335 replies to this topic

[thewizard16]

zman9810, on 27 April 2010 - 06:03 PM, said:

Springdale is moving forward with creating a master plan for the Arvest Park area. The idea is to have it ready for when development moves into high gear after the current slowdown ends. It would be an overlay on top of exisiting city regulations and standards and help the area create an identity of it's own. It would include commercial and residential uses and those would be market driven for the most part. An area of around 2,000 acres would be included in the district from I540 to the Tontitown and from Highway 412 to Greathouse Springs Road- a huge area. Access will be greatly helped by the planned Don Tyson Parkway interchange with I540.

Here's a couple of images of the plan- these are preliminary only.

Mith242, on 27 April 2010 - 06:19 PM, said:

Interesting.  I wonder how long it's going to take to build all of that.  Anyway thanks for the news and images.

That's a great picture- I'd read about the overlay district but hadn't seen any preliminary plans so far. It'll take decades for something like that to build out completely, but I like most of that plan- it would be nice if Arvest ballpark can help Springdale gain a new identity and continue the upscale atmosphere that has been starting to catch on in western Springdale. I'd love to see work and plans being done to fix the main corridors of development in the city, but at least it looks like they're establishing a good precedent for future developments in that part of the city.

[Mith242]

thewizard16, on 28 April 2010 - 07:08 AM, said:

That's a great picture- I'd read about the overlay district but hadn't seen any preliminary plans so far. It'll take decades for something like that to build out completely, but I like most of that plan- it would be nice if Arvest ballpark can help Springdale gain a new identity and continue the upscale atmosphere that has been starting to catch on in western Springdale. I'd love to see work and plans being done to fix the main corridors of development in the city, but at least it looks like they're establishing a good precedent for future developments in that part of the city.

Yeah I do think Springdale has learned the lessons from it's past.  Too bad there's no easy fixes to some of the other parts of the city with the haphazard planning.

[zman9810]

thewizard16, on 28 April 2010 - 07:08 AM, said:

That's a great picture- I'd read about the overlay district but hadn't seen any preliminary plans so far. It'll take decades for something like that to build out completely, but I like most of that plan- it would be nice if Arvest ballpark can help Springdale gain a new identity and continue the upscale atmosphere that has been starting to catch on in western Springdale. I'd love to see work and plans being done to fix the main corridors of development in the city, but at least it looks like they're establishing a good precedent for future developments in that part of the city.

I think these are just a depiction of what could be built- not ncessarily will be. The city still has to amend it's land use ordinances before anything is set in stone.

Speaking of stone- the use of the same native rock that Arvest Park is built with is being considered as a area wide theme. That would be nice- the rockwork on the park is very attractive.

[Mith242]

zman9810, on 28 April 2010 - 08:56 PM, said:

I think these are just a depiction of what could be built- not ncessarily will be. The city still has to amend it's land use ordinances before anything is set in stone.

Speaking of stone- the use of the same native rock that Arvest Park is built with is being considered as a area wide theme. That would be nice- the rockwork on the park is very attractive.

Yeah, I've wondered where they got that rock from.

[Mith242]

This probably isn't the best place to post this but it does in a way have a connection to Springdale.  Looks like Arkansas had closed a loophole about possible liquor store franchises.  Macadoodles already has a store open in Springdale, along with several in Missouri.  But they also had plans to eventually open stores in Fayetteville, Ft Smith and Little Rock.  Honestly I really wasn't concerned either way about the outcome.  I like to see some of the individual liquor stores do okay.  But with the way Arkansas' alcohol system is set up I'm not sure a franchise really has any advantage over others in a statewide setting.  But what did irritate me about the whole thing was who sponsored the bill.  The good ol' Springdale Liquor Association, otherwise known as the Phillips family.  How vary hypocritical.  I don't see how having Macadoodles open other stores in the state would have hurt them.  Maybe they were just worried that eventually it could lead to them opening other stores in Washington County.  But until this recent ruling Macadoodles apparently could have gotten around the fact because they're an entity outside the state.

[aerotive]

Springdale narrowly approved a 1.9 mill school millage increase:

http://www.ozarksunb...ontent=Netvibes

[zman9810]

aerotive, on 11 May 2011 - 08:08 AM, said:

Springdale narrowly approved a 1.9 mill school millage increase:

http://www.ozarksunb...ontent=Netvibes

I was very surprised by that- Springdale has really been hit hard by the national recession and downturn in the local economy. I wonder if the fact that the last millage increase request was turned down didn't maybe help this one pass. When the school district took the athletic facilities out of the request it made this one seem more truly needed. If they had went to the voters with this request the first time it might not have been passed. Either way it is clear that new schools are needed so good for them.

[Mith242]

A little while back Fayetteville was in the news because of new redistricting plans.  That was on the House side of the Arkansas Congress.  Now they're looking at redrawing the lines for the Senate.  Because of population gains NWA is getting a new Senate seat.  But now there seems like there's going to be a fight over which city gets the new seat.  Springdale is wanting to set up a new seat around the city.  And it does have good arguments.  It's the second biggest city in the metro.  For that matter it's not that far behind Fayetteville.  But Bentonville is also looking to grab that seat for itself.  It's obviously not anywhere close to being the biggest city in the metro.  But we all know Bentonville wields a lot of power because of Walmart and the Waltons.  Looks like a decision won't be made for a while.  But it will be interesting to see who wins out.  I think Springdale is more willing to compromise.  Their biggest issue is they don't want the city split up into different districts.  There's quite a few maps out there already and it's very possible the eventual plan that wins may not have even been made yet.

