BENTONVILLE -- An upcoming rezoning request has city officials recognizing a tension between increased activity at the municipal airport and development growth on and around Southwest I Street.
Officials are discussing ways to encourage development in the southwest corridor in such a way that won't cause future conflict with municipal airport activity.
Airport growth
“The west side is the new frontier, if you will,” Ben Peters, city engineer and airport manager, said of how the airport will continue to grow. “It’s going to be the area for expansion for all of our needs.”
A parallel taxiway is key to being able to expand on the west side. Peters said he anticipates applying for a Federal Administration Aviation grant to complete the taxiway’s design this year with the possibility of funding the first phase of construction in the 2017 budget.
Source: Staff report
Web Watch
For more information and to keep up to date with the creation of the Bentonville Community Plan, visit www.hlplanning.com/….
The recently approved Airport Master Plan Update can be viewed in its entirety at www.bentonvillear.c…. It is under “Airport Master Plan” on the right side of the page.
Source: Staff report
Ben Peters, city engineer and airport manager, informed the Airport Advisory Board of a few upcoming rezonings of land partially in airport zoning designations.
Municipal airports around the country have fallen victim to poor development planning, which has often led to reduced flight operations or complete shutdowns. A development strategy for Southwest I Street hasn't been a prime focus for city planners as they've been busy working to upgrade downtown standards to keep up with rapid growth there.
It's a good problem to have, said Troy Galloway, community and economic development director.
"A growing community like ours, it's kind of like whack-a-mole," he said of development hot spots through out the city. "You think you've got one of them beat back and managed and then there's another mole poppin' out of a hole."
The zones
The airport has four zones, A-D, surrounding it. Zone A and B have the most concern when it comes to development occurring in those spaces, Peters said.
Zone A consists of two triangles, one at each end of the runway. It's the area that's most likely to see plane crashes if something went awry on landing or takeoff, officials said. Because of that, there's a consensus there should be no development in that zone that encourages people to stay overnight or to congregate in large crowds.
Zone B is an oval that includes certain distances on each side of the runway. The concern with development in that zone is the height of structures and increased noise the area would experience being so close to air traffic, officials said.
An upcoming rezoning request that was discussed at length at the last Airport Advisory Board meeting concerns land on the west side of Southwest I Street parallel to the southern end of the runway. Peters said there's a developer who is interested in rezoning it to a high-density residential zoning, which would allow for an apartment complex.
The east side of the property is in the airport's Zone B.
Residents who could potentially live in that zone may hear an increase in air traffic noise, especially as the airport is expected to see an increase in jet activity, Peters said.
"You may feel like it's fine to build apartments right here, right now, but remember the airport is going to grow," he said. "It's anticipated, and we want it to grow. We're trying to avoid future conflicts."
Airport and area growth
The airport's total operations -- landings and departures -- increased from about 18,100 in 2004 to 27,420 in 2014, according to the airport's recently completed master plan update. The number of based aircraft -- operational aircraft that are housed at the airport for the majority of the year -- saw a dip from 42 to 31 from 2004 to 2013, but more than doubled to 63 in 2014.
Interest in hangar development on the airport's west side suggests the numbers will continue to increase.
Workers are moving dirt for the construction of two hangars. Two more hangars are going through the design approval process, according to Peters. People have made deposits to hold eight spots on the west side, which can't be built until the parallel taxiway is in place to give planes access from the hangars to the runway, he said.
At the same time, the southwest corner of the city has also seen growth. The Fire Department added Station No. 6, the Bentonville Community Center opened, Southwest I Street was improved, Arkansas 12 is being widened, the airplane manufacturing building is nearly complete on the east side of Southwest I Street and an apartment complex is being built south of the airport, across Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard.
National trend
The encroachment of incompatible development around an airport is "at the heart of most airport closures today," according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's "Guide to Airport Noise and Compatible Land Use."
What typically happens is an airport is built in "the middle of nowhere" then neighborhoods begin to develop around it as population increases over time. Residents then complain about noise, and the airport is shut down, said Adam Williams, manager of airport policy for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
"There's a long history with this kind of issue," he said, citing the controversy around the Santa Monica Airport in California as just one of many examples.
The Santa Monica Airport recently has been in headlines as the Federal Aviation Administration ruled this week the airport is to remain open until 2023 despite the city's efforts to shut it down.
It's been a point of contention for years as nearby residents have complained about noise, pollution and safety. An aerial photo of the airport on the Air and Space Smithsonian Magazine website shows the runway and associated buildings surrounded by thousands of rooftops.
Williams said the association has been involved with that situation for more than 40 years.
"Effective planning can eliminate this conflict and ensure that airports remain open with the support of the communities they serve," the association's guide states.
A city comprehensive plan is one of the best tools to help mitigate incompatible development around a municipal airport, Williams said.
"If your comprehensive plan isn't there, then there really isn't a way for the development to be done responsibly," he said.
Local plan
The Bentonville Community Plan, a citywide comprehensive plan that will guide growth for 15-20 years, is on schedule to be finished by the end of this year. It will include recommendations to help guide development around the airport, Galloway said.
Those recommendations would allow the city's comprehensive plan to be "snap linked" with the airport's recently updated master plan, he added.
"We will be in a much better position to make solid recommendations to the Planning Commission based on a future plan and not one that's almost 10 years old now," he said.
Yet, time is of the essence, and Galloway said he believes rezoning requests and development plans submitted prior to the completion of the Community Plan will see some sort of compromises based on their location, how much they encroach into zone B and an evaluation of risk based on information available.
Part of the challenge is that there hasn't been a clearly defined vision for the development of Southwest I Street as planning officials have been focused on other areas of town, such as downtown and North Walton Boulevard, Galloway said. It's always been the intention, however, that the area around the airport would include some residential development.
"It's kind of like all of the sudden it's on us," he said. "It wasn't that many years ago that the municipal airport was not as vibrant as it is today. Their success has forced the conversation, which is good."
Another challenge for development on Southwest I Street is the ambiguity of what it is permissible within the airport zones, officials said.
"The zones that we have don't definitively define exactly what can and should happen," Peters said. "They're more of a guide, and we have to take each development on a case-by-case basis to check its compatibility with the airport."
The rezoning request on Southwest I Street hasn't been presented to the Planning Commission yet, but Airport Advisory Board members have made the request that part of the property fronting Southwest I Street be reserved for commercial development to help act as a buffer between the airport and residential housing.
NW News on 08/22/2016