Plan outlines Bentonville parks and recreation growth

NWA Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA GUTE David Wright (left), Parks and Recreation director, answers questions Tuesday from City Council members about The Play Bentonville plan, a 10-year plan for his department, at their meeting at the Community Development Building. The council approved the plan.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA GUTE David Wright (left), Parks and Recreation director, answers questions Tuesday from City Council members about The Play Bentonville plan, a 10-year plan for his department, at their meeting at the Community Development Building. The council approved the plan.

BENTONVILLE -- The city's parks system may become better connected and more balanced if a new plan for the Parks and Recreation Department is followed.

The plan, branded The Play Bentonville Plan, has three visions -- to create a looped trail system around the city, create four park quadrants to make sure amenities are more evenly distributed throughout the city and enhance parks to better serve residents.

Council action

Bentonville City Council met Tuesday and approved:

• An amended ordinance about moving historic buildings.

• A $30,186 bid from Frank Sharum Landscape for the annual Tree Planting Blitz in October.

• Declaring three bicycles from the Police Department as surplus.

• Spending $128,500 to move gas lines from Southwest I Street to Southwest Eighth Street.

• Paying Johnson Controls $34,665 for maintenanc at the Municipal Works Facility.

• A $8,177 change order for the Melvin Ford Aquatic Center renovation.

Source: Staff report

City Council adopted the plan Tuesday. Ward 1 council member Chad Goss was absent.

"The goal of this process was to create a plan that serves both the existing resident population as well as attract new development and top talent to contribute to Bentonville as an active, vibrant and exciting recreation destination to call home," David Wright, parks and recreation director, wrote to City Council.

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LaQuatra Bonci Associates of Pittsburgh created the plan, which took about nine months. It involved more than 25 public meetings and focus groups as well as two randomly distributed surveys.

The plan will guide the Parks and Recreation Department growth for the next decade.

The vision for a looped trail system includes connecting existing parks, new parks and neighborhoods together into a "seamless recreation network," according to Wright's memo.

The Razorback Greenway will be used on the city's east side, and the plan calls for creating a north-south trail on the city's west side.

The four quadrants will branch out from the north-south Walton Boulevard and west-east Eighth Street as they create physical barriers to park access, the memo states. The quadrants will allow the Parks and Recreation team to make sure parks and greenspace are distributed evenly throughout the city.

The plan calls for each quadrant to have trail access, a dog park, play spaces that can be used for different activities and courts for various games and sports.

Enhancing the department's vision makes recommendations of how the city's amenities can be redeveloped or built to better serve residents, according to the memo.

Highlights include looking at the parks to redistribute activity and pedestrian traffic to relieve pressure from the square, adding neighborhood amenities to each park throughout the city and elevating recreational fields to tournament-quality venues.

This section of the plan also calls for renovating Memorial Park to include a revamp of the skate park and adding a cricket pitch.

The plan includes a list of potential projects that, if each were completed, would cost between $62.5 million and $70 million, Wright told council members. He explained the city will continue to use partnerships -- such as with the Walton Family Foundation and Visit Bentonville -- and state grants to help with implementation.

"If we had everything we want, this would be it," Bill Burckart, Ward 3 council member, said of the plan. He went on to say he would like to have more in-depth conversations happen about prioritizing projects and how to pay for them in order to implement as much as possible each year.

"Nothing authorized tonight authorizes the expenditure of any money," Mayor Bob McCaslin said after the meeting. He explained any item $20,000 or more will need to go before City Council for approval.

"It does lay out some very high standards, and I would say this city is used to high standards," McCaslin said. "We wouldn't want to buy a parks plan that was mediocre or just average. We bought the absolute best, that's what we have in our hands."

Tom Hoehn, Ward 3 council member, described the plan as "ambitious and bold."

The Walton Family Foundation gave the city $200,000 to pay for the plan.

NW News on 08/23/2017

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