Monday, February 17, 2014

Final agenda for Fayetteville City Council meeting to begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014, with backup material for individual items highlighted as LIVE links

Video from Feb. 18, 2014, city council meeting during which purchase of Mt. Kessler land was approved.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan

City Attorney Kit Williams

City Clerk Sondra Smith
Aldermen 
Ward 1 Position 1 – Adella Gray
Ward 1 Position 2 – Sarah Marsh
Ward 2 Position 1 – Mark Kinion
Ward 2 Position 2 – Matthew Petty
Ward 3 Position 1 – Justin Tennant
Ward 3 Position 2 – Martin W. Schoppmeyer Jr.
Ward 4 Position 1 – Rhonda Adams
Ward 4 Position 2 – Alan Long
Final Agenda
City of Fayetteville Arkansas
City Council Meeting
February 18, 2014

A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council will be held on February 18, 2014 at 06:00 PM in Room 219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas.


Call to Order

Roll Call

Pledge of Allegiance

Mayor’s Announcements, Proclamations and Recognitions:

City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports and Discussion Items:

Agenda Additions:

A.Consent:

1.Approval of the February 04, 2014 City Council meeting minutes.

2.McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. Task Order No. 10:  A resolution to approve Task Order No. 10 with McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. in the amount of $36,050.00 for project design and bidding services associated with the Terminal Apron Rehabilitation Project and to approve a budget adjustment of $36,050.00.


3.Garver Engineers, LLC:  A resolution approving a contract with Garver Engineers, LLC in an amount not to exceed $352,879.00 for the design of Rupple Road from Starry Night View to Mount Comfort Road, and to approve a budget adjustment of $352,879.00.


4.Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Agreement:  A resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Agreement for 2014 when received in the estimated amount of $540,700.00 and approving the 2014 Action Plan.


5.Amend Resolution No. 07-14:  A resolution amending Resolution No. 07-14 to change the awarding of Bid #14-04 for the purchase of hillside gravel from Leming & Son Trucking, Inc. to Les Rogers, Inc. for materials picked up in the amount of $1.49 per ton and authorizing the use of other bidders based on price and availability as needed through the end of calendar year 2014.


6.Combs Park Tree Mitigation:  A resolution approving a budget adjustment in the total amount of $4,250.00 to transfer a tree escrow balance for the planting of mitigation trees in Combs Park.


7.2014 Keep America Beautiful/Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Grant:  A resolution authorizing application for a 2014 Keep America Beautiful/Dr. Pepper Snapple Group grant in the amount of $6,800.00.


8.Rotochopper Go - Bagger:  A resolution approving a budget adjustment in the amount of $18,500.00 to recognize revenue received from the auction and sale of Unit 479 - 2005 Rotochopper Go-Bagger 250.


B.Unfinished Business:

1.Amend Chapter 178:  An ordinance to repeal §178.03 Sidewalk Vendors and enact a replacement §178.03 Sidewalk Vendors and Food Trucks and to repeal §178.04 Outdoor Mobile Vendors Located on Private Property and enact a replacement §178.04 Outdoor Mobile Vendors Located on Private Property. This ordinance was left on the First Reading at the November 19, 2013 City Council meeting and tabled to the December 17, 2013 City Council meeting.  This ordinance was left on the First Reading at the December 17, 2013 City Council meeting and Tabled to the January 21, 2014 City Council meeting. This ordinance was left on the First Reading at the January 21, 2014 City Council meeting and Tabled to the February 18, 2014 City Council meeting.


2.RZN 13-4538 (Razorback Road/Victory Commons):  An ordinance rezoning that property described in rezoning petition RZN 13-4538, for approximately 5.09 acres, located at 731 S. Razorback Road from I-1, Heavy Commercial and Light Industrial, to UT, Urban Thoroughfare.  This ordinance was left on the First Reading at the December 17, 2013 City Council meeting. This ordinance was left on the Second Reading at the January 7, 2014 City Council meeting and Tabled to the February 4, 2014 City Council meeting.  This ordinance was left on the Second Reading at the February 5, 2014 City Council meeting and Tabled to the February 18, 2014 City Council meeting.


