By Nicky Boyette – Eureka Springs city council held a workshop with the Parks Commission Monday to discuss revamping the city’s land vacating process. All who spoke agreed that the procedure in place is cumbersome, time-consuming and ripe for a facelift.
Alderman Kristi Kendrick presented suggestions for streamlining the vacation process to council at the Sept. 12 meeting. Again on Monday night, she contended the city could not use unopened streets not owned by the city as “Green Zone Parks.” They must be used for streets or pedestrian purposes, such as trails. Her suggestion was to pass an ordinance taking back all unopened spaces from Parks and giving Parks jurisdiction over existing and planned trails.
Kendrick also wanted to eliminate the public hearing on a proposed vacation at the Parks Commission and let council handle the whole process. Parks would be welcome to participate in the Public Hearing and could be called upon by council for input.
She explained she expected that ultimate remake of the vacation process would require more workshops. “This [meeting] is part of a process. I’m just addressing this piece by piece,” she said.
Kendrick contends there are platted undeveloped streets inside city limits not owned by the city. On those streets, the city has only an easement for street purposes, and the city cannot sell or exchange those properties. She indicated the city might not have stayed within those legal bounds when in a 1994 ordinance it gave Parks jurisdiction over all unopened streets and alleys. She also pointed out the procedures for vacations changed over the years.
City Attorney Tim Weaver disputed some of Kendrick’s contentions. He maintained the city has some title to those properties because of the original land agreement. He added that because the city has an easement on those properties, some city department must monitor the spaces to make sure no one builds on them, and there could be other fiscal encumbrances. Parks Director Justin Huss pointed out tree removal in those undeveloped areas which were not trails cost his department $1200 last year, and tree removal would become the city’s responsibility under Kendrick’s plan.
Parks commissioner Fergie Stewart mentioned how much time he spent doing the legwork for a recent vacation application. “It’s a tedious process which takes about four months,” he said.
“And that’s ridiculous,” alderman Terry McClung commented.
Kendrick reminded the group because there were several parts to the puzzle, and it was her intention to make the process simpler.
Many particulars of the process rose to the surface, and Stewart commented a vacation might be a burden on Parks but he did not know another department that could do it.
Huss pointed out he asked for a moratorium on vacations at the August 22, 2016 meeting, and added one particular vacation lasted most of his first year at Parks. He agreed the process was cumbersome and drawn out and they should improve it, but maintained no one knows what might happen to a property in the future.
Huss pointed out a recent upswell in the focus on trails, and more miles continue to be added to the Eureka Springs system. He said Public Works Director Dwayne Allen told him his staff has worked recently in previously unopened areas they never thought would be used. Huss said steep banks are just fine for trails and he wants to grow the system, but cannot point out now where trails will eventually go.
“We’re in the forever business,” Huss proclaimed. He said the city should not give anything away it might need at some point. He stated, however, speeding up and simplifying the process was important. Kendrick agreed with simplifying the process but disagreed with his contention that all city properties should be retained just because someone might need to do something there in the future.
McClung said he proposed 10 years ago the city should take a survey of its properties and determine which ones should be reserved for streets, trails or utility easements, and which were worthless and should be given to adjacent landowners and taken off the city’s books. He also said it would not hurt Parks if the city took back unopened spaces. There could still be a trail on a property if the need arose, or the city could similarly put in a street. He agreed they needed to remove nonessential steps in the process, and insisted no one wanted to take away anything from Parks.
No one disagreed with the goal, but there was the question of whether taking away a public hearing at the commission level meant eliminating opportunities for public comments. Not everyone concurred it would because citizens could speak up at council meetings. Weaver also argued a government should be set up to eliminate work for city council. He maintained lower councils should go through the hard work of vacations. His idea of streamlining the process would be to give the process back to the lower councils.
The date and time for the next workshop on land vacations was not determined.
At the end of the meeting, commissioner Gene Bland of the Carroll-Boone Water Board presented Berry with a water rebate check for $$26,013.