Hearing Set For Walton Boulevard Alcohol Sales

At A Glance

At A Glance

The Plan

The North Walton Boulevard plan covers:

113 acres between West Central Avenue and Ridgefield Drive

83 businesses

1,228 single-family homes

128 multifamily units

Source: www.bentonvillear.com

— The Planning Commission will listen to public comments Tuesday on the city’s plan for North Walton Boulevard and proposed regulations for the sale of alcohol in the newly wet Benton County.

The meeting is set to begin at 5 p.m. at the Community Development Building, 305 S.W. A St. Troy Galloway, director of community development, said he expects a large turnout for the North Walton public hearing.

The plan for the corridor, which runs from Central Avenue to Ridgefield Drive, is available on the city’s website at www.bentonvillear.com. Galloway will present a 10- to 15-minute talk on the plan at the meeting.

“I’ll cover the highlights,” he said. “I plan to give folks the CliffsNotes without them having to read every word of the plan.”

Residents will have the opportunity to give their thoughts on the plan after the presentation. Galloway said the planning office has already received feedback, both positive and negative, on the strategy. Most of the negative comments are from people concerned about the extension of Fifth Street from Bella Vista Road through to North Walton Boulevard, he said.

“The feedback has been mostly positive,” he said. “We have previewed elements of the plan to the small-business council at the Chamber of Commerce. They gave us a lot of positive feedback.”

City planners have worked for more than a year on the strategy designed to pump life back into the flagging economy and aesthetics of North Walton Boulevard. More than 100 residents voiced their input on improving the corridor in public information gathering sessions last year.

Drew Friedman is one of many North Walton residents who participated in the city’s planning sessions. He and his family purposely bought a home in north Bentonville because they felt it was an area on the verge of revitalization.

“We deliberately elected to live here,” he said at a meeting. “We’re very, very excited about the planning process.”

Key elements of the plan include updating architecture and landscaping and improving safety and accessibility. It would create three main activity nodes along the corridor at Tiger Boulevard, Northwest Fifth Street and West Central Avenue. The nodes would have a business anchor, public art, green space and crosswalks.

A merchant district is also planned to help business owners in the area. The city intends to develop zoning regulations and encourage mixed-use development, according to the plan.

Roger Thomas represents the area on the Bentonville City Council. He said he hopes the plan will be a boon for business owners and increase the property value of homeowners.

Planning commissioners also will hear from Bentonville residents on potential zoning regulations for package alcohol sales. The ordinance sets out what zoning districts will allow the different types of stores and other specifics regarding alcohol sales.

The state already mandates liquor stores be 1,000 feet from churches and schools. The city ordinance takes that one step further to require any business that sells alcoholic beverages of any kind must apply for a conditional use permit if it is located within 500 feet of any city park or trail.

Drive-up windows would be prohibited, and businesses could only sell alcohol between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Galloway told commissioners the hours may be earlier than other cities, but the city determined they “don’t want to be the last stop on the way home.”

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