C.New Business:

1.Mt. Kessler Acquisition:  A resolution to authorize Mayor Jordan to apply for and accept a 50/50 matching grant from the Walton Family Foundation in the amount of $1,500,000.00, to use this grant and $1,600,000.00 out of reserves to purchase about 328 acres of Mt. Kessler from Chambers Bank and to build a trailhead, to approve a land swap with Chambers Bank, to support a parkland dedication of about 48 acres for future parkland credit and to approve the attached budget adjustment.



2.Karcher North America, Inc.:  A resolution to approve and certify the participation of Karcher North America, Inc. in the Arkansas Tax Back Program and to agree to authorize DF&A to refund city sales tax back to Karcher North America, Inc.


3.ADM 13-4331 Amend Chapters 151, 162, 163 and 164:  An ordinance to amend §164.10 Garage and/or Agricultural and Produce Sales; §161.10 (X) Unit 24 Home Occupation; §163.08 Home Occupations and §164.04 Urban Agriculture (fowl, bees, and goats) of the Unified Development Code.


4.Teeco Safety, Inc.:  An ordinance waiving the requirements of formal competitive bidding and approving a contract with Teeco Safety, Inc. in the amount of $192,344.50 for the purchase of taser products.


5.Kum & Go, L.C. Agreement:  A resolution to approve the fourth amendment to land sale agreement with Kum & Go, L.C. to extend the closing date to no later than April 21, 2014 and to agree to equally share the City’s portion of the costs of a dedicated left turn lane.


6.Reappropriating Bonded, On-Going Capital Projects and Containing Obligations:  A resolution to amend the 2014 adopted budget by reappropriating $75,497,000.00 in bonded or ongoing capital projects, outstanding obligations and grant funded items.


7.RZN 13-4536 (4310 Martin Luther King Blvd./Edwards):  An ordinance rezoning that property described in rezoning petition RZN 13-4536, for approximately 0.74 acres located on the north side of west Martin Luther King Boulevard near the border of Farmington from R-A, Residential Agricultural to CS, Community Services.


8.ADM 13-4603: (UDC Amendment Chapter 161, Use Unit 44, Cottage Housing Development):  An ordinance to amend Chapter 161 of the Unified Development Code to authorize Cottage Housing Development (UU-44) into zoning districts in which it was originally approved by Ordinance No. 5462.


D.City Council Agenda Session Presentations:

E.City Council Tour:

F.Announcements:

Adjournment:

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Would outlawing garbage disposals in homes and restaurants and hospitals and wherever the gadgets are used help city meet mineral-deposit rules?

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River’s effluent limits appealed

