BELLA VISTA -- Thanks to City Council approval, the Community Development Services Department hopes to be in a new building by the first of the year, director Chris Suneson said Monday.
Aldermen voted 4-0 to approve a contract with Vacon Properties to rent office space at 614-616 W. Lancashire in Village Center. Aldermen Jim Wozniak and Larry Wilson were absent.
"We appreciate the council's endorsement of our move," Suneson said Monday after the meeting. "(Moving) is a better opportunity to serve our customers."
Suneson has said the department's current 2,500-square-foot building at 306 Town Center is too cramped for personnel, lacks adequate storage space and needs a larger venue to efficiently serve residents. Suneson said he wants to begin relocating by late December.
"We're bursting at the seams," Suneson told aldermen earlier this month.
Although slightly smaller at 2,300 square feet, Suneson said the Village Center location has ample parking for employees and puts the department closer to the city's geographic center. Moving also would mean the department no longer has to share space with the Architectural Control Committee.
The contract calls for a yearly rate of $25,800, about $50 more than the city now pays for space at Town Center, Suneson said.
Jennifer Bonner, Bella Vista senior planner, said the move will make travel easier on staff.
"We'll be more central and be able to more quickly go out and look at properties," Bonner said.
Mayor Peter Christie said Monday he's spoken with Neff Basore, senior vice president at Cooper Communities, and both agree that keeping the ACC close to the department is good for residents. Christie said Basore is looking at ways to bring the ACC to Village Center.
Only one resident objected to the department changing locations. Linda Lloyd said she understood the reasons behind the move but would be "disappointed" if the department relocated to Village Center.
"I agree with having a different location than the ACC for all sorts of reasons," Lloyd said before the council voted, "but the functional, practical center of town is Town Center."
Aldermen on Monday also approved an ordinance restricting when fireworks can be used during the Fourth of July.
Fireworks now can only be used from 6 p.m. to midnight from July 3-5, New Year's Eve and New Years. Previously, residents had been allowed to shoot off fireworks from 6 p.m. to midnight from June 27 to July 11 to celebrate the Fourth of July.
The change stemmed from resident complaints that fireworks were being exploded long after the Fourth of July ended, said Alderman John Flynn.
NW News on 09/29/2015