BENTONVILLE -- Modifications to the city's development review process will make it more efficient, two staff members told the City Council on Monday.
City staff began talking about how to make the process more efficient last fall as the number of projects being submitted continued to increase, said Shelli Kerr, interim community and economic development director.
Other activity
The City Council also heard about the city’s water master plan update, which reported no immediate improvements needed, at the Committee of the Whole meeting Monday.
Brendan Quirk with Runway Group gave a presentation about the economic impact of cycling in the region.
Also, Chairman Chris Sooter appointed Council Members Bill Burckart, Stephanie Orman and Tim Robinson to the Animal Shelter Task Force. The three will schedule a meeting and be responsible for appointing the other task force members.
Source: Staff report
The development review process involves developers, engineers, contractors, several city departments, the Planning Commission and City Council to make sure development projects meet city codes.
Travis Matlock, engineering director, explained that there will be two main changes in the process -- a "ticket" to submit development plans and a certain time architectural drawings need to be approved by.
The first step is to have a conceptual meeting to make sure the project works with the zoning, master street plan and other city plans. That will remain the same, Matlock said.
The developer will then schedule a pre-application meeting prior to submitting plans where a list of minimum requirements from each involved department are addressed. Each department will sign off on a form that those requirements have been met in the plans, Matlock said.
"This becomes your ticket to submit [plans]," he said.
Previously, departments would look at the plans separately. Changes made to one area, like utilities, would affect other areas, such as landscaping, Matlock said.
Ideally, plans should be submitted and reviewed three times before construction, he said. There have been plans that have six or seven submittals, which delays construction and requires time from staff to conduct more reviews.
"Doing this on the front end will hopefully help save time for staff on the back end," he said.
It also will be beneficial for developers as they will have more information on the front end, Kerr added.
Each department was doing what they should be doing, but their work wasn't choreographed with the other departments, said Mayor Bob McCaslin.
"Time is money if you're a developer," he said, explaining that "one more thing" that needs to be adjusted can be costly. "We shouldn't be a surprise party when you're building. We should be predictable."
Architectural drawings will need to be submitted after plans go to the Planning Commission but prior to the pre-construction meeting, Matlock said.
They can be submitted at anytime right now, but that's caused communication issues between the engineering and building departments, he said.
All inspections will remain the same, but the process changes will help schedule them more appropriately, officials said.
Council member Bill Burckart said he appreciated the work done to review the process, but asked why there wasn't a meeting with developers prior to changing the procedures.
"They might have valuable input on all of this, of what would work for them better," he said.
"A lot of it was to make sure we as staff were on the same page," Kerr said. "The intention is to reduce the number of resubmittals."
The city will hold two workshops for developers, engineers, contractors and other interested parties at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday at the Community Center at 1101 Citizens Way.
Representatives from building inspections, electric, engineering, fire, planning, sewer, transportation, water, and wastewater departments will be available to answer questions.
Those interested in attending should RSVP to [email protected] or 479-271-3122.
City Council does not need to adopt the changes as they are procedural changes and nothing becomes ordinance, Kerr said.
The new process will go into effect July 1.
NW News on 05/08/2018