Hearing for Fayetteville set

Posted: February 12, 2014 at 5 a.m.
NWA Media/ANTHONY REYES Tim Tinsley, operations supervisor for the Paul R. Noland Waste Water Treatment Plant, talks about one of the plant’s holding tanks Tuesday during a brief tour of the plant in Fayetteville. The 888,000 gallon tank settles material to the bottom as part of the treatment process for waste water. The city of Fayetteville is requesting a modification to a state regulation that will allow them to continue discharging the current level of minerals into the White River, instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars retooling their wastewater treatment system.
Fayetteville is asking regulators to modify drinking water regulations to allow a greater discharge of minerals into the White River.
The request, known as a “petition to initiate 3rd-party rulemaking,” was filed in October with the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, which will hold a public hearing on the request Thursday in Fayetteville.
The commission is a rule-making body that governs the state Department of Environmental Quality.
According to documents filed with the department, the request centers on the Paul R. Noland Wastewater Treatment Plant, located about 5 miles east of Fayetteville on Fox Hunter Road. The plant is one of Fayetteville’s two municipal wastewater treatment plants, and it also treats wastewater from additional municipalities including Elkins and Greenland.
The Noland plant is permitted by the state to discharge treated wastewater into the White River downstream from the confluencewith Richland Creek. State regulations limit mineral concentrations of chlorides and sulphates to 250 milligrams per liter each, and 500 milligrams per liter of “total dissolved solids,” a combination of the two, for waterways designated as current or potential drinking water sources. The portion of the White River in question, however, has lower limitations of 20 milligrams each of chlorides and sulfates, and 160 milligrams of total dissolved solids per liter of water.
Department spokesman Katherine Benenati said the minerals standards for that portion of the upper White River are “site-specific” and were established in the 1970s.
Fayetteville outsources management of its wastewater treatment systems to CH2M Hill, a Colorado-based environmental consulting and engineering corporation. Billy Ammons, regional manager for CH2M, said the petition seeks to raise the allowable concentration of salt minerals to slightly below what the plant is currently discharging.
“We’re asking for numbers that will allow us to be just barely ‘within permit,’” Ammons said. “We’ve been discharging into this river for a long time, and we have a $300,000 to $400,000 study to prove, every which way from Sunday, that we’re not affecting the aquatic wildlife.”
According to department documents, Fayetteville is requesting that the discharge limits on chlorides be raised from 20 to 60 milligrams, the limit on sulfates from 20 to 100 milligrams and the limit on total dissolved solids from 160 to 440 milligrams per liter of water.
The Noland Plant received a wastewater discharge permit in 1990, according to department records. In 2008, the department placed the stream segment near the plant on its list of impaired streams. The federal Clean Water Act requires the department to update the list every two years. When the city renewed its five-year discharge permit in March 2013, the department assigned the city a five-year compliance schedule for reducing the mineral concentrations, Ammons said.
The minerals are not typically considered a biologicalhazard, Ammons said, and are generally introduced into municipal water through residents’ food waste.
“It’s nothing in the treatment plant; it’s all what we put down the drain,” Ammons said. “It’s a product of the American diet - it’s all salts.”
But removing the minerals from the wastewater requires expensive upgrades to existing treatment methods, and other Arkansas municipalities and industries have sought exceptions to the mineral discharge standards. In June, Huntsville filed a similar petition to avoid spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade its treatment system, and it spent several hundred thousand dollars to commission a scientific study in support of the request. There are currently petitions from five municipalities and businesses before the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission seeking modifications to the regulation.
Ammons said it would cost about $45 million to retool the Noland Plant to remove the minerals through a process known as “reverse osmosis,” and $2 million to $3 million in annual upkeep thereafter.
During the 2013 legislative session, state Rep. Andy Davis, R-Little Rock, introduced House Bill 1929, which would amend Arkansas Code Annotated 8-4-202 to remove the default drinking water designation from Arkansas waterways not already being used as such, and change other aspects of how mineral concentrations are calculated.
While the bill had support from industry groups including the Arkansas Environmental Federation, officials with the federal Environmental Protection Agency warned repeatedly during the legislative process that the act’s language conflicted with requirements of the Clean Water Act. Although the bill became law, Act 954 was quickly repealed in a special session after the EPA began restricting the permit authority of Arkansas regulators.
The public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Walker Community Room of the Fayetteville Public Library. Interested parties will have the opportunity to enter oral and written statements into the public record for consideration as to whether the commission should modify the regulation.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/12/2014

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Today's (Feb. 11, 2014) agenda-setting session to discuss tentative agenda for Feb. 18 full Fayetteville City Council meeting: Live broadcast at 4:30 p.m. today may be viewed on Cox 216 or on U-Verse 99 plus or on Internet through city Web site: Backup files on issues available by clicking blue-highlighted live links below

Mayor Lioneld Jordan

City Attorney Kit Williams

City Clerk Sondra Smith
Aldermen 
Ward 1 Position 1 – Adella Gray
Ward 1 Position 2 – Sarah Marsh
Ward 2 Position 1 – Mark Kinion
Ward 2 Position 2 – Matthew Petty
Ward 3 Position 1 – Justin Tennant
Ward 3 Position 2 – Martin W. Schoppmeyer Jr.
Ward 4 Position 1 – Rhonda Adams
Ward 4 Position 2 – Alan Long
Tentative Agenda
City of Fayetteville Arkansas
City Council Meeting
February 18, 2013

A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council will be held on February 18, 2013 at 6:00 PM in Room 219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas.


