Rogers Officials Explain Vote On Lake Road Issue Discussion

— A scheduled discussion and vote on whether to keep Lake Atalanta Road open to traffic could have been held Tuesday, but would have been a moot point, city officials said Wednesday.

Mayor Greg Hines said two weeks ago he wanted aldermen to discuss and vote on the issue at Tuesday's meeting, but an issue surfaced late Tuesday that put a hold on that vote.

City Attorney Ben Lipscomb said his staff learned of the proposed vote Tuesday afternoon, and determined state law would have to be followed before the road could be closed, if the council voted to do so.

"It's just a park road. We own road and all the property around the road," Lipscomb said. "The only people we need to notify is ourselves. While that's true, we still have to follow state statute 14-301-100 that outlines the provisions for abandoning a street."

Under the law, notice of a public hearing must be given twice during a two-week period in the newspaper, and property owners must be notified of the meeting.

"What we did Tuesday was to correct a mistake before it was made. This gives the public one more opportunity to weigh in on the lake road issue, and that's a good thing," Lipscomb said.

Aldermen voted unanimously to schedule a public hearing about the possibility of abandoning the road. The meeting is set for 5 p.m. March 25 in Council Chambers of City Hall, 315 W. Chestnut St.

"I would like to put the road issue behind us so we can move on," Hines said Wednesday. "We could have voted on the issue Tuesday night, but it would have been non-binding. If no one protested, the vote might have stood, but it would have violated state statutes."

The audience area of Council Chambers was nearly full Tuesday night. Attempts to reach some residents who have spoken at previous meetings on the topic weren't successful by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

"Now we are back on the right track. If whether to close the Lake Atalanta road is the biggest problem we have in Rogers, we should feel very lucky," Hines said.

NW News on 03/13/2014

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