in rural areas outside its limits (Newsylist). Ferndale resident Teri Drennan put it this way:
"We have fought widening of the roads and shoulders, and each time we had to go to Little Rock … where we have no representation, we have no vote."Teri Drennan, Ferndale resident (Newsylist)
Annexation is a way to put that land back under Little Rock's control, one tract at a time.
Skyhawk Circle and Colvert Road sit directly downhill from the 513-acre A-357 tract. In heavy rain, water already runs across them like a creek, as these neighbors' photos from June 14, 2025 show. Today that land upstream is forest that soaks up rain. If it's cleared and paved for thousands of homes, more water will come down faster, onto streets that can't handle what they get now. The city's own flood map shows stream channels crossing the tract and running down through these neighborhoods (see the A-357 flood hazard map).
Before any approval, we're asking for a drainage study that shows how runoff from the development would be held on site, and who pays if it isn't.
The Arkansas Department of Transportation counts traffic across the state every year. It has no counter on Dixie Road itself, but the city's own memo says emergency service to A-357 depends on "travel via Ferndale Cutoff and Dixie Road" (A-357 Board memo). Ferndale Cutoff is the closest measured road, and it carries about 3,300 vehicles a day (ARDOT traffic count map).
How we estimated: traffic engineers use a national average of 9.43 car trips per day for each single-family home, and 0.94 trips per home in the evening rush hour (ITE Trip Generation Manual, cited in a Kimley-Horn memo). At 4,300 homes, that works out to about 40,500 trips a day and about 4,000 in the evening rush hour. These are estimates from a national average, not a study of this site.
Swipe the table sideways to see all years.
| Road (ARDOT station) | 2015 | 2020 | 2025 | Change since 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndale Cutoff, near Hwy 10 station 0826 | 2,400 | 3,100 | 3,300 | +38% |
| Kanis Rd, west near Ferndale station 0825 | 2,500 | 3,100 | 3,300 | +32% |
| Denny Rd station 0064 | 1,300 | 1,400 | 1,600 | +23% |
| Congo-Ferndale Rd station 0075 | 1,500 | 1,400 | 1,700 | +13% |
| Hwy 300 station 0027 | 4,400 | 5,200 | 5,400 | +23% |
| Chenal Pkwy, west end at Hwy 10 station 0761 | 8,700 | 7,800 | 10,000 | +15% |
| Chenal Pkwy, north of Rahling area station 0887 | n/a | 12,000 | 15,000 | +25% since 2020 |
| Hwy 10, west of Chenal Pkwy station 0003 | 19,000 | 17,000 | 22,000 | +16% |
| Hwy 10, near Pinnacle Valley Rd station 0200 | 26,000 | 29,000 | 34,000 | +31% |
| Kanis Rd, east of Rahling station 0028 | 6,400 | 8,100 | 10,000 | +56% |
| Rahling Rd, south end station 1468 | 2,900 | 4,100 | 6,800 | +134% |
Highlighted rows are the rural roads that would feed the annexation land. Source: ARDOT traffic count map; also available as county maps on ARDOT's traffic map page.
Ferndale Cutoff is up 38% and west Kanis Road is up 32% since 2015, before a single home in these annexations is built (ARDOT).
Where land near Chenal developed, traffic jumped: Rahling Road's south end more than doubled (+134%), and Kanis Road east of Rahling rose 56% (ARDOT).
Public Works said "prior to approval of the annexation the requestor shall submit a Traffic Impact Analysis" (A-357 minute record). The Board should see it before it votes.
Arkadelphia has 9,916 residents (U.S. Census Bureau). Build-out of these annexations could bring 10,000 or more, as many people as a real Arkansas city (our estimate). Arkadelphia needs a police department, two fire stations and a $13 million general fund to serve its people. Little Rock's memos for A-356 and A-357 budget almost none of that.
| Service | Arkadelphia (9,916 people) | A-356 + A-357 (10,000+ projected) |
|---|---|---|
| Police officers | 24 full-time sworn officers (Arkansas DPS, 2025) | 0 new. The Police Department said "No objection" (A-357 minutes). |
| Police spending | $2,116,595 on law enforcement in 2024 (state audit) | $0 identified (A-357 memo) |
| Fire stations | 2 stations (U.S. Fire Administration) | 0 funded. The nearest station is 7.1 miles away, and LRFD "anticipates the need for additional fire stations, apparatus, and staffing" (A-357 minutes). |
| Firefighters | 9 full-time plus 15 paid volunteers (Arkadelphia Fire Dept.) | 0 new funded (A-357 memo) |
| Public safety spending | $1,101,887 in 2024, separate from police (state audit) | $139,040, for one tornado siren per annexation at $69,520 each (A-357 memo; A-356 memo) |
| Streets | $1,443,386 in 2024: $598,167 from the general fund plus $845,219 from the street fund (state audit) | $0 identified. Dixie Road stays a county road with 20 feet or less of pavement (A-357 memo). |
| Parks and recreation | $1,320,206 in 2024 (state audit) | "No comments received" from Parks and Recreation (A-357 minutes) |
| Sanitation | $1,487,368 in 2024 (state audit) | Covered by the existing solid waste fee on water bills (A-357 minutes) |
| Total | $13,166,271 in general fund spending in 2024 (state audit) | "FISCAL IMPACT: None" (A-357 memo; A-356 memo) |
Arkadelphia's figures are actual 2024 general fund spending from the Arkansas Legislative Audit report, plus the street fund for streets. Arkadelphia doesn't post a line-item budget online, so the audit is the most detailed public record.
