Mayor Peter Christie called a special City Council meeting to order last week to talk about entering into discussion for the purchase of water infrastructure from Centerton.
During the Sept. 20 meeting, which stared at 3:30 p.m., the council approved a resolution, which allows the mayor to send a letter of intent to purchase a portion of the rural water system that Centerton currently owns. This portion extends along Arkansas Highway 279 from the main connection at Arkansas Highway 72 and proceeds into Bella Vista.
"It's just more preparing for the future," Mayor Christie said.
Owning this part of the water system, he said, will help the city guide further development, particularly around the Bella Vista bypass that is currently under construction.
Furthermore, he said, the increased control over these resources would allow the city to change and improve the piping as needed. In the case of the area near the bypass, for example, the main pipe is too small to maintain the pressure that could be necessary if there's any major commercial development.
"In terms of money, I don't know," Mayor Christie said. "It will be an assumption of debt, and (Centerton's) Sewer and Water Department will actually have to carve out and see what it is."
Moreover, the value of this system may be different from what the actual debt is. It's possible, Christie said, that the system has appreciated or depreciated, either of which can affect the price that Bella Vista would have to pay for this system.
It's important, he said, to keep in mind that the city is moving into discussing this purchase -- not actually making a purchase.
"This is not, in any way," Mayor Christie said, "to be construed as 'we are going to buy a water system.' We don't even know what it's worth yet."
Former mayor and current alderman Frank Anderson said that, because there are areas where the city and Property Owners Association do not overlap, this purchase could be an important step toward distributing potable water throughout the city, particularly in those pockets not governed by the POA. The POA cannot sell water service to nonmembers.
Some of the areas outside the POA's domain are on Bentonville water, he said, some water is supplied by the Old Bella Vista POA and Centerton's water system. Other areas are on well water.
"So there are areas in Bella Vista that would be better served if they could get more potable water," Anderson said, "now and possibly more in the future."
Acquiring this system, Anderson said, could create a point from which to start further development and possibly even get water into some of those areas with poor access to quality water.
Anderson said that the need for a water system is one of many things that came up in the earliest days of Bella Vista's incorporation as a city, and one of several long-term goals he's been looking into for years. His nearly-finished stint on the City Council, he said, is partly to help continue work toward some of those goals.
The water system is an important goal, he said, and one that can be approached from several angles. One could start a Water Department from scratch, for example.
"Or a little simpler way," he said, "and probably quicker way, is to buy from an ongoing authorized water system and then go from there."
Anderson said he agreed with Christie in that part of the rationale for owning a system like this would be the ability to make improvements and develop it as the surrounding areas grow.
The pipe that runs past Arkansas 72, Anderson said, isn't large enough to support any major demands, including a fire hydrant.
"Even though they get potable water through that system," he said, "it's not a complete system in my mind because it can't be used to fight fires and build larger structures that require sprinkling. So it's enough to provide for a residence, but that's about it."
Under Bella Vista ownership, Anderson said, this system could be restructured to handle more volume and pressure, allowing it to support a great deal more.
Anderson said that, at this point, Bella Vista is just entering talks. The city needs to find out not only what the costs will be, but how feasible it is for Bella Vista to handle a system like this.
"It's now time, in most of our minds," Anderson said, "to at least take a look at this and decide: Is now the time to become a city that has a water system?"
Frank Holzkamper, utilities director for Centerton, said that while he was comfortable entering into negotiations with Bella Vista and has spoken with the city in the past, the sections Bella Vista has requested to purchase are further-reaching than what the two cities discussed previously.
Initially, he said, Bella Vista had only requested a section that flowed into city limits alongside Highway 279 and ultimately covered some areas of the Highlands that the POA does not. But the new request, he said, included several additional sections.
Holzkamper said that he will be putting together an official response, and that he's still interested in discussing the smaller section that had been discussed previously.
"We understand someone wanting to provide water to the people that are within their city limits," Holzkamper said, "and we're more than willing to talk to them about that."
General News on 09/28/2016