PUBLIC VIEWPOINT Residents Will Never Like Body Shop

Ido not like them, Sam I Am. I do not like green eggs and ham!” Anyone who has read Dr. Seuss’ beloved story of Sam repeatedly encouraging the hero to eat green eggs and ham can relate to the Bella Vista City Council’s intentional disregard for us residents. On Nov. 25, it voted 5-1 to rezone property abutting Timbercrest Lane so a body shop could be built.

We residents presented certified appraisers and licensed realtors, all of whom testified an auto body shop would devalue our properties. The council never addressed this issue nor did they say why they felt this action would not devalue our properties. Did they, indeed, seek any input from experts?

There is no indication the council sought such input.

Instead, all who spoke for rezoning said Bella Vista is changing, and impliedwe residents who oppose this change are behind the times - or other less flattering adjectives. Even the Cooper Communities lawyer spoke of the need for change, since Bella Vista is no longer a village. Most of us on Timbercrest Lane bought lots from and had Cooper build our homes. We never anticipated Cooper would now sell property abutting ours for a purpose so deleterious to our neighborhood.

One councilman said he felt the council had addressed our concerns through the conditional use permit, where the owner will beautify the back of the lot. This ignores our major concern: no matter how much the site is beautifi ed, it will still contain an unwanted auto body shop. The phrase “putting lipstick on a pig” seems apt!

Another councilman (forthe second time) opined that in a year we would be happy with the body shop. I felt I was being addressed as a child (green eggs and ham) who could not understand the hard lessons life teaches, so a verbal pat on my head was suffcient. I was never satisfied with a brush oft as a child and am incensed by it as an adult.

Councilman Wilson, the lone dissenter, said he received 83 calls against the rezoning and less than 10 in favor. No other council member revealed their call statistics, other than to say most calls favored the auto body shop.

Today is a sad day for Bella Vista. This shortsighted council likely will continue to rezone lots to accommodate other businesses whose owners desire to locate on sites not appropriate for their business. What a shame thecouncil looks for short-time money at the risk of longtime loss. Like Sam I Am, they assure us “we will like it.” Like the hero, we won’t ever like green eggs and ham, or a body shop next to us.

KAREN WENZEL

Bella Vista A HEADLINE

FOR THE FUTURE The headline on Nov. 21 read “County’s Budget In The Red.”

On Nov. 22, a smaller headline read “Benton County Off cials OK Bonuses.”

Who is running the asylum in Benton County?

What day will the headline read, “Benton County Taxes To Increase?”

L.J. LOUVIERE

Bella Vista

Opinion, Pages 5 on 12/06/2013

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