Council to vote on annexation request tonight

Steele family asks Springdale to accept pastureland into city

SPRINGDALE — One of the families whose land borders the Bethel Heights wastewater treatment plants has asked Springdale to annex their property.

The City Council is expected to vote on the annexation tonight.

The Steele family has asked Springdale to annex 73 acres of pastureland on the south side of Bethel Heights and adjacent to North Thompson Street. They made the request under a state law that allows a property owner to annex into an adjacent city if the controlling city cannot provide services, but the adjacent city can.

Bethel Heights cannot provide the Steeles with sewer service, said Springdale City Attorney Ernest Cate. The family owns a contiguous 153 acres at the site, with the other 80 acres already within the Springdale city boundary.

The family requested Bethel Heights provide a 12-inch force main sewer line to serve the property as it’s developed.

Springdale Water Utilities currently serves the land with water, but not sewer service, said Joe Brooks, a spokesman for the family.

Joe Summerford, the Bethel Heights city attorney, told the Steeles in a letter the city can provide the service. Cate showed a copy 0f the letter Monday.

“But we all know they can’t,” Cate said.

An email sent Monday to Bethel Heights’ mayor and a lawyer hired by the city to speak on its behalf about the wastewater plants, received no response.

Bethel Heights’ two wastewater plants have operated for at least five years out of compliance with their permits, according to records from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.

The city is under orders from the state to truck out 25%, or about 20,000 gallons a day, until it can get its plants in compliance with their permits.

The city also faces $122,000 in fines levied by the state for permit violations.