Aldermen will hear several long-simmering proposals during next week's City Council meeting.
Council members used Monday's work session to hash out details and disagreements on an upcoming ordinance regulating outbuildings and a resolution setting new salaries for public officials.
Council members Frank Anderson, Allen King, and Becky Morgan were absent.
Those aldermen present discussed a resolution that will set the salaries for council members and the mayor, which will go into effect in 2017.
At May's work session, aldermen heard the findings of Bruce Johanson, a Fayetteville management advisor who studied how Bella Vista's city officials were paid compared to surrounding cities. He found that the mayor and aldermen make around 36 percent less in annual salary than their counterparts in surrounding areas.
Aldermen said that they wanted to make sure that all city workers were paid before thinking about their own salary increases.
"I tasked each department head to look at each employee's salary to make sure it's in line," Christie said. "And I'm pleased to report that every one of them has come back and said that no one is under the line."
The mayor makes $73,600 annually. Aldermen make $5,640. The city clerk makes $8,200.
The proposed increase for salaries for aldermen, the mayor, and city clerk is 11.5 percent, which would go into effect at the beginning of 2017.
"When we say 11 percent, the city is going to go ballistic," said Alderman James Wozniak.
Wozniak suggested that the increase be split in half, with a 5.5 percent increase in 2017, and a 5.5 percent increase in 2018.
Christie said that he agreed with that idea, and that it will be included in the resolution next week.
Accessory buildings
In April, aldermen voted to table an ordinance, which has proven to be controversial with the public, that would regulate size and placement of outbuildings and front-yard fences.
The ordinance is now back on the agenda, still in its second reading.
In the time since it was tabled, the city has spoken with local real estate appraisers to find out if large accessory structures lower adjacent property values.
"What we found is that a new permanent structure might add more value, but a temporary structure might not. It's inconclusive what impact sheds have on neighbors' property values," said Chris Suneson, director of Community Development Services.
The case-by-case nature of property values did nothing to help shape the ordinance, which has been amended several times in the past few months.
Another complicating factor is the city's complex governing relationship with the Architectural Control Committee and Property Owners Association, which have their own rules on accessory structures separate from the city.
"This issue of POA-ACC-city relationships is an unending, confusing thing for the citizens of this city, and it is a challenge we face every week, whether we're talking about sheds or anything else -- there's just an inherent confusion to it," said City Attorney Jason Kelley.
Approximately 10 percent of Bella Vista is not contained in the POA, so those properties are not subject to ACC covenants. Kelley said that the city is free to add new restrictions to accessory structures, but that the POA's own covenants regarding outbuildings -- which apply to the majority of property owners in the city -- will still be in effect.
The POA rules specify that no outbuilding or fence may be installed until the specifications "showing the nature, kind, shape, height, materials, and location" have been submitted to and approved by the ACC.
The ACC can deny applications based on harmony and aesthetics at their own discretion.
Christie and other city officials met with the ACC since the ordinance was tabled.
"What I can tell you, as according to my reading of these restrictions and covenants, is: Just because there's a city in place doesn't mean that these (POA) rules went away, it doesn't mean they're not applicable, and it doesn't mean that they can't enforce them."
The POA has the power to file lawsuits and injunctions against members who violate the covenants. But Kelley said that the POA usually does not spend the large amount of resources necessary to investigate and sanction individuals.
"It's a practical 'we can't,' it's not a legal 'we can't,'" Kelley said about the POA's position.
"Are we getting into territory that is really governed by one body and then we are layering ours on top?" Christie asked.
"That's the thing with everything we do in Bella Vista -- we're a layer on top of everything," Kelley said. "It's a judgment call. But the city can regulate sheds. There is nothing stopping us from doing that."
Alderman John Flynn added an amendment to the ordinance in the time since it was tabled -- his second attempt at a compromise between the side of council members who believe the city should regulate aesthetics and the side that thinks the government should not infringe on residents who want to build a large shed.
"I was astounded the ACC let (a large shed on Brompton Drive) go through," Flynn said. "So the city needs to do something."
Flynn's amendment, which he says will be tweaked before next week's meeting, forbids sheds from being placed in front of the front plane of a structure except for properties that are four acres or greater. It would also cap the size of outbuildings to 720 square feet.
"Like a lot of people in Bella Vista, I've lived in a lot of places and I've seen a lot of things. And I've never ever seen a neighborhood that was even sort of nice that had an accessory structure in the front of the house."
The City Council meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 27, at the American Legion.
General News on 06/22/2016