Call to Order

Roll Call

Pledge of Allegiance

Mayor’s Announcements, Proclamations and Recognitions:

City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports and Discussion Items:

Agenda Additions:

A.Consent:

1.Approval of the February 04, 2014 City Council meeting minutes.

2.McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. Task Order No. 10:  A resolution to approve Task Order No. 10 with McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. in the amount of $36,050.00 for project design and bidding services associated with the Terminal Apron Rehabilitation Project and to approve a budget adjustment of $36,050.00.


3.Garver Engineers, LLC:  A resolution approving a contract with Garver Engineers, LLC in an amount not to exceed $352,879.00 for the design of Rupple Road from Starry Night View to Mount Comfort Road, and to approve a budget adjustment of $352,879.00.


4.Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Agreement:  A resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Agreement for 2014 when received in the estimated amount of $540,700.00 and approving the 2014 Action Plan.


5.Amend Resolution No. 07-14:  A resolution amending Resolution No. 07-14 to change the awarding of Bid #14-04 for the purchase of hillside gravel from Leming & Son Trucking, Inc. to Les Rogers, Inc. for materials picked up in the amount of $1.49 per ton and authorizing the use of other bidders based on price and availability as needed through the end of calendar year 2014.


6.Combs Park Tree Mitigation:  A resolution approving a budget adjustment in the total amount of $4,250.00 to transfer a tree escrow balance for the planting of mitigation trees in Combs Park.


7.2014 Keep America Beautiful/Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Grant:  A resolution authorizing application for a 2014 Keep America Beautiful/Dr. Pepper Snapple Group grant in the amount of $6,800.00.


8.Rotochopper Go - Bagger:  A resolution approving a budget adjustment in the amount of $18,500.00 to recognize revenue received from the auction and sale of Unit 479 - 2005 Rotochopper Go-Bagger 250.


9.Karcher North America, Inc.:  A resolution to approve and certify the participation of Karcher North America, Inc. in the Arkansas Tax Back Program and to agree to authorize DF&A to refund city sales tax back to Karcher North America, Inc.


B.Unfinished Business:

1.Amend Chapter 178:  An ordinance to repeal §178.03 Sidewalk Vendors and enact a replacement §178.03 Sidewalk Vendors and Food Trucks and to repeal §178.04 Outdoor Mobile Vendors Located on Private Property and enact a replacement §178.04 Outdoor Mobile Vendors Located on Private Property. This ordinance was left on the First Reading at the November 19, 2013 City Council meeting and tabled to the December 17, 2013 City Council meeting.  This ordinance was left on the First Reading at the December 17, 2013 City Council meeting and Tabled to the January 21, 2014 City Council meeting. This ordinance was left on the First Reading at the January 21, 2014 City Council meeting and Tabled to the February 18, 2014 City Council meeting.


2.RZN 13-4538 (Razorback Road/Victory Commons):  An ordinance rezoning that property described in rezoning petition RZN 13-4538, for approximately 5.09 acres, located at 731 S. Razorback Road from I-1, Heavy Commercial and Light Industrial, to UT, Urban Thoroughfare.  This ordinance was left on the First Reading at the December 17, 2013 City Council meeting. This ordinance was left on the Second Reading at the January 7, 2014 City Council meeting and Tabled to the February 4, 2014 City Council meeting.  This ordinance was left on the Second Reading at the February 5, 2014 City Council meeting and Tabled to the February 18, 2014 City Council meeting.


