Officials talk about Lake Bella Vista
Officials met with an estimated 100 members of the general public to gather ideas for a Lake Bella Vista park master plan last Thursday, Jan. 18.
Bentonville Parks and Recreation director David Wright told the audience that the meeting was specifically to look at amenities the community is interested in rather than the fate of Little Sugar Creek and the Lake Bella Vista dam, and suggestions and ideas in which people show an interest will be factored into a comprehensive plan for the park.
“I was really pleased with the turnout,” Wright said. “It’s been heated in the past, but people have rolled up their sleeves and they’re really working together.”
The parks department has been looking at three options for the
dam, he said, including removing and replacing it to keep the lake, removing the dam and letting the creek revert to a free-flowing stream or a hybrid option where some water would be diverted to create a smaller lake alongside a free-flowing stream. The design firm working on a park master plan, he said, will use the public input gathered last week to generate three master plans — one for each of the waterway options under consideration.
The designs, he said, will be generated from January to March and the infrastructure small group looking at this park is expected to review those conceptual designs and budgets in April. Ideally, he said, the city council will get a look at some sort of plan for the park in May or June, but this is not a hard date. The council will be given these three master plans with all available information, including budgets, to make an educated choice.
These plans were funded, he said, by a $98,000 Walton Family Foundation grant issued in October 2017.
Additional funding for the project, he said, may be available through FEMA. After the department met with FEMA and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management earlier this year, he said, it was revealed that FEMA could issue a grant for options other than dam replacement, meaning the city could have $3.1 million to work with for any of the proposed variations.
It’s worth noting, he said during an earlier meeting the same day, funding through FEMA has been an off-and-on affair.
“I don’t want to start counting money until it’s in our bank accounts,” Wright said.
Ron Miller with Friends of Little Sugar Creek, an organization promoting removal of the Lake Bella Vista dam, said that he was pleased to see a strong turnout, but he noticed nobody was calling for the dam to be rebuilt.
The room also showed some degree of consensus in wanting a more natural feel with amenities featuring the waterway, including possible wading or swimming areas and a kayak water trail — something Miller dubbed the “Razorback Blueway.”
“This park will realize its potential,” he said.
At one table, locals passed around a handful of ideas.
Participant Scott Comiskey said he’d like to see an amphitheater, as well as a handful of quiet, somewhat secluded places where people can sit and talk. Monuments showing the area and park’s history — covering the dam and the old golf course — would also be a nice addition, he said.
Adequate drainage, he said, is also important — when the creek floods, the city is wasting money on these amenities if they can’t survive the storm.
Bentonville resident Lowell Collins said she’d like to see a fresh, clean place to wade and chuck rocks into the creek, as well as other free-flowing water features and trails for hiking and biking — both dirt and paved.
Allen Milton said he’d be interested in seeing a pavilion with a grill, as well as primitive campsites and, in general, an atmosphere more like a state park than a typical city park, essentially meaning more trees and less concrete.
“The cool thing about that is it goes in line with everything we’re doing in the area,” he said.
Wright appreciated the input and he was glad to see progress, he said, but he expects there is a lot more work ahead.
“This process has been going on for a very long time. I’m not certain that we’re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “We’re in a lot better place than we were a year ago.”