Let's Maintain Balance in Old Conway. Let's think carefully about further carving up Clifton.

The neighbors of Clifton are just that: neighbors. We dog-sit for each other, share meals, and trade flowers from our gardens. Our children play together. When our elderly need help they call us and we answer. We alert each other when we travel and check on each other when we are sick.

We come from multiple states, countries, native languages, generations, health statuses, and identities, but we all call Clifton home.

To us, Clifton is a community and not another page in a stranger's investment portfolio.

Clifton properties are on the market which realtors have advertised for "easy" rezoning. We worry about rezoning as developers--perhaps motivated by profit over Clifton's livability--may stuff as many units as possible into a single lot and thereby affect the livability of Clifton.

We also recognize Conway's growing pains and know the city seeks housing for a growing population. Clifton, however, already contributes its fair share as one of the most densely populated, heavily trafficked, and intensely policed streets in the entire Old Conway overlay district.

Neighbors on the 10 blocks of Clifton love Clifton precisely because of its unique blend of rental properties, residential homes, student housing, residences for the disabled and elderly, churches, businesses, community groups, historic overlays, historic homes, hardwood trees, gardens, flowers, and direct connection with two Old Conway Historic Districts. We know that Clifton is special, and we love it.

The neighbors of Clifton, however, have also experienced the realities of Clifton’s density, traffic, and historic crime.

We know the risks of crossing Clifton by foot and traversing its railroad and street intersections. We also know the history of crime on Clifton and have collected and archived the substantial public records of police responses, arrests, and convictions involving harassment, theft, cocaine, methamphetamine, shots fired, domestic disturbances, battery, arson, and other crimes.

Clifton neighbors remember a history including at least two SWAT raids for drug trafficking; a drive-by shooting with injury; a drug deal with gunshots that started mid-Clifton and ended in a police stand-off on south Clifton, bullet casings we gathered from our own sidewalks, multiple vehicle accidents, nightly hollers from house parties, intoxicated persons sleeping in our bushes and knocking on our doors, and the open flames of arson.

Thankfully, this activity has decreased dramatically in recent years. Clifton today is not the Clifton of recent years. It has again become a street where our children play in the open and we walk in peace. Clifton has made incredible progress. We want to see it continue.

We therefore have concerns about developers--perhaps motivated by profit over Clifton's livability--interested in packing as many units as possible into a single lot.

Currently, Clifton properties are on the market and realtors have advertised them as "easy" for rezoning.

The neighbors of Clifton should note rezoning proposals and consider how they could affect the street we love. We should ponder the future we want for Clifton and make our voices heard at upcoming Planning Commission, Historic Commission, and City Council meetings.

Density and Traffic:

Though only 10 blocks long, Clifton has one of the densest populations in all of Old Conway. Clifton contains or adjoins roughly 400 residential units; 17 multi-story apartment structures; several businesses; and a church with an average attendance of 446 and a daycare center.

Clifton is a heavy pedestrian corridor that includes a sizable population of pedestrians who are elderly and disabled as Clifton is home to multiple HUD-assisted housing units and lies near community service centers including Independent Living Services facilities and the Bethlehem House.

Clifton is already heavily trafficked. According to ARDOT, Clifton and its intersecting streets have a combined Average Daily Traffic volume count of 25,600. Clifton also has a Union Pacific railroad crossing; acts as a routine corridor for emergency traffic from the central Conway Fire Station; and bottlenecks school buses leaving Conway Junior High.

Crime:

We recognize that the relationship between crime and population density is unclear, with the academic literature disagreeing on correlation. The crime data on Clifton St., however, speaks for itself.

In a roughly five-year period ending November, 2025, Clifton St. generated 382 police reports. Of the 214 reports generated on Hairston Avenue, 110 were from properties at the Clifton intersection. This totals 492 police reports, nearly two police reports every week. By comparison, the combined 13 blocks of nearby Duncan St. and Scott St. generated only 103 reports, less than two per month.

Historic Character:

Clifton St. plays a role in connecting Conway's historic districts. North Clifton lies alongside the Hendrix Historic District. South Clifton touches the Robinson Historic District and lies near the Commercial Historic District. There are dwindling properties on Clifton that retain R1 zoning and balance the plethora of properties with densities ranging from 22 to 122 units on heavily developed central Clifton and south Clifton, which borders the Robinson Historic District and houses the 110-year old United Methodist sanctuary.

Conclusion:

We love Clifton and care about its future. We encourage the neighbors of Clifton to consider whether we are ready for our neighborhood to be rezoned as “easily” as realtors advertise to developers.

We encourage you to be vigilant for further communication regarding petitions and attendance at Planning Commission, Historic Commission, and City Council meetings. Feel free to share this website on your social media pages and discuss Clifton's future with your neighbors.

Clifton already contributes its share to Conway's growing pains. Let's maintain balance and think carefully about further carving up Clifton.