Highfill accepts police vehicle transfer, bid on community building windows
HIGHFILL — In addition to rezoning a large portion of Highfill to industrial, the council approved resolutions accepting the transfer of a Dodge Durango from the Bentonville Police Department, accepting a bid for replacing windows in the community building, and heard from a representative of Republic Services regarding a trash contract bid with the city.
The council approved a resolution accepting the transfer of a Dodge Durango from the Bentonville Police Department to the Highfill Police Department. The transfer indicates that Highfill accepts the vehicle as it is.
According to Blake Webb, Highfill’s police chief, the Durango was used by a Bentonville school resource officer and was not used as a patrol vehicle. He said the vehicle has less miles on it than any other department police vehicle and expressed his gratitude to Bentonville for transferring the vehicle to Highfill to help fill the gap for the department which has been short on reliable patrol vehicles. Webb said he anticipated that the Rogers Police Department would also be transferring patrol vehicles if the city of Rogers approves.
Webb said that much of the equipment from the city’s Dodge Charger would be transferred to the newer vehicle, with a minimal amount needing to be purchased (possibly a radio and some striping). The Charger, which is not running, will be sold by sealed bid.
The council accepted the bid of Morris Beck Construction to build and replace the windows of the community building. Stacy Digby, Highfill’s mayor, said the building’s siding would be removed first, possibly with jail inmate work crews, and repairs made to restore the siding, as close as possible, to its original condition. The windows will be ordered, and Digby said the siding work can be completed while the city is waiting for the windows to be built.
The goal of the work is to restore the building and eventually include it on the register of historic places. The building was once a school house in Highfill and replaced an earlier school in the Hoover Community.
The bid of $20,715 for the windows and costs for any needed siding repair and repainting will be paid out of grant money the city was awarded for the restoration project. According to Digby, the city has approximately $28,000 available for the restoration work.
In another resolution, the council adopted the Benton County Hazard Mitigation Plan, a plan developed for the county in connection with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. The resolution makes the city of Highfill a participant in the county plan.
Jennifer Fagan, representing Republic Services, spoke in regard to the trash services offered to the city in the company’s bid. Two other companies bid to provide trash collection services to the city and may send representatives to next month’s meeting — a meeting Fagan will not be able to attend due to previous plans. The council is expected to take up the bids and decide on a service for the new year at the October meeting.
GENTRY — Sidewalks and swinging signs were on the Gentry Planning and Zoning Commission agenda for Thursday night.
David McNair, Gentry’s public works director, recommended that new subdivisions include sidewalks down one side of the street so that a complete sidewalk be built down each street and the city not be left with the cost of building sidewalks in the gaps left by vacant lots or lots on which no homes are built. He said builders would be responsible to repair sidewalks broken or damaged during home construction.
Planning commission members discussed requirements for subdivisions and suggested additional study be done so that the city’s requirements are not so high as to keep developers from choosing to put in housing developments in Gentry. Among items discussed were sidewalk requirements and street widths.
Commission members agreed the sidewalk issue was more complex than just requiring completed sidewalks in subdivisions and planned to take more time to compare Gentry’s requirements to those of other cities of similar size in northwest Arkansas and to consider how best to develop a plan which would both attract developers and also provide needed infrastructure for the residents of Gentry.
Additional work to clarify language in a proposed ordinance which would allow swinging signs and fixed signs which extend out at an approximate 90-degree angle from a business building front will be done before the proposed ordinance is brought back for approval by the commission and a recommendation to the city council for passage.
The proposed ordinance would allow Gentry businesses to hang swinging signs of up to eight square feet with a limit of one per business entrance and allow corner businesses to have an additional sign on the side street. The signs would be required to have a clearance of 80 inches or more from the ground or sidewalk and could not extend over the roadway.
Also proposed is to allow fixed signs of the same size to extend out from the building but require clearance from the ground or sidewalk be a minimum of eight feet.
Also discussed were zoning requirements and possible changes to zoning for property in the 100 block of South Nelson Avenue and on S. First Street to allow modification to a residence there. Changes from the current industrial zoning to residential were discussed but the commission thought it would be best if the property owners in the area petition for the rezoning which best suits their needs.
Several homes are located in the industrial zone and any changes to the external footprint of the homes, such as building an attached garage or a home addition, are not permitted in an industrial zone since the existence of the homes was grandfathered in. Changes could be allowed in a residential zone.