Comprehensive plan meeting sparks ideas

Approximately 60 people showed up for the second public input meeting for the city’s comprehensive plan process, where planners listened to the public’s thoughts on the city’s future.

Graham Smith, associate vice president with Gould Evans — the design firm working on the comprehensive plan — said the current step is building a community framework, which is a way to discern what should be done based on what people have said they want.

“Think about future,” he said. “We’re going to drill that into more specific actions and strategies.”

The firm is roughly halfway through the project’s 10-month study period.

“After this meeting we’re about to pivot from listening … to putting together, on paper, some ideas for how the community can move forward,” Smith said.

The plan is intended to guide the city into 2040. Smith said that, in the next 20 years, Bella Vista’s population is projected to nearly double. Additionally, he said, the median age is dropping rapidly, meaning Bella Vista is becoming a younger community.

For this session, Smith presented a graph showing two ends of a spectrum for two relatively extreme looks at what the city could become in the next couple decades. Attendees were polled on various facets of the community to build a framework, with a line to mark and display where each respondent believes they stand between those extremes.

“Given the current political climate, this is not tied to left or right in that manner,” he said. “What we understand, and hope you all understand as well, is all of these are tied together.”

A decision on any one aspect, he said, will affect others.

Among these frameworks, Smith talked about the city’s identity with two proposed extremes — one in which the city changes very little, while another, labeled Village 2040, would see the city transition into a series of villages, with commercialized hubs readily accessible to those nearby.

Another was development, with proposal that the city’s development pattern remain similar to today — primarily residential with commercial development on main roads — or a village scenario with mixed uses. Mobility was also on the table, with the option to focus on cars and trucks or transition to multimodal transportation — that is to say an emphasis on pedestrian-and-cyclist-friendly infrastructure.

Economic development, he said, could focus on travel corridors, much like it does today, or be more targeted to specific areas. Along similar lines is productivity, he said, which could follow a pattern like today’s Bella Vista or move toward the Village 2040 proposal.

He also discussed governance. Today, he said, the city has several players providing services. Under the village model, the city would work to transition to a more traditional model, where the city provides the majority of services, like utilities. If this happened, he said, the cost structure for residents

would likely change.

“You have a lot of different entities that are providing services, and that’s the current model. And if that’s the most efficient way to do it, go for it,” he said.

Attendee and Bella Vista resident Dave Winchell said that he didn’t believe the power structure in the city worked well. The POA has the majority of the income, he said, while the city has the majority of expenses.

But he’s also concerned, he said, that the city could grow excessively.

He lived in Friendswood, Texas, he said, which started out similar to Bella Vista but grew immensely when it began advertising. It quickly became too crowded, he said, and he moved out because of it. He was afraid to see the same thing happen in Bella Vista, he said.

“What I don’t want is a city that is so badly crowded in with malls and hotels that (U.S. Highway) 71 becomes an absolutely dead place or a parking lot,” he said. “I moved here because of the beauty of

the area, the slow growth.”

Jim Townsend with Gould Evans spoke with Winchell.

“You’re hitting on a very important part of this whole exercise,” Townsend said. “What you, as a resident of the city of Bella Vista are up against, is a city that was incorporated based on a development.”

Growth, he said, is all but impossible to control, but a city can prepare for it.

The city, he said, is primarily residential and is going to have a hard time sustaining itself without raising taxes or reducing services.

“You have to make up that difference to get to a self-sufficient point,” he said.

Winchell said he’d like to see a greater deal of collaboration between the city and the POA. If the POA used its resources to help with maintenance, he said, the city would have a reduced burden and be more effective.

John Nuttall, who serves on the POA’s board of directors, approached Winchell and said the

POA doesn’t have that sort of wealth. He suggested Winchell take a look at the POA’s budget.

After the initial exercise, groups talked among themselves to form a more overall set of opinions on the various topics and made suggestions for the process.

Planners were told that Bella Vista shouldn’t become another Rogers, that it should capitalize on its natural beauty, that perhaps the city shouldn’t be in charge of everything, and it’s important to attract high-tech industries and establish paved bike and pedestrian paths that are more accessible.

Smith said the session is going to be helpful, though it’s hard to say much based on the discussions alone. Until the firm can look at the responses and establish patterns, he said, it’s hard to say much.

“Once we’re able to kind of digest all the comments, the direction we get tonight is going to help guide us,” he said.

But it’s important to note, he said, that any changes the plan makes need to be appropriate for Bella Vista.

“Based on the input, I think people are open to change,” Smith said. “I think the critical piece is defining what the change will be.”