BENTONVILLE — A handful of Hiwasse residents are asking Benton County Judge Bob Clinard to let them annex their land into Gravette as many of their neighbors did earlier this year.
Clinard held a County Court hearing Tuesday on the petition for annexation but reached no decision.
The effort to have the Hiwasse community, which has been recognized as a settled community in Benton County for more than a century, annexed into Gravette was prompted by an effort by Bella Vista to annex the area through election. State law allows cities to annex areas in an election in which the voters of the area to be annexed and the voters in the city would be counted together. Given the relative size of the two communities, with Bella Vista having more them 25,000 residents and Hiwasse only a few hundred, Hiwasse residents chose to pre-empt the Bella Vista annexation vote by petitioning for annexation in to Gravette. That request was granted by Clinard after a hearing in February.
While February’s annexation concerned nearly 6,000 acres, Tuesday’s hearing was over the future of about 800 acres. Larry Holloway, who represented the petitioners, said they were motivated by the same concern prompting the earlier annexation.
“We always felt we were part of the Hiwasse community,” Holloway said, adding that by annexing into the smaller city of Gravette, the residents believe they will have a greater voice in how the area may develop.
Bryan Vernetti, an attorney representing Bella Vista, argued the annexation petition was technically deficient because the petitioners didn’t properly identify themselves as trustees of land owned by various trusts. Vernetti also argued state law blocks the annexation of land by cities unless certain condition are met and those conditions aren’t present in this instance.
“An area can’t be annexed into a city if it’s highest and best use is agricultural,” Vernetti said. “This area is farmland.”
Clinard said he would take the question under advisement and make his decision by Friday.