GREENWOOD -- The city council expects to approve a contract soon to extend water service to 36 acres recently annexed at the northwest corner of Arkansas 10 Spur and U.S. 71.
Mayor Doug Kinslow said June 8 the James Fork Regional Water District, a rural water association, is working with the city to sell the water rights. He expressed hope a contract will be available for the City Council to consider during a special meeting, or its next regular meeting July 11.
The City Council approved annexing the 36 acres April 4. It covers six parcels owned by Jacob Burton of MJE Construction and is planned to be a mixed-use development called the Curve.
Sonny Bell, the city's planning director, has said the city needs to acquire the water rights to provide the Curve property water and fire protection services. The ordinance the City Council approved to annex this property says the city would extend these and other necessary urban services to the property within "a reasonable period of time."
Cheryl Garner, a Realtor with the Fort Smith-based Keller Williams Platinum Realty who's working with Burton to market the property, said commercial development essentially can't happen without utilities such as water and sewer, in addition to the ability for fire suppression. The Curve has several projects pending development on the property that can't move forward until the city secures these water rights.
"You always run the risk that a project will not move forward at all if you delay the timing of that project, and they look to where there's a more favorable location with regard to utilities," Garner said.
Garner has said the Curve is planned to be the site of developments such as multifamily buildings, multistory commercial buildings, restaurants, a high-end convenience story and a boutique hotel, as well as a new, larger facility for the Sebastian County library in Greenwood.
The Original Offer and Discussions
The City Council voted to table a proposal to acquire the water rights for the Curve property April 4 pending further discussion with the James Fork Regional Water District. The proposal would've allowed the city to purchase the rights for $79,112 contingent on the annexation of the property, and a 20-year extension of the city's water purchase contract with the district with an agreed upon water amount and purchase cost.
It also called for the city to purchase certain district customers along Center, Rockside, Shady, and Hillcrest streets, which are adjacent to the annexed property, within five years at an agreed upon price and subject to the annexation of this property.
The city suggested the district separate the purchase of the rights for the Curve property from those of the other water users, which amounts to 53 customers, at a meeting June 6, Kinslow said.
This was done both to expedite development for the Curve property and uncertainty as to whether that other property will be annexed within five years. Jeremy Shores of the Van Buren-based firm Hawkins-Weir Engineers calculated the cost to acquire the water rights for those 53 users at $214,000.
"We really wanted them to separate the two issues, let us settle on Burton's property, and then come back later with a letter of intent of some sort, an attorney's here so whatever that might look like, to say, 'We still are going to pursue these other users, but not today,'" Kinslow said.
Donnie Sandifer, general manager for the water district, confirmed Wednesday the district board met June 7 and still wants to work with the city on water rights.
The district also provided Greenwood figures to purchase the rights for the Curve and the 53 other customers separately, according to Sandifer.
"They wanted some figures to what we would expect or hope to get," Sandifer said. "So they've got them, and now we're just kind of waiting to hear back from them to see what their response is."
He declined to say what the prices were.
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NoneCurve Rezoning
Greenwood’s City Council approved rezoning the Curve property from R-1, single family residential district, to C-2, highway commercial district, at its meeting June 6.
Source: Greenwood