FAYETTEVILLE -- A Washington County circuit judge will decide whether to allow Elm Springs, a small town west of Springdale, to absorb the unincorporated site of a proposed wind farm.
Neighbors of the land, which sits just west of Elm Springs, have appealed Washington County Judge Marilyn Edwards' approval of the landowners' annexation petition, saying the land doesn't meet several criteria for joining the town. The appeal means the question goes to Circuit Judge John Threet instead of going before the Elm Springs City Council.
Dragonfly Industries International executives say they hope to build dozens of turbines on about 300 acres for the state's first wind farm and supply several megawatts of power to the area. An affiliated company called Elite Energy bought the land for $2.3 million in February, according to county property records.
The proposal has stoked intense opposition from neighbors and Elm Springs residents who fear it could affect their health and property values.
A town can annex land by a public vote, but the process works differently when the landowner asks for the annexation first. They petition the county judge, who then sends the question to the city council involved to decide the petition's fate.
The county judge's role wasn't to decide whether the project is a good one, but to make sure the landowners followed the rules set by state law in their annexation bid -- for example, a majority of landowners of the land wanted to annex and the land borders the town. Edwards said they met their requirements in a June 19 order.
In the appeal, almost two dozen of those neighbors argue the land is ineligible for annexation in half a dozen ways. They claim no one lives on the land and the annexation would create an "enclave," or an unannexed island.
They also say the land doesn't meet any of five possible reasons for annexation that have been set in Arkansas since an 1891 Arkansas Supreme Court decision in the Vestal v. Little Rock case. Under that decision and subsequent state law, the land in question could reflect an adjacent town's actual growth, for example, or a town could have some public use for the land.
The Circuit Court decision could be appealed as well, first to the Arkansas Court of Appeals, then the state Supreme Court, County Attorney Steve Zega said Tuesday.
Dragonfly says its turbine design is more efficient and less problematic than the standard three-blade turbines, but many residents have been skeptical. At a community meeting in April, CEO Jody Davis told about 150 residents that the project would happen with or without annexation, but the company hoped it could benefit the town.
Metro on 08/08/2015