Planning Review Scheduled

Meeting Held To Hear Overview Of Revisions

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

— Benton County’s justices of the peace will do a chapter-by-chapter review of the county’s proposed new planning regulations, with the first session set for Jan. 15.

The Legislative Committee of the Benton County Quorum Court met Monday to hear an overview of the revised development regulation and decide how to proceed.

Chris Ryan, the county’s planning and environmental director, went through a presentation setting out the organization of the new rules, in what has commonly been called “the Blue Book” for land use and development in the unincorporated areas of Benton County. Elizabeth Bowen, the county’s administrator of general services, said the presentation Monday was “a 30,000-foot view” meant to familiarize the justices of the peace with what has been done.

At A Glance

What’s Next

The Legislative Committee of the Benton County Quorum Court is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Jan. 15, 2013, in the Quorum Courtroom at the Benton County Administration Building. The justices of the peace will begin their formal review of the county’s proposed revision of its planning regulations. The material to be discussed will be posted on the county website at www.co.benton.ar.us.

Source: Staff Report

Ryan said the revision of the land use and development regulations has been ongoing since at least 2005, when a committee of residents was established to work on the regulations. That effort produced historic preservation regulations and the formation of a historic preservation council, but unsuccessfully promoted the idea of county zoning regulations, Ryan said.

A subsequent effort to revise the regulations produced a development “matrix,” which separated development projects by size among three categories. That proposal was rejected by the Benton County Quorum Court in 2010 and the county’s Planning Department staff began a complete rewrite of the planning regulations in 2011. That draft revision has been completed and will now be reviewed by the justices of the peace.

Ryan said the revisions have been sent to cities in the county, developers, the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission and other interested parties for comments and subsequent revisions will also be sent out for review and comment.

County Judge Bob Clinard said he wants to make sure there is public involvement in the process as well.

“We need to get the public involved, we need to let them know why we need to clean up our planning regulations,” Clinard said. “We’re making these changes for the benefit of our taxpayers, that’s the only reason we’re making these changes.”

Justice of the Peace Dan Douglas, chairman of the Legislative Committee, said during the discussion the revised rules need to be scrutinized closely. He questioned some of the definitions, reading out one dealing with pollution he said could be applied to activities no one would suppose they were meant to be applied to.

“This can get so complicated,” Douglas said. “The devil is in the details and it needs to be examined closely.”

Justice of the Peace Kevin Harrison said he’s concerned by the county’s use of a “compatibility” requirement in determining whether a project should or should not be approved.

“When you get into compatibility, you get into basically zoning,” Harrison said. “That’s where we’re going to be bombarded by people out in the county about this. We have got to be very careful.”

The committee agreed to do a chapter-by-chapter review of the proposed regulations, with chapters 1 through 4 being the topic for the next meeting. Bowen said the material to be discussed will be posted on the county website and on the Legislative Committee “dashboard” which includes agendas, minutes of meetings and supporting documents.

The committee also briefly reviewed the county’s legislative agenda for the 2013 session of the state Legislature. The justices of the peace voted to have a proposal to revise the division of the county road millage included as a priority item for 2013, Most cities divide road millage with their county government on a 50-50 basis but previous legislation has given some cities, including Rogers, Bentonville and Siloam Springs, a 90-10 split. Benton County lost a lawsuit over the division of the revenue in 2008.