[zman9810]

Mith242, on 18 June 2011 - 04:35 PM, said:

A little while back Fayetteville was in the news because of new redistricting plans.  That was on the House side of the Arkansas Congress.  Now they're looking at redrawing the lines for the Senate.  Because of population gains NWA is getting a new Senate seat.  But now there seems like there's going to be a fight over which city gets the new seat.  Springdale is wanting to set up a new seat around the city.  And it does have good arguments.  It's the second biggest city in the metro.  For that matter it's not that far behind Fayetteville.  But Bentonville is also looking to grab that seat for itself.  It's obviously not anywhere close to being the biggest city in the metro.  But we all know Bentonville wields a lot of power because of Walmart and the Waltons.  Looks like a decision won't be made for a while.  But it will be interesting to see who wins out.  I think Springdale is more willing to compromise.  Their biggest issue is they don't want the city split up into different districts.  There's quite a few maps out there already and it's very possible the eventual plan that wins may not have even been made yet.

Actually...the Fayetteville Finger debate was about our US Representative- this is about the state government districts. That idea about having a district with Bentonville as it's center just because WM is there is distasteful at best and sleazy at worst. I can't believe WM would even want that type of special treatment- image-wise it would be a public relations disaster. Because of Springdale's population it should have a district centered on it. Afterall- it is the population changes that are driving the redistricting and not what corporation is where.

[Mith242]

zman9810, on 20 June 2011 - 05:59 PM, said:

Actually...the Fayetteville Finger debate was about our US Representative- this is about the state government districts. That idea about having a district with Bentonville as it's center just because WM is there is distasteful at best and sleazy at worst. I can't believe WM would even want that type of special treatment- image-wise it would be a public relations disaster. Because of Springdale's population it should have a district centered on it. Afterall- it is the population changes that are driving the redistricting and not what corporation is where.

You're right.  Thanks for the correction.  I have to agree with you in that you'd think population should matter in who gets the new seat.  But we also know from experience that Bentonville wields a lot of power and often times tends to get what it wants.  So to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if Bentonville does end up getting the seat.  Despite Springdale's size, it often times does tend to get overlooked in NWA.

[Mith242]

Now surprisingly, there's talk of making a Hispanic district.  Taking east Springdale and adding on some of the Hispanic heavy sections of Rogers.  I'm a little surprised this seems to be getting a decent amount of momentum.  First it would split the city of Springdale which is what the city has said it doesn't want.  And second I would imagine other areas of NWA would probably prefer to get the section themselves, in particular Bentonville.

[zman9810]

Mith242, on 28 June 2011 - 02:37 PM, said:

Now surprisingly, there's talk of making a Hispanic district.  Taking east Springdale and adding on some of the Hispanic heavy sections of Rogers.  I'm a little surprised this seems to be getting a decent amount of momentum.  First it would split the city of Springdale which is what the city has said it doesn't want.  And second I would imagine other areas of NWA would probably prefer to get the section themselves, in particular Bentonville.

A Hispanic majority district would fulfill the "community of interest" requirement although that term has such a broad range of meaning that most anything could fulfill it. The actual community of Springdale citizens would fulfill that requirement and also fulfill the "political boundary" requirement. Given the growth rate of the Hispanic community in NWA a district centered on Springdale and a second centered on Rogers may both be Hispanic majority in 20 years.

[Mith242]

Looks like Springdale could be growing some more in the near future.  They're looking into annexing some land on the north side of the city in Benton County.  There's about 2,500 acres that could potentially be involved.  Looks like Springdale could be making a serious run at being Arkansas's third biggest city.

[Mith242]

I guess I can't say I'm too surprised.  But after all the talk of having the new district focus on Springdale, then talk of making a Hispanic district.  Now it seems the plan being mainly pushed now is the one with Bentonville being the focus of the new district.  Although Bentonville isn't the biggest city in the NWA metro.  We all know it has a lot of clout.  But from what I can see it does seem like most of Springdale is kept together and was put with east Washington County.  Nothing has been finalized, but this is the plan that appears to be being pushed.

[zman9810]

Yeah, it sounds like the new Springdale/Rogers House district won't be majority Hispanic but close to it.

The new Senate district will be solely Bentonville based with western Benton and Washington counties together represented by another senate seat.
I guess no one should be surprised considering the community of interest requirement that is being used- the Bentonville district will have a strong common interest.

[zman9810]

Demolition work for NW Medical Center's expansion is well underway. The Charlesworth Building is gone as several other older buildings between the hospital and 71B. They are removing the concrete parking lots and grinding them up on site. I'm not sure what they are using the material for but there is a lot of it. Groundbreaking for the new construction is soon and the project should make a huge positive change in that area.