Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
How we got here
■ 2000: Cooper Realty Investment transfers Lake Bella Vista to Bella Vista/Bentonville Trailblazers Association (now known as NWA Trailblazers) at zero cost so the organization would develop a trail around the lake and maintain the property as a park.
■ 2005: Trailblazers transfer Lake Bella Vista to Bentonville.
■ 2008: The Association of State Dam Safety Officials declared the dam “failed” after it was topped during a storm. The association cited “hydrologic deficiencies (and) faulty materials” as the cause.
■ September 2015: The Federal Emergency Management Agency commits $2.7 million to help replace the dam.
■ December 2015: City Council approves 7-1 a $478,800 contract for CP&Y to design the new dam. John Skaggs was the only council member who opposed the contract.
■ March 2017: The Army Corps of Engineers permit for a new dam expires. The issue of what to do with the lake and surrounding 135 acres was also transferred from the Engineering Department to the Parks and Recreation Department.
■ October 2017: Walton Family Foundation gives the city $98,960 for Ecological Design Group and the Watershed Conservation Resource Center develop three solutions for Lake Bella Vista.
■ May 2018: A task forces created to vet options votes to recommend a hybrid model where a stream flows past a man-made channel lake. ■ June 2018: Parks Advisory Board upholds the task force’s recommendation.
■ September 2018: Plans to present the recommendation and the other two options to City Council are postponed.