Bentonville board suggests creek restoration

File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Little Sugar Creek emerges Oct. 24 from a spillway at the Lake Bella Vista dam.
File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Little Sugar Creek emerges Oct. 24 from a spillway at the Lake Bella Vista dam.

BENTONVILLE -- The dam should be removed and Little Sugar Creek restored without a side channel lake, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board voted Monday.

The 7-0 vote came after a nearly 3 1/2 hour meeting and a failed motion to recommend a side channel lake be built next to the stream.

Vote

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board voted 7-0 to recommend the dam at Bella Vista Lake be removed and Little Sugar Creek restored. Those who voted for the proposal include Michelle Malashock, Chris Sooter, Whitney Sutherland, Steven George, Courtney Schaefer, Thomas Butrynski, and Mike Power. Board members Shara McMurtrey, Cortney Carlson and Craig Gilbert abstained.

Source: Staff Report

The 10-member board met in the Community Center to accommodate the nearly 70 people who attended the meeting. The board was tasked with selecting one of the three plans for the development of Bella Vista Lake Park. They included rebuilding the failed dam, removing the dam and restoring the creek and restoring the creek and adding a side channel lake.

Ecological Design Group and the Watershed Conservation Resource Center developed the plans. Representatives from each group presented them Monday.

Alison Jumper with Ecological Design Group walked board members through the pros and cons from a recreation, environment and budget standpoint.

The dam replacement plan would be the most expensive at an estimated $9.8 million and would have no environmental benefits, she said. Restoring the stream would cost about $9.6 million while the third plan is estimated to cost the least expensive at $9.2 million.

The gap between the second and third options comes from the extra fill in that would be required if the side channel lake wasn't created, Jumper said. A lawn area would go in its place.

Board members asked about the operations and maintenance costs between the options.

Those numbers weren't included in the capital cost estimates, Jumper said.

The ongoing operations and maintenance cost would depend on the use of the side channel lake. The heavier the programming load, the more work it will require, said Matt Van Eps, associate director of the Watershed Conservation Resource Center.

Board members asked various questions from cost to how the water could be used to maintaining water quality to what the public wanted.

The board heard from members of the Bella Vista Lake task force, which voted 7-2 for the hybrid option just over two weeks ago. Bill Burckart and Ron Miller explained they voted for the hybrid option to compromise between rebuilding the dam and restoring the creek.

Adam Schaffer explained he didn't vote for the hybrid because the side channel lake would likely have the same issues the current lake does with poor water quality and lack of use.

There also were 19 residents who gave the board feedback. About a half dozen wanted some kind of lake. Several talked about generations of their families coming to the lake and what it meant to them.

Nan Hughes mourned the lost of other landmarks and historical features of the valley where the lake sits.

"That's really the last of the old Bella Vista that you have," she said.

Those memories can't be recreated with a side channel lake or a lake that isn't usable, said Becky McCoy.

"Why waste money for a memory that will never be the same," she said.

Others said mother nature will do what she'll do, and a side channel lake will likely fail.

David Wright, parks and recreation director, said there is about $6.2 million available for the project through various government agencies and private grants. The additional $3.1 million to $3.6 million could be raised but only if the community is in agreement and willing to work with each other, he said.

Wright said he hopes to be able to bring the board's recommendation for City Council approval in late July or early August.

NW News on 06/19/2018

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