Alderman Kristi Kendrick had asked for a discussion of rescinding Ordinance 1628, which in 1994 put all unopened streets and alleys under the jurisdiction of Parks. She came to the meeting with a 19-page presentation.
Kendrick commented that since she moved to Eureka Springs she has seen several vacation requests go through the city’s ponderous and disruptive process, and she wanted to streamline it.
She detailed the process an applicant must go through to get a vacation and pointed out the $200 application fee, refundable if the vacation is denied, does not come close to covering the expenses incurred by the city in attorneys’ fees and staff time. Also the procedure requires public hearings by Parks and Planning, which could easily pull them into squabbles between neighbors about boundaries.
The current process does not require the applicant to provide surveyed plats or legal descriptions drawn by a land surveyor, and this omission adds to the workload of city hall staff. In addition, the Building Inspector, Fire and Police Departments or Historic District are not involved.
“The procedures are overly burdensome without adequately protecting city interests and resulting in real estate transactions involving citizens being held up for months,” Kendrick stated.
She recommended rescinding Ordinance No. 1628 and passing a new ordinance giving Parks jurisdiction over existing and planned trails. Also, rescind Ordinance 2195 that created the Land Bank Committee, which is now defunct. She wants to rewrite Ordinance 2203 to permit the city to “use all its tools to vacate the streets and alleys and to require a sizable, nonrefundable application fee that would repay the city all of its attorneys’ fees.”
She also wants to require citizens to produce land surveyor-produced plats and legal descriptions and put the entire process in the mayor’s office. Applications would be reviewed by Public Works, the Building Inspector and fire and police departments, and there would be only one public hearing and it would be before city council.
DeVito lauded Kendrick’s concise attention to detail but said he would need time to digest all the information in her handout. McClung added he has been a proponent of her primary focus for a long time, and although he disagreed with some of the particulars he looked forward to working out the details. Council agreed to table further discussion until the next meeting.
As a result of Kendrick’s presentation, council voted to drop from the agenda a discussion of a moratorium of further vacations.