City to help waste district, take on private streets

BELLA VISTA — The City Council voted to contribute $24,567 in 2021 to an interagency service agreement to operate the Benton County Solid Waste District’s convenience center program during its Dec. 14 meeting.

Mayor Peter Christie said Benton County mayors agreed to make contributions based on city size to help keep the convenience centers open while some money is frozen because of a suit between the district and Boston Mountain Waste District.

“We don’t want to close or hinder any recycling or any convenience center operations,” he said, noting illegal dumping could be expected to increase in the wake of a closing.

As is, he said, the waste district has already had to let some workers go and its reserve is depleting.

It’s worth noting the contribution isn’t paid in a single lump sum, but quarterly, he said.

If the suit is resolved, the discussion will shift to either discontinuing the additional money from cities’ coffers or to continuing it to help rebuild the district’s reserve, he said.

The council also approved accepting right-of-ways for streets in the Highland Park Villas subdivision off Arkansas 340. The formerly private streets include Highland Parkway and a handful of smaller streets that split off from it.

These roads were owned by Cooper Communities and kept private for the neighborhood, which also has a separate home owners association.

Councilman Doug Fowler said homeowners in the neighborhood, many of whom have likely lived in Bella Vista for a long time, pay taxes contributing to the city’s needs, including its street money.

“They’ve been contributing to the Bella Vista road fund the whole entire time,” he said.

There are 1.6 miles of streets with 150 homes, 62 of which are duplexes which likely contribute more to the street fund than the city will need to spend maintaining the streets, he said.

Councilman John Flynn said he agreed the city should take on the streets and, historically, the city has added private roads as needed.

“I view it as our job to provide people with police, fire and streets,” he said.

Councilman Larry Wilms said he wasn’t in favor of the city taking on the streets.

The city provides fire, emergency medical and police service, he said, and the homeowners should have known these were private streets when they purchased their homes, he said.

It’s not abnormal for a community to have neighborhoods with private streets, he added.

There are also concerns about drainage, he said, and the city should have some sort of agreement with the home owners association about what might happen in the event a drainage outlet becomes blocked and causes flooding that could damage the streets.

Further, he said, the roads could need serious work in the foreseeable future.

“This is not a win-win situation for the city,” he said. “I think that we’re taking on something that we shouldn’t be from a very practical standpoint.”

The ordinance was approved 5-1, with Wilms voting no.

During the meeting, the council also approved a municipal budget for 2021 and interdepartmental budgetary transfers in 2021. The council tabled a proposal requiring septic fields’ size be based on the square footage of the home. Additionally, the council voted down a resolution prohibiting the use of paving from existing city streets to new residential construction.