C.New Business:

1.ADM 13-4331 Amend Chapters 151, 162, 163 and 164:  An ordinance to amend §164.10 Garage and/or Agricultural and Produce Sales; §161.10 (X) Unit 24 Home Occupation; §163.08 Home Occupations and §164.04 Urban Agriculture (fowl, bees, and goats) of the Unified Development Code.


2.Teeco Safety, Inc.:  An ordinance waiving the requirements of formal competitive bidding and approving a contract with Teeco Safety, Inc. in the amount of $192,344.50 for the purchase of taser products.


3.Mt. Kessler Acquisition:  A resolution to authorize Mayor Jordan to apply for and accept a 50/50 matching grant from the Walton Family Foundation in the amount of $1,500,000.00, to use this grant and $1,600,000.00 out of reserves to purchase about 328 acres of Mt. Kessler from Chambers Bank and to build a trailhead, to approve a land swap with Chambers Bank, to support a parkland dedication of about 48 acres for future parkland credit and to approve the attached budget adjustment.


4.Kum & Go, L.C. Agreement:  A resolution to approve the fourth amendment to land sale agreement with Kum & Go, L.C. to extend the closing date to no later than April 21, 2014 and to agree to equally share the City’s portion of the costs of a dedicated left turn lane.


5.Reappropriating Bonded, On-Going Capital Projects and Containing Obligations:  A resolution to amend the 2014 adopted budget by reappropriating $75,497,000.00 in bonded or ongoing capital projects, outstanding obligations and grant funded items.


6.RZN 13-4536 (4310 Martin Luther King Blvd./Edwards):  An ordinance rezoning that property described in rezoning petition RZN 13-4536, for approximately 0.74 acres located on the north side of west Martin Luther King Boulevard near the border of Farmington from R-A, Residential Agricultural to CS, Community Services.


7.ADM 13-4603: (UDC Amendment Chapter 161, Use Unit 44, Cottage Housing Development):  An ordinance to amend Chapter 161 of the Unified Development Code to authorize Cottage Housing Development (UU-44) into zoning districts in which it was originally approved by Ordinance No. 5462.


D.City Council Agenda Session Presentations:

E.City Council Tour:

F.Announcements:

Adjournment:

Friday, February 7, 2014

Why would Fayetteville want to reduce water-quality of Beaver Lake?

1 attachment (184.9 KB)
Download News Release Fayetteville 3rd Party Reg 2 (2014 Feb 07).rtf (184.9 KB)
News Release Fayetteville 3rd Party Reg 2 (2014 Feb 07).rtf
Download
ExComm--

This message is especially relevant to the OHG folks--please note ADEQ public hearing in Fayetteville on Feb 13, concerning a proposal by the city of Fayetteville to increase discharges into the White River.  

OHG folks:  would y'all commit to looking into this further?  Is this something we want to/have the capacity to become involved in?  

Thanks((GLEN))

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: NewsFromADEQ <newsfromadeq@adeq.state.ar.us>
Date: Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 1:17 PM
Subject: ADEQ news release
To: NewsFromADEQ <newsfromadeq@adeq.state.ar.us>


