Bentonville Recognized For Development Plans

BENTONVILLE -- The city's work to revitalize downtown and its plan to extend the heart of downtown received state recognition at Arkansas' fall American Planning Association Conference.

Troy Galloway, community development and economic director, was at the conference in Little Rock last week where Bentonville received awards for Achievement in Plan Implementation for its Downtown Master Plan and Achievement in Comprehensive Design for its Southeast Downtown Area Plan.

At A Glance

Downtown Plans

The Downtown Master Plan includes the area that reaches north to Northwest Seventh Street, east to Southeast J Street, south to Southwest 14th Street and west to South Walton Boulevard. The Southeast Downtown Area Plan includes the area that is bounded by East Central Avenue to the north, Southeast J Street to the east, Southeast 10th Street to the south and Southwest B Street to the west. Both can be viewed on the Planning Department’s page on the city’s website: www.bentonvillear.c…

Source: City of Bentonville

The plan implementation award recognized the implementation of the downtown plan over the last 10 years, Galloway said.

The plan was approved by the City Council in December 2004.

"It doesn't seem that long ago, but it was," Galloway said. "We've been very fortunate over that period of time to have some good things happen in our downtown."

More than 70 percent of the action items in the plan have been completed since the plan's adoption, according to Galloway.

Some of those items include extending the trail system, developing common signs, adding a parking deck and recruiting restaurants, according to the 14-page 2013 implementation report.

The Southeast Downtown Area Plan and the process that was involved to create it was recognized with the second award. The City Council approved that plan in February.

"Hopefully, we'll have as much success with the Southeast Downtown Plan as we did with the Downtown Plan," Galloway said.

It identified arts and market districts and encourages residential development and creating "a unique living and working environment," the city website states.

The arts district already is seeing development with The Hub and Thrive on Northwest A Street.

The Hub includes Pedlar's Pub, Bike Bentonville, Downtown Bentonville, Inc. and Bike Rack Brewery. Thrive is an apartment complex that will include commercial space on the first floor.

The American Planning Association Arkansas chapter received seven submissions for four categories, said James Walden, chapter president.

Bentonville's Southeast Downtown Area Plan tied with the project Maumelle Forward, a plan for Maumelle in the Achievement in Comprehensive Design category. Both projects involved the public and community stakeholders as well as city planning departments and officials, said Jeff Hawkins, executive director of Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission who served as a member of the review committee.

Those who are affected by the plans are often not involved in the creation process, and those plans often end up on the shelf, Hawkins said.

"I don't think either of these plans are going to end up on the shelf," he said.

It took about a year and a half to develop the downtown plan and about a year for the Southeast Downtown Area Plan, said Shelli Kerr, planning services manager. Both involved public input.

Residents and business owners know what they like and don't like so it's important for them to be part of the conversation, Kerr said. If there are a lot of comments on one issue, the city staff know it's something that needs to be looked at.

"It helps us get in better tune with the community and what they want," she said.

Implementing the downtown plan was a joint effort with Downtown Bentonville, Kerr added. It used the plan as a guide book to start the development activity downtown, she said.

"It takes more than just the city to not only put the plans together, but to actually have successful implementation," she said.

Because of that, the awards the city received are really a tribute to the community who had a role in putting the plans together, Kerr said.

Chris Sooter, Ward 2 alderman, was elected to the City Council in 2002 and he has seen the square transformation.

The arts and market districts will allow growth to continue in the downtown district and relieve some pressure off the square, he said.

The sale of the utilities complex on Southeast Third Street will allow downtown to continue to expand, Sooter said. Once Eighth Street is widened, there will be an entry point to downtown by Eighth and J streets.

"We've come from the square only, to now (where) we really have this huge area that can become our anchor for development downtown," he said.

City plans are crucial to set the stage for what type of development can occur within the private sector, Sooter said. Plans cast a vision for an area and developers make it a reality, he said.

NW News on 09/18/2014

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