FAYETTEVILLE -- A judge ruled in favor of Springdale this week in an ongoing annexation dispute with neighboring Tontitown.
The property, on the southwest corner of Jones Road and West Sunset Avenue, was annexed into Springdale in 2015 at the request of the property owner. Springdale and Tontitown have been fighting over the property since.
Annexation
The process that transfers parcels of land from towns or countryside to cities and villages, involving considerations of sharing of tax revenues, government services, voting, utilities, and school systems. To people living in incorporated municipalities, annexation seems to be a normal process to accommodate necessary expansion. To officials and many residents of towns adjacent to those cities annexation signals loss of population, territory, and tax base as well as potential disruption of plans and ordinances.
Source: uslegal.com
In May 2017, Tontitown sued for return of the property, arguing Springdale hadn't provided municipal services or built a public road to the property in a timely manner.
The lawsuit contended the 22.9-acre, residentially zoned property was de-annexed from Tontitown after Tontitown failed to provide services requested by the owners, Hillcrest Holdings and First Security Bank. Springdale then annexed the property Oct. 27, 2015. Springdale committed to provide services and had 180 days to take substantial steps to provide those services, but didn't follow through, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit contended, under state law, Springdale had a year to actually make the services available or the annexation is void and the property has to be returned to Tontitown.
Washington County Circuit Judge Doug Martin ruled Wednesday that Springdale had complied with the annexation statute. Martin found Springdale had taken the substantial steps needed to meet the requirements of the statute. The judge denied Tontitown's request for the property to be returned.
"The city of Springdale and the property owners are glad this legal matter has been put to rest and are thankful for the dogged effort of city staff who conduct government business lawfully every day and work in the best interest of Springdale residents," according to a statement from Melissa Reeves, public information director for Springdale.
Springdale City Attorney Ernest Cate said after the lawsuit was filed last year Tontitown had two appeals lodged with the Arkansas Court of Appeals regarding the same property and annexation issues and the clock for Springdale to provide services to the property would not start until those appeals were resolved, even though Springdale had already taken steps to provide the requested services.
"Even if it wasn't for that, if we got to the merits of what they're saying, we've done everything we're supposed to do," Cate said at the time.
Just after the latest lawsuit was filed in May 2017, the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled in one of the cases on appeal that Tontitown didn't properly serve First Security Bank with the lawsuit and Martin's dismissal of the bank as a defendant was appropriate.
The justices also ruled Springdale and Hillcrest Holdings, which bought the property from the bank after the annexation was requested, shouldn't have been dismissed from the lawsuit just because the bank was dismissed. Justices ordered that portion of the case sent back to Martin. It hasn't been reset.
In the second case, justices affirmed a ruling by Martin that Tontitown had failed to take substantial steps to provide municipal services to the property when it was owned by First Security Bank.
The bank owned more than 38 acres in Tontitown bordering Springdale on the east and Henri Di Tonti Boulevard on the north. The bank sought to de-annex from Tontitown and annex into Springdale. The bank argued Tontitown failed to provide adequate fire and police protection, ambulance service, water and sewer and a public road to access the property.
Tontitown responded it made all the requested services available.
The bank said it was having trouble selling the land because of Tontitown's inadequate services and Springdale was willing to annex the property and provide the services.
Martin ruled for the bank and against Tontitown in the second lawsuit at a bench trial in September 2015. Springdale and Hillcrest weren't parties to that lawsuit.
NW News on 05/11/2018