Lawsuit filed over approval of glamping resort

Planning board OK’d project in March

BENTONVILLE — A lawsuit has been filed to prevent the building of a camping resort on Beaver Lake.

The lawsuit is an appeal of a March decision by the Benton County Planning Board to approve a plan for the resort.

Attorneys for Emerald Valley, E. Kirk Neely, individually and as managing member of Emerald Valley, and Ann Yancey filed the lawsuit April 19 in Benton County Circuit Court against the Planning Board.

The lawsuit states Emerald Valley owns property near the proposed camping site and Neely occupies and uses the property owned by Emerald Valley. Yancey lives on property near the site, according to the complaint.

The resort, Contentment on Beaver Lake, is planned to be built on seven parcels comprising 209 acres at 12200 Shockley Place Road. It plans to use glamping, a form of camping in which the accommodations are more luxurious than traditional camping.

Application materials submitted by Jason Appel, secretary/treasurer for Engineering Services Inc. in Springdale, pinpoint the site at 8½ miles southeast of Rogers on the north shore of Beaver Lake. Gene and Candia Nicholas are the owner/developers for the property, which is planned to include the 21-acre resort and “extensive hiking and outdoor space.”

Appel wrote in a narrative addressed to the Planning Board the development will consist of 40 glamping tents and 12 covered wagons, as well as a lodge, pavilion and spa. Other features planned for the resort include an equipment rental space, a maintenance building/well house and a bathhouse, along with private systems for water distribution, sewer collection and storm drainage conveyance, according to a drainage report Engineering Services Inc. prepared for the project.

The Planning Board voted 7-0 to approve the plan at its March 20 meeting.

The lawsuit contends the proposed development is incompatible with the adjacent land uses in the area and the Planning Board failed to adhere to the county’s ordinance requiring greater setbacks and noise reduction for proposed and implied uses for open air theater, amusement and recreation. The lawsuit also claims the resort could impact the area’s groundwater, aquifers and the Beaver Lake watershed.

The Planning Board voted to deny an earlier version of the proposal for this project in September 2022. Among the concerns board members raised at that time were the impact wastewater from the glamping site could have on Beaver Lake and the proposal having “too many unknowns, hypotheticals and threats.”

Yancey was one of the people who spoke out against the proposal at the 2022 meeting.

Brent Johnson, attorney for the Nicholases, said he was aware of the notice of appeal and has talked with his clients. He said his clients are not a party in the case but will take the appropriate actions to intervene if the case proceeds further.

The appeal is assigned to Benton County Circuit Judge Christine Horwart.