Bentonville to continue to deal with growth in 2017

A view of the Southeast 8th Street corridor Saturday between Moberly Lane and Interstate 49 in Bentonville. Demolition and utility relocation work is underway for the Eighth Street project, which will widen the road and add a new interchange with the interstate.
A view of the Southeast 8th Street corridor Saturday between Moberly Lane and Interstate 49 in Bentonville. Demolition and utility relocation work is underway for the Eighth Street project, which will widen the road and add a new interchange with the interstate.

BENTONVILLE -- Visible work on the Eighth Street Improvement Project and completion of the maintenance and utilities complex will be a couple of highlights in 2017, according to elected officials.

The $27.6 million complex, on 37 acres on the south side of Southwest 28th Street, will house several departments shoehorned into 10 acres on Northeast Third Street.

Meeting schedule

The Bentonville City Council will host its first meeting in 2017 at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Community Development Building at 305 SW A St.

To see the agenda, visit www.bentonvillear.c….

Source: Staff report

Eighth Street work

Southwest Eighth Street from Southwest E Street to South Walton Boulevard will be closed beginning at 3 a.m. Thursday, according to a news release. The street is scheduled to open by 6 p.m. March 12. The closing is to complete utility installation as part of the Eighth Street Improvement Project. Detour routes will be posted.

Source: Staff report

"That is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most municipalities," said Mayor Bob McCaslin. "It's on track. It's slightly under budget at this point. We anticipate being able to occupy over there very near the midyear 2017."

The complex will provide a better work environment for employees and enhance the services to residents, said Ward 2 Alderman Chris Sooter.

The Eighth Street Improvement Project is one McCaslin said he thinks about multiple times a day.

"Just in its enormity, it's intimidating," he said.

It includes building an interchange at Interstate 49 and widening Eighth Street to five lanes from the interstate to Moberly Lane. It also will widen the road to four lanes with a raised median between Moberly Lane and Southwest I Street.

The project, announced in 2005, has been largely invisible until a few months ago. The land and right of way acquisition is the hardest part of the project logistically, officials have said.

Buildings have been demolished along Eighth Street, and work on the interchange is underway. The west section of Southwest Eighth Street will be closed from Thursday to March 12 to move utilities, which will take more than a year to complete from I-49 to South Walton Boulevard.

The cost of the project won't be known until the construction is bid. McCaslin estimates it's "well above $70 million." It will be paid for with federal, state, city and Wal-Mart money.

"Transportation projects will continue to be a major portion of our focus this year," Sooter said, identifying the city's largest challenge as the speed of its growth and the amount of infrastructure required to support it.

Ward 3 Alderman James Smith said he'd like for city officials to consider developing another traffic plan outlining the next "wave of street improvements" as Northwest Arkansas and Bentonville continue to grow.

The list of improvements created with the bond issue of 2007 is nearly finished, but "severe traffic congestion" remains, he said.

Smith also said there should be a discussion on bike trail maintenance as the city's trail system continues to grow.

The city has 29 miles of hard-surface trails and is in the process of getting more. About 11 miles were built with city money or federal grants. About 5 miles were built with a partnership between the city and Walton Family Foundation, and about 13 miles with Walton Family Foundation grants or private money, according to David Wright, parks and recreation director. Once built, those trails were donated to the city.

Historically, many of the donated trails were maintained by volunteers. The City Council agreed to add $75,000 in the 2016 budget to help with trail maintenance.

"That's a real asset that we have," Smith said of the trail system. "I don't know who should bear the responsibility of that [maintenance]."

Smith said the main issue he'd like to see the city address early in 2017 is its rules and procedures for public comments at City Council meetings.

"I want our City Council to have an open public comment period so that constituents who have things that we need to hear have access to us as a group," Smith said.

The city's policy is anyone wanting to address the council can do so at the beginning of a meeting as long as it pertains to an agenda item, a restriction Smith said he'd like to see removed.

The City Council will convene for the first time this year Tuesday. It will welcome its one new member, Chad Goss, who will join Stephanie Orman in representing Ward 1, which covers the city's northeast corner.

"I'm excited to dive in," he said.

Goss, who has lived in Bentonville for 30 of his 32 years, recently met city department heads and staff through an orientation to the city.

"The city of Bentonville is in a great spot," he said of what learned through the orientation. "It's on a great growth platform."

In his first year of his first, two-year term, Goss said he wants to "really get to understand" each city department, learn what their goals are and what challenges they face, and how City Council can help mitigate them.

NW News on 01/09/2017

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