Little Rock budgets $98.9 million for police and $68.7 million for fire in 2026 (FY2026 Budget Ordinance) for 206,427 residents (Census estimates). That's about $479 per resident for police and $333 for fire. For 10,000 new residents, that comes to roughly $8 million a year.
The 2026 budget cut 15 vacant positions citywide (LR 2026 Budget). It also counts on $13.1 million in savings from authorized positions it doesn't fill (FY2026 Budget Ordinance).
Both memos say the annexation grows patrol District 73, which covers about 5,945 acres, by "3.65 percent" (A-357 memo; A-356 memo). That matches A-356's 217 acres. A-357's 513 acres would be about 8.6%, and both together about 12.3%.
New residents would pay city taxes too. But fire stations, officers and road upgrades have to come before the houses do, and neither memo shows a plan or a dollar to pay for them.
Because one owner signed 100% of each petition, these are "voluntary" annexations under Ark. Code § 14-40-609. The city's ordinance only has to state that it will provide police, fire and other services. It doesn't have to prove it can (Little Rock ordinance A-352). Other states have done better:
| State | Protection |
|---|---|
| Tennessee | A city "may not annex any other territory if the municipality is in default on any prior plan of services" (Tennessee Court of Appeals). Courts enforced this against Chattanooga (Little v. Chattanooga). |
| Indiana | The city must adopt an itemized fiscal plan, and police and fire service must reach the area within one year (IC 36-4-3-13). |
| North Carolina | Police, fire and street services must be in place on the day of annexation (UNC School of Government). |
| Missouri | For an annexation the residents don't agree to, the city must prove in court it can provide services within three years (RSMo 71.015). |
This model Arkansas bill would apply even to owner-petition annexations. It would block annexation when:
The bill would also give residents within 1 mile notice, a hearing and the right to sue. It would bar annexing rural homes through contiguity for 10 years unless the owner asks or the residents vote yes.
We aren't asking the Board to stop all growth. We're asking it to wait until:
To the Mayor and Board of Directors of the City of Little Rock: We, the undersigned residents and property owners, ask you to defer annexations A-356 (Fletcher Valley) and A-357 (Chenal Valley West). Please wait until the required Traffic Impact Analysis is public; Little Rock, Pulaski County and PotlatchDeltic have a written agreement on paying for and completing Dixie Road improvements before homes are built; the Fire Department has a funded service plan; and Pulaski County has published its assessment of road, drainage and cost impacts.
Signatures are kept by the organizers and delivered to the City Clerk and Board of Directors. This is a public-comment petition, not an election petition. Prefer paper? Print a signature sheet and collect your neighbors' signatures.
Both annexations are on the Little Rock Board of Directors' agenda: item 13 (A-356 Fletcher Valley) and item 14 (A-357 Chenal Valley West). Staff recommends approval of both (November 17 agenda). The city says it notified owners within 300 feet and "there have been no comments received" (A-357 Board memo). A full room changes that.
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026
6:00 p.m.
Regular Board meetings start at 6 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays (2026 Board calendar). Arrive by 5:30 to park, get through the door and turn in a speaker card.
The agenda's header says "Monday, November 17," but Nov. 17, 2026 is a Tuesday. To confirm, call the City Clerk at 501-371-6803 (City Clerk's Office).
Add to my calendarBoard Room, 2nd floor
Little Rock City Hall
500 W. Markham St., Little Rock, AR 72201, at the corner of Markham and Broadway (2026 Board calendar). The City Clerk's office is Room 200 on the same floor (City Clerk's Office).
Open in Google MapsEven if you don't speak, come and sit in the room. The Board sees every person who shows up against items 13 and 14.
Board meetings are livestreamed on the City of Little Rock's Facebook and YouTube pages and broadcast on LRTV (City of Little Rock). Email your comments before Tuesday to info@littlerock.gov and the City Clerk at asegars@littlerock.gov. Put "Items 13 and 14 – AGAINST" in the subject line, and ask that your comments be shared with the Board (City Clerk's Office). The sample letter below is ready to copy.