Benton approves $350,000 plot purchase

Acre lot designated for police, fire stations; aim is lower insurance rates

BENTON -- Aldermen unanimously voted Monday to allow Benton Mayor David Mattingly to purchase property for a new fire station and police substation.

The owner of the 1.09-acre lot has agreed to sell the land for $350,000, City Attorney Brent Houston said before Monday's City Council meeting. The land currently sits in Saline County, but once the city acquires the property, officials can annex it into the city limits, he said. The landowner's offer would expire Sept. 12.

Mattingly has planned to build a new fire station and soon after request a new rating for its Fire Department, which could lower homeowners' insurance rates.

The Insurance Service Office provides evaluations to insurers nationwide. The private company rates fire departments on a scale from 1 to 10 based on each department's staffing, equipment, fire alarms, water supplies and access to fire hydrants.

Lower ratings mean lower homeowners' insurance.

Currently, the department's rating is a 3, but Mattingly hopes to lower it to a 2 with the construction of the new station. The mayor has said he hopes to finish a new evaluation by the end of 2016.

The station, to be located off Arkansas 5, will also serve the new shopping center known as Hurricane Creek. That nearly 37-acre center will be anchored by a Kroger Marketplace and an Academy Sports, and has been estimated to bring in more than 900 jobs, city officials have said.

If the mayor moves forward with the purchase, the property will also house the city's first police substation. Mattingly said Monday some six Benton police officers will likely go in and out of the building.

The approval for that measure came after surveys of the land, along with questions of how big the tract of land actually was. The landowner has some 5 acres there, but leases part of it to an automobile dealership, Houston said.

The fire station and police substation would still fit on the 1.09 acres, he said.

Also Monday, the City Council approved the rezoning of the Longhills neighborhood from a single-family zoned district to a planned unit development district. The approval, which came after a public hearing earlier this month, drew long applause from the crowd Monday night. Nearly half a dozen people spoke for the measure, and no one spoke against it.

The rezoning will allow the Lindsey Company to begin work on a 600-unit apartment complex at the site, which includes a golf course and swimming pool, according to city documents.

Jeff Collum, the superintendent at Benton School District, told the council that if one-third of the apartment residents have children, that would bring in about $1.5 million "in a constant revenue stream" to help the school district now and in the future.

The district has room for growth, he said, adding that it has just approved adding 400 to 600 more seats across its school district in the coming years.

Bud Busken, a stockholder in the Longhills Golf Course, pleaded with the council Monday to accept the rezoning.

"Longhills has been a part of this community since 1955," he said. "Many, many people played golf. Many, many people swam in the pool. Benton needs their golf course. We need it back. We need it back open."

Metro on 08/26/2014

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