Volunteer boards handle some city business

The city has three all-volunteer boards and commissions that handle specific types of business and examine issues related to municipal code.

The planning commission, the board of zoning adjustments and the board of construction appeals each work with Community Development Services, covering their own niche and handling issues that relate to city ordinances.

Community Development Services director Doug Tapp explained that members of these boards are all appointed by the mayor and approved by the city council.

The planning commission is the most prominent of these boards, meeting at 4:30 p.m. on the second Monday of each month with a work session 10 days prior.

The commission reviews and approves development proposals to ensure they comply with city codes and makes recommendations to the city council for rezoning parcels, as well as some larger city-wide plans.

Tapp explained that the commission also reviews issues in the city’s planning area, a space of unincorporated territory within one mile of Bella Vista’s border.

A recent example is a large scale development that was ultimately approved for the ReLeaf

Center, a medical marijuana dispensary alongside Benton County Road 40 that is located outside the city’s limits but inside its planning area.

It has also granted conditional use permits for things like the Bella Vista Arts and Crafts Festival and for a firework stand that crops up every year, he said.

Planning commission members are typically people experienced in planning, including engineers and former builders, he said.

“It’s a very experienced level,” he said.

The board of zoning adjustments reviews and decides on

appeals of staff interpretations of the city’s zoning code, hearing and voting on petitions for variances and deciding zoning district boundaries when a discrepancy arises.

The board of zoning adjustments meets at 5:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month, provided it has business.

Tapp said that, because a lot of Bella Vista lots are oddly shaped and setbacks tend to be different from one street to the next, it’s not uncommon for a house or a septic field to prove difficult to place on a given lot without adjustment to the setbacks.

The board also examines a lot of oddly-placed sheds or additional sheds and other accessory buildings, he said, and primarily weighs how disruptive the plan actually is.

“You look at it on a case-by-case,” he said.

The board of construction appeals is a semi-judicial body that reviews and decides on appeals of staff interpretations of municipal code related to construction.

The board’s single most common issue is requirements for a fence around a swimming pool for safety, he said. It also frequently looks at issues relating to the height of a structure or construction methods.

This board provides a neutral and experienced third party to review these appeals, he said.

“They’re not part of the staff and they’re not part of the builder,” he said.

These three boards tackle a wide array of issues that crop up with regard to city code, and it’s extremely helpful to get a few fresh sets of eyes on these issues, he said.

“They’re all three really good groups of people,” he said. “If the code doesn’t answer it, one of these boards will.”