Commissioners OK fire station plans in Bentonville

FILE PHOTO
The Bentonville City Hall building.
FILE PHOTO The Bentonville City Hall building.

BENTONVILLE -- The Planning Commission approved plans for the city's seventh fire station Tuesday evening.

Commissioners voted 6-0 for the plans. Commissioner Tregg Brown was absent.

Commission action

Bentonville Planning Commission met Tuesday and approved:

• Property line adjustment at 507 N.W. Fifth St. and 410 Dickson St.

• Plans for Glen Road Townhomes on Glen Road as well as townhomes at Northwest Fifth Street and Dickson Street.

• A permit for Happy Hearts Learning Center, 2305 S.W. 15th St.

• Preliminary plat for Walnut Grove subdivision at Southwest Barron Road and Piercy Road.

Source: Staff report

The station will be on 2.32 acres on Southwest Prime Avenue in the city's southwest.

Southwest Prime Avenue connects an apartment complex to Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard. The station will be just northeast of the apartment complex.

Elevations show the building exterior largely consisting of red brick with a green roof like other city buildings.

CEI Engineering Associates, the engineering firm working on the project, requested a waiver for the requirement to build a sidewalk along Southwest Lakewood Road on the west side of the property.

The intent is to discourage pedestrian access to the rear of the station as to not interfere with operations or security, according to Jacob Shy with CEI. Sidewalks will be along Southwest Prime Avenue, which provides connection to the front entrance that guests will use.

The new Walmart distribution center is north of Southwest Lakewood Road so there won't be any development the sidewalk would need to connect to, planning staff and commissioners said.

"Lakewood would never extend north," Jon Stanley, city planner, said.

Commissioners also approved the waiver 6-0.

Plans for Station No. 7 are approved just more than two years after Station No. 6 opened on Southwest I Street near Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard.

The city hired JBP Architects, the same architects that designed Station No. 6, to design Station No. 7 in March. CEI Engineering and Clinard Construction are also working on the city's newest station.

Station No. 7 will be about 4 miles southwest of Station No. 6. The city's southwest area has had rapid growth over the last few years as that's where land is available. The city annexed more than 130 acres in the southwest area in November.

The city's population grew 5 percent from 45,458 in 2016 to 47,645 in 2017, according to the 2017 annual Development Report.

The Insurance Service Office evaluates the distribution of fire stations in each community as part of its Public Protection Classification program, which is commonly known as a city's ISO rating. Ratings under the program help determine home insurance rates. The lower the number, the better the rating.

The program's criteria says an area should have a fire station within 1.5 road miles of the protected properties and a ladder-service truck within 2.5 road miles, according to Fire Chiefs Online, a website provided by the program.

Commissioners also approved a two-year permit for Bite NW Arkansas to be held at 8th Street Market. The three-day food festival will be held today through Friday.

It received the permit on an annual basis prior to this year. Commissioners suggested it be given two years this time since there's a pedestrian connection from Southeast Fifth Street to the back of the market.

NW News on 06/20/2018

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