Attached is a news release, the text of which appears below, concerning a public hearing on a proposal by the City of Fayetteville to change the state water quality standards for a portion of the White River.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contact Information: Katherine Benenati / 501.682.0821 / benenati@adeq.state.ar.us
FOR RELEASE: Feb. 7, 2014
     HEARING SET ON REQUEST TO CHANGE WATER QUALITY REGULATION
            The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission (APC&EC) will hold a public hearing at Fayetteville on Feb. 13, 2014, to receive comments on a third-party proposal by the City of Fayetteville Paul R. Noland Wastewater Treatment Plant (Noland WWTP) to change APC&EC Regulation 2, the Arkansas Water Quality Standards for minerals for the White River...  The hearing will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the Walker Community Room of the Fayetteville Public Library, 401 W. Mountain St.
            The Noland Plant treats municipal wastewater from the cities of Fayetteville, Elkins, Greenland, and sometimes Farmington and Johnson, as well as from industrial and commercial enterprises. The plant discharges to the White River under the provisions of a permit issued by ADEQ.  Fayetteville is requesting changes to Regulation 2 for the White River from the discharge point of the Noland Plant downstream to the confluence of Richland Creek as follows: Chloride from 20 milligrams per liter (mg/L) to 60 mg/L; Sulfate from 20 mg/L to 100 mg/L; and Total dissolved solids from 160 mg/L to 440 mg/L
            Detailed copies of the proposed regulation change, along with supporting documents and summary information, are available for public inspection during normal business hours in the
Public Outreach and Assistance Division, located on the second floor of ADEQ’s North Little Rock Office, and in ADEQ information depositories located in public libraries at Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Harrison, Mountain Home, the main branch of the Little Rock Public Library, 100 Rock Street, and the Arkansas State Library, 900 West Capitol, Suite 100, Little Rock, AR.
            In addition, summary information concerning the proposal is available at other ADEQ information depositories located in public libraries at Arkadelphia, Batesville, Blytheville, Camden, Clinton, Crossett, El Dorado, Forrest City, Helena, Hope, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Magnolia, Monticello, Mena, Pocahontas, Russellville, Searcy, Stuttgart, Texarkana, and West Memphis; and in campus libraries at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the University of Central Arkansas at Conway.
            Information concerning the proposed changes also can be viewed and downloaded at the ADEQ’s website at the following address:
            Oral and written comments on the proposed changes to Regulation 2 will be accepted at the hearing, but written comments are preferred in the interest of accuracy.  In addition, written or electronic mail comments will be accepted if received no later than 4:30 p.m. (Central Time), Feb. 27, 2014.  Written comments should be sent to Doug Szenher, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Public Outreach and Assistance Division, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock, AR 72118.  Electronic mail comments should be sent to the following address: 

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Watershed issue on front page of Northwest Arkansas Times

