On Oct. 9, 2025, the Cottes Springs Planning Commission voted to recommend a zoning map amendment to designate 2.29 acres at 796 Mill Creek Road as a Manufactured Home Overlay District, a change that would permit the placement of a manufactured home on the lot if placement regulations are met.

Planning staff said the parcel, owned by Diana Griffith, is currently zoned RN-1 (Residential Neighborhood 1), has a future land-use designation of Residential Low and is unplatted. The parcel includes roughly 276 feet of frontage along Mill Creek Road and contains a 456-square-foot structure originally built in 1985. Staff found the application met the submission requirements in Hot Springs Code section HSC 16-2-14.1 and that it met the approval standards for compatibility with surrounding development and implementation of the city’s Forward Hot Springs 2040 plan, which includes expanding affordable housing opportunities.

An objection letter from nearby residents Wendy and Rich Kietkowski of 799 Mill Creek Road was read into the record; the letter said the Kietkowskis oppose the rezoning and stated they had spent about $10,000 to remove mobile homes from their property when they purchased it, and that they believe mobile homes lower nearby property values.

Applicant Diana Griffith spoke at the hearing and said she is seeking an affordable housing option so she can “live comfortably on my own land” rather than rent. Staff clarified that the city regulates placement and installation of manufactured homes (including foundation permits, underpinning and tiedown requirements and required steps and landings) but does not perform or assert authority to inspect factory construction; manufactured homes brought into city limits must be manufactured after Oct. 25, 1994, per city placement rules. Planning staff said a foundation permit and placement inspections on-site are required to ensure installation meets Arkansas building code requirements.

Commissioner and Director Bill Lamond expressed a concern about individual overlay approvals creating a precedent and asked that the commission be mindful when the overlay issue is revisited; he also said he had no objection to the present request. The commission voted to approve the zoning change with recorded roll-call votes.