Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Fayetteville Council opposes hog-farm bill with vote on resolution
FAYETTEVILLE — The City Council on Tuesday made clear its position against a proposed bill working its way through the Legislature to change the state agency responsible for handling hog farm permits.
The council voted 6-0, with members Sonia Gutierrez and Matthew Petty absent, on a resolution expressing the council’s support for clean water and its opposition to Senate Bill 550.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, would have the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, not the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, issue or deny permits for hog
farms. Stubblefield has said the change is necessary because owners of both poultry and hog farms have to get their nutrient-management plans approved at different state agencies. Additionally, farmers could waive the public notice and comment requirements under the current permitting process.
Stubblefield also has said the bill isn’t about C&H Hog Farms in Newton County, whose new-permit application was denied last year by the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Council member Teresa Turk sponsored the resolution, which wasn’t on the council’s agenda but walked on with a unanimous vote. Turk asked City Attorney Kit Williams to draft the resolution and for it to be on Tuesday’s agenda because the Legislature could have voted on the bill before the council’s next meeting.
Central Arkansas Water, the state’s largest water district, has spoken out against the bill, saying it would allow animal waste in public drinking reservoirs. Beaver Water District in Northwest Arkansas wrote to the city saying the Natural Resources Commission has fewer experienced pollution and water-safety experts than the Department of Environmental Quality, and less authority to protect water from animal operations.
“There will be a lack of monitoring, a lack of oversight,” Turk said. “I think it’s cause for concern for our region because we all get our drinking water from Beaver Lake.”
Council member Mark Kinion, chairman of the Water, Sewer and Solid Waste Committee, said the legislation would override the steps the city has taken to protect watersheds.
“It seems like Fayetteville is targeted,” he said. “I’m not trying to be paranoid, but we have so many things where we’re working so hard in Northwest Arkansas only to be sidelined by our state Legislature.”
Mayor Lioneld Jordan thanked Turk for bringing the resolution forward.
“I think this is one of the worst pieces of legislation I have seen in a while,” he said.
In other business, the council amended a rezoning request for about half an acre on Montgomery Street east of School Avenue, south of the Fulbright Expressway. The property is zoned for single-family homes up to four units per acre and would change to a residential multifamily district up to six units per acre under the amendment.
The amendment adds a bill of assurance limiting potential development to single-family homes or duplexes no higher than two stories. Three-story homes are possible under the current zoning.
Five people spoke Tuesday. The ordinance to rezone will appear again at the April 2 meeting.
Another rezoning request for 2 acres at Whippoorwill Lane and Crossover Road, south of Mission Boulevard, also will appear again at the April 2 meeting. The property would change from a residential single-family zone allowing four units per acre to one allowing eight units per acre. Ten people spoke against the proposal Tuesday.
The council also left on its first reading raising the rates to developers for parkland dedication fees. Developers of new property can either dedicate land for a park or pay a fee instead. The onetime fees would change from $920 per unit for single-family to $1,089, and from $560 to $952 for multifamily.