Drainage Causes Concern In Fayetteville

Posted: February 1, 2014 at 5 a.m.
A 60 foot section of Scull Creek crosses the front of the vacant lot at 517 N Walnut St in Fayetteville. Because the section of creek is on the cites protected streams map it is preventing construction activities within 50 feet of the stream bank.
FAYETTEVILLE — City officials plan to start a million-dollar drainage project this year that’s been on the to-do list for at least a decade.
“If you want to look at and prioritize projects, this is the biggest one,” Chris Brown, city engineer, said Thursday. “It’s just something we haven’t been able to afford until now.”
The project, in the Washington-Willow neighborhood north of Lafayette Street and east of College Avenue, will divert stormwater from an undersized culvert that backs up in heavy rain.
Sections of the culvert are estimated to be at least 70 years old. In some places it’s a 4-foot-tall channel with stone walls on either side and nothing but soil underneath. In other places, it’s choked to a 30-inch-diameter pipe.
At A Glance
Streamside Protection
Fayetteville’s streamside protection ordinance, enacted in March 2011, prohibits a range of activities within 50 feet of waterways listed on the city’s protected streams map. Restricted activities include:
• Grading, dredging, dumping, filling or similar construction activities
• Landfills, junkyards, salvage yards
• Clearing of non-invasive woody vegetation
• Storage of hazardous material or chemicals unless in waterproof containers and in a structure
• Parking lots
• Buildings and accessory structures with a building footprint larger than 150 square feet
• Parking or storage of motor vehicles
• Septic systems and/or lateral lines
• In-ground pools
• Animal feedlots or kennels
• Housing, grazing or other maintenance of livestock
• Cultivation
• Land application of biosolids
The following activities are allowed in the streamside zone:
• Stream bank restoration or stabilization
• Water quality monitoring, education and scientific studies
• Revegetation and reforestation
• Dam maintenance
• Stream crossings, including driveways, roadways, trails or railroads
• Maintenance and upgrades of utility facilities
• Maintenance of drainage capacity in the channel, including tree and sediment removal
• New stormwater conveyances when the city engineer determines there's no practical and feasible alternative.
Source: City of Fayetteville
The drainage system runs under or near several houses on Maple Street and Walnut Avenue, making it difficult for city crews to remove brush and debris.
The culvert became especially clogged during April 2011 flooding. With nowhere else to go, water popped a manhole cover and poured into yards and multiple homeowners’ basements. What looked like a river rushed down Walnut Avenue.
Eden Reif, who lives at 607 N. Walnut Ave., remembered water up to the top step of her basement.
“To say that it was exciting would be an understatement,” Reif said Friday.
Reif, like other neighbors in the area, doesn’t know what to think about the upcoming project.
“We want to know what they’re planning before we just say, ‘Sure, go ahead,’” she said.
The city will have to acquire land from several property owners to make repairs, Brown said. Streets and sidewalks will be torn up, and longstanding trees may have to be uprooted.
According to preliminary designs, the new drainage system will direct water from a culvert on Olive Avenue, underneath Maple Street and Walnut Avenue and into Scull Creek on the south side of Rebecca Street — in Reif’s backyard.
Brown said a construction timeline isn’t set, but work should get under way sometime this year.
Residents are also concerned about a 60-foot section of Scull Creek on the west side of Walnut.
Engineering staff in January recommended removing the section of creek from the city’s protected streams map.
The map identifies streams with a watershed of at least 100 acres in Fayetteville. A range of activities, including grading, dredging and clearing of non-invasive woody vegetation, are prohibited within 50 feet of protected waterways, according to the streamside protection ordinance, which aldermen approved in March 2011.
Removing the section of creek from the protected streams map would allow Clay Morton to build a house close to the street on what for years has been a vacant lot at 517 N. Walnut Ave. Otherwise, the house would have to be set back at least 50 feet from the creek.
Morton said Thursday he’s wanted to build a house in the Washington-Willow neighborhood for years.
“My wife and I have always wanted to live down there,” he said.
Washington County property records show Morton purchased the 0.2-acre tract in November from Thomas and Mary Kennedy for $80,000. He then began clearing trees on what had been a heavily wooded property.
After a complaint from a neighbor who was aware of the streamside ordinance, city engineers sent Morton a letter warning him to stop clearing the land. Brown said the tree cutting continued, however, and another notice had to be issued Jan. 23. Morton was told he would need to reseed areas where the trees were removed. Brown said Morton won’t be allowed to build near the creek as long as it’s included on the protected streams map. Morton could be fined if he doesn’t mitigate damage that’s been done.
Chris Kaiser, who lives next door to Morton’s property, said Friday she’s opposed to any change to the protected streams map.
“I do not believe that sections of the map should be requested to be removed … just because a developer … might be inconvenienced by having to protect the streamside zone, especially when said developer has already denuded the lot he purchased in violation of the streamside ordinance,” Kaiser wrote.
Kaiser said the protected streams map shouldn’t be modified until city engineers have finalized the design for drainage repair and communicated their plan with neighbors.
Morton said he wasn’t aware of the restrictions on his land when he bought the property.
He said he’s designed two scenarios for the house he wants to build: one with the house close to the stream and aligned with his neighbor’s houses and one with the house farther back from the street.
Morton added the city’s drainage repair should ease flooding on Walnut.
“I feel confident from what I’ve seen of the plans that it’s going to resolve the issue,” he said.
City Council members are scheduled to consider removing the 60-foot section of Scull Creek from the protected streams map Feb. 18.
Web Watch
Flooding Video
Go to the online version of this report at nwaonline.com to see a video of April 2011 flooding on Walnut Avenue.