FAYETTEVILLE -- Regional planners will unveil a draft of their new Northwest Arkansas open space plan this week during presentations in Rogers and Fayetteville.
The sessions are scheduled for Wednesday at the Rogers Public Library and Thursday at the Fayetteville Public Library. The presentations will be the same at each session, and each will run from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Planners estimate Benton and Washington counties will have about 750,000 residents by 2040, so they want to make sure the open areas, such as parks and trails, are preserved.
"We have listened to you about what is important in Northwest Arkansas and now you can see where these important assets are located so we can work together to preserve them for all to enjoy," Elizabeth Bowen, project manager at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, said in a news release.
The sessions will review the project and schedule, regional growth, and the benefits of open space. Maps showing outdoor recreation areas, population densities, natural resources, the built environment and land uses will be available.
A final plan is projected to be completed in December. It will be incorporated into the region's long-term master plan.
"It is the intent of the plan to focus on identifying natural open-space assets, analyzing and assessing those assets and developing potential strategies for conserving those resources for the use of current and future generations," according to a Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission resolution.
The planning process has involved extensive public input. Outreach workshops were held in Bentonville and Fayetteville in January. Stakeholder interviews were conducted in February, and resource group meetings were held in March. Workshops were held in June at Garfield, Gentry, Prairie Grove, Siloam Springs and Springdale.
The process involved taking more than 800 comments and creating a map showing which open spaces should be preserved.
Examples of open space include the regional trail system, national forests, state and national parks, wildlife management areas, rivers and areas around Beaver Lake, University of Arkansas agricultural property, city parks, properties held in trust and land owned by private nonprofit groups.
Regional planners said benefits to preserving open space in communities include creating a high quality of life that attracts businesses and residents; stimulating commercial growth and promoting city revitalization; boosting local economies by attracting tourists and supporting outdoor recreation; floodplain protection; protecting agricultural land to safeguard the future of farming economies and communities; and safeguarding clean air.
Open space also is important to preserving water quality. Beaver Lake is the primary water source for most of the 500,000 residents in the region. Open space holds water, keeping it from rushing into the rivers and washing pollutants into Beaver Lake, according to John Pennington of the Beaver Watershed Alliance.
A $350,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation is paying for the yearlong study.
Metro on 09/21/2015