Plan expected to elevate Bentonville parks system

Plan process

BENTONVILLE — The Parks and Recreation plan could elevate the city’s parks system to one of the best in the country, officials said Thursday.

The goal is to build a parks system exceeding national standards, Fred Bonci told about 60 people who attended a public input session at the Bentonville Community Center.

Bonci is the principal of LaQuatra Bonci, a Pittsburgh-based consulting firm creating the Parks and Recreation plan for the last 10 months.

Numerous story boards LaQuatra Bonci Associates of Pittsburgh has been creating the Parks and Recreation plan since September. It used several focus groups, held an initial public brainstorming meeting and used two rounds of surveys to obtain community input. displayed maps and illustrations as well as lists of recreational ideas that could be implemented through out the city. The boards divided the city into four quadrants with Walton Boulevard dividing the city west and east and Eighth Street dividing it north and south.

Some focuses included increasing connectivity between park amenities and increasing green and recreational space on the west side of Walton Boulevard.

Dale Weeks and his fiancee Merritt Royal live in the city’s northwest where additional park space is proposed in the plan.

There’s a possibility that could increase their property value, Royal said.

“That investment that the city is making, that the community is making long-term is going to be a positive investment for us as well,” she said.

Weeks moved from Texarkana to Bentonville a week ago.

“You wouldn’t see this going on in other parts of the state,” he said of the plan. “This is wonderful. The city’s commitment to the parks system is phenomenal.”

It wasn’t until David Wright, parks and recreation director, was hired in 2008 that the city added recreation to its parks system, Mayor Bob McCaslin told those in attendance.

Wright and his team have built what is “approaching a world-class parks facility for a city nearing 50,000 people,” McCaslin said. “It’s been done with input from people like you.”

The last Parks and Recreation plan was adopted in 2007, and it’s an industry standard to have one done every 10 years.

It outlined $3.5 million in improvement to the parks system. The bond issue of 2007, which gave the Parks Department $15 million, and community partnerships allowed the city to spend closer to $40 million on amenities over the past decade.

The investment already made in Bentonville’s parks system along with the city’s

demographic and expected growth have allowed the plan to go beyond addressing the normal wants and needs of a department, Bonci said Wednesday.

Other recommendations — such as rock climbing and zip lining — are more unique, adventurous and could elevate the park and recreation’s status, he said.

“Bentonville is an amazing town, and this is an amazing plan,” resident Kathy Travis said. “This will only add to the desirability of this area.”

Travis attended the meeting to be an involved resident but said better and safer sidewalks are a need for the northwestern area that she lives in.

Friends of Little Sugar Creek were pleased to see there were three options for Lake Bella Vista dam and surrounding area.

The nonprofit group advocates for the failed dam’s removal and for Little Sugar Creek to return to its free flowing state. The city had plans to rebuild it until the federal money to do it expired in May. A lawsuit involving Friends and federal agencies has also been dismissed.

The three options included rebuilding the dam, removing the dam and one where the stream flows past a man-made pond.

“It’s really encouraging that it’s not an opposition to our opposition,” Ron Miller, member of Friends, said about the plan including three possibilities rather than just a recommendation to rebuild the dam. “It’s encouraging to see that they’re (city officials) willing to listen to their constituents.”

Miller said the Friends group would still like to see the creek restored to its natural state but would be open to a compromise to something similar to the hybrid option in the plan.

Officials will polish the plan before it goes before City Council for approval in July.

“Bentonville is an amazing town, and this is an amazing plan. This will only add to the desirability of this area.” — Kathy Travis, Bentonville resident