Benton County Ready For New Planning Rules

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's new planning regulations, after years of work, are about to take effect.

The Quorum Court approved the revised planning and development ordinance and a revised fee schedule last month. The new rules effect Friday, according to Rinkey Singh, planning director.

Singh, who has been with the county since August 2012, said the county last revised the ordinance in 1997. The update has been something planning staff, the Planning Board and justices of the peace have worked on for the past few years. John Sudduth, who oversees the Planning Department, said the aim is to simplify the planning process.

"The regulations were very convoluted," Sudduth said. "They were complicated and hard to read. One of the things I asked our people to do was to simplify things, to make them more functional and usable. That was a lot harder than most people would think."

Mike Curtis has served on the Planning Board since 2008. He became interested in the planning process during a controversy over condominiums on Beaver Lake. He later volunteered to serve on the board and was chairman in 2012 and 2013. Regulations just adopted are the second revisions he has worked on in his time on the board.

"I was chairman of the committee trying to change the commercial development regulations" Curtis said. "Even then we wanted to make them more 'use-friendly.' The small entrepreneurs had to go through the same process as an Allen Canning factory would have to go through. That didn't seem fair. So we developed a commercial development matrix with different requirements for small, medium and large developments. That was rejected by the Quorum Court. One of the criticisms was it was too general. But that was the impetus for this current revision."

The new rules should simplify the process and make it less burdensome on small developments and home occupations, Curtis said. Many requests that had to go through the full process of having engineered site plans, stormwater drainage studies and other highly technical requirements reviewed by the board now may be handled administratively by the planning staff. The impact of the old regulations on small businesses was one of the first things that struck him when he became involved in the planning process, Curtis said.

"I can remember this guy out on Highway 12 wanted to turn his garage into a taxidermy shop," Curtis said. "He had to have a site plan and a stormwater management plan. Plus, he had to pay $300 to do it."

Ashley Tucker, chairman of the Planning Board, said he thinks the revisions will simplify and streamline the planning process. The county still will put larger developments through a review process similar to what has been in place, although even that process has been worked on.

"The main thing is to simplify the ordinance so people who want to make a small, minor change to their property can do so without having to go thorough this onerous process," Tucker said. "At the same time the larger, more complex projects have a more clearly defined process."

Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4, is chairman of the Legislative committee. That committee held several meetings to review revisions to the ordinance before it was sent to the Quorum Court for approval. Allen said the process worked well and he's pleased with the results.

"I'm glad that it's about to go into effect. It's been a long time in the making," Allen said. "I think it's going to be a positive change for everybody involved and I'm looking forward to it."

The ordinance is better organized and drafted to be compliant with state codes, Sudduth and Singh said. County planning staff will continue to monitor the process with an eye toward any problems that might come up requiring additional changes, Sudduth said.

"It is a living document, so we know there will have to be tweaks of the details," Sudduth said. "We know we'll have to make changes."