Bentonville plan adoption finalizes three-year process

BENTONVILLE — The City Council adopted the Bentonville Community Plan on Tuesday, after about a halfhour discussion and a request to table it.

The vote came about a year and a half after the plan was scheduled to be finished.

The 192-page plan is designed to guide city growth for 15 to 20 years. It establishes policies related to land use and development, transportation and mobility, community facilities, open spaces, environmental features, and image and identity.

The plan also includes smaller plans for five subareas — downtown, downtown neighborhoods, Eighth Street, 14th Street and Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard/ Southwest I Street.

The council voted 7-1 to adopt the plan. Council member Stephanie Orman voted against the plan’s adoption after asking if it could be tabled.

She said she’d like to see a statement in the plan about how the land use map could be amended if a property owner didn’t agree with the new recommendation.

That process is in the city code, and a link with code and an application for someone looking to make an amendment can be posted on the city’s website on the same page as the plan, said Shelli Kerr, interim community and economic development director.

Orman’s request to table came after resident Heather Wegner expressed concern the changes in the land use map, which is one part of the Community Plan, would devalue many properties and the council with the mayor’s signature could change a property’s zoning designation without informing the public.

“I have a lot of problems with this,” Wegner said of the plan, which she described as having many layers.

At least three city officials said the process to rezone a property wouldn’t change under the plan.

The property owner puts in an application, public hearing notices are published and surrounding property owners are notified of the request before a public hearing is held at a Planning Commission meeting, Kerr said. An approval by the commission is sent to City Council, which also has to give approval for the change to be made.

“All those notification processes are still in place,” she said. “That’s required by state law.”

The plan doesn’t change zonings, only designations on the land use map, said George Spence, city attorney.

“What we’re doing by adopting a future land use maps is saying this is what our thoughts are for the future,” he said. “We’re not changing any of the existing use that’s determined by the zoning, and we cannot do that unless the property owner initiates it. What we are saying is that if in the future, if you want to change its use, we do have a say about that, but we have a say about that anyway.”

Houseal Lavigne Associates, a Chicago-based planning, urban design and economic development firm, worked on the plan for three years. It was expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete, but more changes were needed as the quick growth kept changing the city’s landscape.

“Our building and our development is out pacing our ability to get a plan produced,” said Bill Burckart, council member. “We need to get it where we have some guidelines before it out paces even what we’ve updated today.”

“Our building and our development is out pacing our ability to get a plan produced.”

— Bill Burckart, City Council member