BENTONVILLE -- Plans to consolidate and move the city's maintenance and utility departments are moving forward as the Planning Commission approved the new complex's plans Tuesday.
Commissioners approved 6-0 the plans for the Bentonville Utility Complex, a property line adjustment at the site and rezoned the site from general commercial to light industrial. Commissioner Debi Havner was absent.
Commission action
Bentonville’s Planning Commission met Tuesday and approved:
• Property line adjustment for Food Hub on Southwest Eighth Street.
• Final plat for Cornerstone Ridge Phase IV at Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard and Southwest Rainbow Farms Road.
• Informal plat for lots 52 through 56 in Willowbrook Farms Subdivision Phase One on Southwest Shell Road.
Source: Staff Report
The campus will include the Street, Electric and Water Utilities departments, sewer rehab, the inventory warehouse, traffic sign and signal shop, fueling facility and vehicle wash facility.
It will provide a central location and room for expansion for all the departments, which are squeezed into 10 acres on Southeast Third Street, city officials have said since the land for the land was bought last year.
Complex plans include seven structures totaling 112,286-square-feet of industrial, warehouse and office space, according to the staff report. It will be on 37 acres along the south side of Southwest 28th Street, formerly Southwest Airport Road.
There will be 178 parking spaces, six of which will be handicap accessible. There will be 14 percent open space provided, according to the report. The exterior of the buildings will be of brick and architectural metal panels.
The project will also include the construction of Southwest Municipal Drive, a 30-foot-wide, 2,600-foot-long road connecting Southwest F Street south and Southwest 28th Street north, according to the report.
The project is estimated to cost $23 million, according to Mike Bender, public works director. The city has about $13.3 million available.
It will go out for bid early this fall, and construction is slated to start late fall, Bender said. It'll take 15 to 16 months to build.
The campus will be built with space for each department to move into at relatively the same time and with room for the addition of a fleet maintenance facility in the future, Mayor Bob McCaslin said.
Officials previously discussed building the campus in phases.
It was designed to accommodate the city's growth of up to 80,000 people, McCaslin said.
The city hired Hight Jackson Associates as the project's architect in December and Flintco as the construction manager for the pre-construction services in February.
NW News on 08/05/2015