Planners grant film festival permit

BENTONVILLE — The Bentonville Film Festival will have a similar setup downtown to last year’s event with some minor changes, according to the permit officials submitted to the Planning Department.

The Sponsor Village will again be between Lawrence Plaza and Compton Gardens, and three Cinetransformers will return for a second year. However, the 91-seat mobile movie theaters will be at the intersection of Northeast Blake and Northeast B streets, according to the permit application. The Cinetransformers were spread between three blocks around Lawrence Plaza last year.

The third Bentonville Film Festival will be May 2 through 7.

The Planning Commission unanimously approved Tuesday the permit for the festival.

Daily movie screenings will be at 21c Museum Hotel and the three Cinetransformers, according to meeting documents.

The opening will be at Crystal Bridges while the closing will be at Arend Arts Center at Bentonville High School. The volunteer hub will be in the Downtown Activities Center. The Meteor Guitar Gallery will hold evening concerts. Panel discussions will be held in Record and Walmart Museum’s World Room.

Other ancillary venues include businesses and restaurants.

The Sponsor Village will be free and open to the public. Northeast Third Street from Northeast A to Northeast B streets will be closed during the festival.

“This Sponsorship Village will be a place where BFF sponsors setup temporary structures to activate with products, technology and services for the community and visitors to explore and enjoy,” the permit application states.

No one spoke during the public hearing at Tuesday’s meeting.

The permit doesn’t address details of what happens hourby-hour during the festival, but rather it makes sure the overall event and associated structures don’t adversely affect nearby properties, said Beau Thompson, city planner.

Thompson said there hasn’t been an issue during the festival’s first two years.

Commissioners also approved plans for a Wal-Mart distribution center at 5800 S.W. Regional Airport Blvd., across the street from its current distribution center in the city’s southwest.

The 1.27 million-squarefoot building is being called “Project Maple” and will include 1.03 million square feet of warehouse floor, 216,000 square feet dedicated to shipping and 16,307 square feet for office space, according to plans. It will also have 299,000 square feet for warehouse expansion.

The project calls for 1,511 parking spaces, including 1,036 for trailers and 475 for employees.

“We have decided to build

a new distribution center here in the [Northwest Arkansas] area to increase our logistics capacity and capabilities in this market,” Anne Hatfield, Wal-Mart spokeswoman told the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette earlier this month. “[Northwest Arkansas] continues to be an attractive location for supporting our distribution needs in the Midwest.”

Commissioners discussed the berm to help provide a buffer between the distribution center and homes to the south.

“We have to do better than what’s out there across the street,” Commissioner Scott Eccleston said, explaining Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard is a heavily traveled road and the main entry into the city from the southwest.

John Trahan, CEI Engineering Associates project manager, showed illustrations of what the berm will look like after trees and plants are planted initially, five years from planting and 10 years from planting.

“The plantings are going to be far better than what’s across the street right now,” he said.