BENTONVILLE -- Thousands of trail users will have to avoid Bella Vista Lake for the next few weeks as city crews continue to remove debris and repair damage from April flooding.
Large tree limbs littered the parking lot at the veterans memorial on the northeast corner of the Bentonville lake late last month. Chain-link fences with signs reading "park closed" stood at each end of the dam separating the parking lots from a section of the trail along the top of the earthen dam on the lake's north side.
Another fence blocked the trail's south entrance.
The dam needs repair, but there are also trail sections where water "undercut everything beneath" the trail on the east side of the bridge that's on the south side of the lake, said David Wright, Parks and Recreation director.
The trail won't open until repairs have been made on the dam, said Mayor Bob McCaslin.
"We're not taking out the dam. We're not building a new dam," he said, adding that repairs are needed to make the structure safe before trail users cross it.
The dam was topped by flooding in 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015. Its gates were removed after the 2015 flooding.
The dam's future recently was embroiled in a lawsuit as a group -- Friends of Little Sugar Creek -- fought to stop city plans to replace it. The group advocated for the dam to be removed. The lawsuit was dismissed after construction permits and a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant expired.
Travis Matlock, city engineer, said the city has asked for an extension for the $2.7 million FEMA grant. City officials are now working to see what their long-term options are for the dam, they said.
"There is still no decision," Matlock said.
Storms dumped up to 8 inches of rain in some areas of the state April 29 and 30. Amy Jankowski, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Tulsa, said 4.46 inches of rain fell in Fayetteville and 5.24 inches of rain fell in Highfill on April 29.
May and June are the busiest months for the Parks and Recreation Department as youth sports leagues start, the rainfall keeps grass growing quickly and landscaping needs more attention, Wright said. All that activity keeps the department's 20 full-time maintenance employees and other seasonal employees busy, even without storm cleanup.
City trail counts have reached 30,000 users some months.
The damage from this spring's heavy rain is the worst he's seen, Wright added. The bridge over the spillway on the east side has shifted, the back of the dam has more erosion and the gate system on the west has more damage, city officials said.
Erosion also caused a new hole just north of the parking area and around the west side of the spillway.
"You could fit some of your living room furniture in it, it's that big," Wright said.
Metro on 06/06/2017