BENTONVILLE -- The Benton County Planning Board voted 7-0 to approve a new plan for a glamping resort on Beaver Lake Wednesday after denying a plan for the project from the same applicants nearly two years ago.
Board member Vernon Reams made the motion to approve the plan for Contentment on Beaver Lake with the approval of county Fire Marshal Gary Yarno, the state Department of Health and the state Department of Energy and Environment after a public hearing.
Glamping is a form of camping in which the accommodations are more luxurious than traditional camping.
Contentment on Beaver Lake is planned to be built on seven parcels comprising 209 acres at 12200 Shockley Place Road.
Application materials submitted by Jason Appel, secretary/treasurer for Engineering Services Inc. in Springdale, pinpoint the site at about 8½ miles southeast from Rogers on the north shore of Beaver Lake. Gene and Candia Nicholas are the owner/developers for the property, which is planned to include the 21-acre resort and "extensive hiking and outdoor space."
Appel wrote in a narrative addressed to the Planning Board that the development will consist of 40 glamping tents and 12 covered wagons, as well as a lodge, pavilion and spa. Other planned features include an equipment rental space, a maintenance building/well house and a bathhouse, along with private systems for water distribution, sewer collection and storm drainage conveyance, according to a drainage report Engineering Services Inc. prepared for the project.
"The project will also include a sanitary sewer lift station and septic system," the report states. "All proposed roadways and street improvement will be privately maintained."
Appel noted in his narrative Gene and Candia Nicholas have secured approvals from the Health Department for the proposed water and septic systems. The water service will be facilitated by an existing on-site well, according to the meeting materials.
The Planning Board rejected an earlier version of the proposal in September 2022. Among the concerns board members raised at that time were the impact wastewater could have on Beaver Lake and the proposal having "too many unknowns, hypotheticals and threats." The project likewise faced pushback from the public.
This year's proposal met with similar opposition.
Attorneys Robert Rhoads of Fayetteville and Richard Mays of Little Rock wrote in a letter to the Planning Board dated Wednesday that they represent people and entities who own land adjoining and directly across the lake from the project.
"We, and our clients, are extremely concerned about the project in general, as it will completely change the character of the area from a quiet, pristine, natural setting, to one with non-compatible carnival-like tents, covered wagons and other structures and novelties that will generate traffic, crowds, lighting, noise and pollution of Beaver Lake and the groundwater in the area," the letter states.
Rhoads and Mays argued in a memorandum to the Planning Board the project is more of an "entertainment venue" than a campground and it would be more suitable for an urban setting than otherwise wooded, undeveloped lake-side property.
Rhoads attended Wednesday's meeting to present his concerns to the Planning Board personally during the public hearing. Six other residents also voiced their opposition.
Rogers attorney Brent Johnson, who represents the applicants, was present to answer questions from the Planning Board and respond to concerns, along with the architect for the project and a soil scientist.
"It's not an amusement park," Johnson said. "It's supposed to be a peaceful, tranquil place where you can go out and enjoy nature a little bit, camp, glamp, for people who don't necessarily like sitting in a tent."