BENTONVILLE -- There's a need for more utilities in the city's southwest as development continues to move that way.
The City Council approved 7-0 to buy a utility easement for $30,000 at its meeting Tuesday. Council member Chad Goss was absent.
Council action
The Bentonville City Council met Tuesday and approved the following:
• To buy a Delta Series transformer test system for $49,850.
• To hire Osmose to test electric poles for $26,000.
• Three six-month blanket bids for different transformers for the Electric Department.
• A $28,681 change order to Tri Star Contractors for the hangar infrastructure improvement project at the municipal airport.
• The emergency repair and replacement of one main breaker, seven I-line breakers, transformer control and fuses at the McKissic Lift Station.
Source: Staff report
There was no discussion prior to the vote in the meeting that lasted less than 10 minutes.
The city will buy a 20-foot general utility easement from Ryan Anglin. It's on the north side of Southwest Opal Road.
Southwest Opal Road is northeast of the Benton County Fairgrounds in between Southwest Anglin Road and Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard and east of South Vaughn Road.
The easement will allow the electric department to build an overhead power line and tie it into the existing line along Southwest Adams Road, according to Travis Matlock, engineer director.
Installation will begin after some clearing of the easement is completed, Matlock said in an email. Installation of the overhead lines should take about a month and a half.
"Right now it is just the OH [overhead] electric," he said. "Other utilities will follow once the area develops."
The need for utilities to be extended in the southwest is correlated with continued growth in that area, Mayor Bob McCaslin said after Tuesday's meeting.
"And we try to be measured on doing those only when we absolutely have to have them," he said.
Plans for a 400 single-family home subdivision in the discussed area is going through the city's approval process, Matlock said.
The electric line will provide the needed capacity for that subdivision as well as provide backup power to the 1.5 million-square-foot Walmart warehouse that is under construction from the existing warehouse on Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard, Matlock said.
The last time the city bought similar utility easements was about five to seven years ago along Southwest Airport Regional Boulevard and Morning Star Road.
The city's southwest and downtown have been the two main areas of development over the last several years.
The city issued 621 building permits west of Walton Boulevard and south of Southwest 14th Street in 2015 and 2016, according to city data. Of those, 555 were for single-family homes, 31 for duplexes, 28 for multifamily developments with more than five units, and seven for commercial developments.
The widening of Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard to five lanes was completed in April 2017.
The Planning Commission took a tour of the southwest area in April this year and discussed how zonings could promote strategic development and prevent urban sprawl.
The City Council also recognized David Cooper, at 2407 S.W. Linebarger Lane, with the Residential Landscaping of the Month Award for July.
NW News on 07/25/2018