Siloam Springs’ city government discusses 2017-18 goals

Siloam Springs’ city government gave a preliminary preview of what may be in store for the city in 2017 and 2018.

Directors met in the Siloam Springs Public Library’s meeting room Wednesday to discuss more than 50 proposed goals for the body over the next few years. Goals were submitted by directors or the mayor in advance and given a hearing at the meeting. After the goal’s submitter explained the idea, it required three informal votes from the eight-person body, including the mayor, to have the goal placed on a large sheet of paper.

Once the goals had all been presented, the sheets of paper were posted on the wall, where directors and the mayor could vote on them. Voting was done by posting one of 10 stickers each director was given.

Of the 54 proposed goals, 36 received the three votes necessary to be considered as goals. Those goals will be sorted by city staff and the top 10 will be presented to the board later this

year, though City Administrator Phillip Patterson said there may be more than 10 goals that make the final list.

The first potential goal on the list was one of the most discussed. The goal, proposed by Director Brad Burns, is to direct staff to research the impact and feasibility of annexing some of the land north of city limits.

Burns said the issue was becoming more important with Gentry recently annexing a large area of undeveloped land. One of the potential issues with annexation that was discussed was the expenses associated with adding new users to Siloam Springs’ utility services. Patterson said there was a potential buy-out cost from the area’s current electricity provider.

Four of the other items that garnered significant interest were related to street and sidewalk infrastructure. First was a pair of goals addressing the medians on U.S. Highway 412. The goals are concerned with landscaping on the highway, which currently costs the city to maintain and puts mowers in close proximity to heavy traffic, Patterson said.

Alternatives were discussed, including decorative hardscape or lowmaintenance plants and grasses.

Next on the list was a proposed goal of creating a street maintenance master plan. Currently, the city is in the process of taking a survey of the streets in the area to determine which areas need improvement, and the priority of those improvements.

One of those areas is East Main Street, which was covered in a separate goal. Patterson said sidewalks along the east side of East Main Street were already in the sidewalk master plan, and while the west portion of East Main Street is also in the plan, it faces more design challenges, especially near the railroad overpass. Directors indicated their desire for more investigation into design options.

A fourth goal presented urged city staff to look into safe, less intrusive crosswalk options for pedestrians and cyclists.

A pair of proposed goals that received significant interest from board members covered the city’s response to a pair of new types of businesses.

The first was a goal of developing a “nano-brewery” policy. Currently, micro-breweries are allowed in the city, but Burns, who proposed the goal, said new regulations are needed for smaller operations. Micro-breweries are only allowed in the city if they are attached to a restaurant, Burns said, which does not allow for the new trend of smaller boutiques.

The second was the development of a policy on medical marijuana, which was legalized during the last election. Currently, the city has no regulations on medical marijuana, treating any potential dispensaries or growers as pharmacies, Patterson said. Originally, the goal was phrased as “prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries and growing facilities in city,” but that was changed to allow staff to explore regulations in addition to prohibition.

Other goals that received significant votes in the session were:

• encouraging economic development to increase tax revenue

• determining a future use of the city’s unimproved properties

• either renovating or relocating Fire Station 2

• developing a plan for water plant improvements

• improving park maintenance

• investigating possibility of installing recycling bins outside transfer station to allow for disposal of recyclable materials outside the station’s operating hours.