Agenda Highlights 12/3/24

At the Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting scheduled for 12-3-24, the Board will vote on whether to abandoned a section of right of way on the southwest side of the Chad Colley and Frontier intersection. The abandonment was requested by ACHE.

The Board will vote on zoning changes for 2200 and 2300 Brooken Hill that would adjust to the planned zoning district for the former Fianna Hills Country Club to a smaller area for the property to be redeveloped into the Fairway Heights subdivision including 15 single family homes, 3 duplexes, and 2 commercial lots and would include land use changes that would allow for a doctors office.

The Board will vote on a zoning change for 4111 Newlon Road to allow for an undeveloped lot to be developed into duplexes.

The Board will vote on a zoning change for 11601 Custer Boulevard that would allow for the undeveloped property to be developed into a 214 lot single family residential subdivision.

The Board will vote on a zoning change that would allow for the construction of a duplex on the undeveloped lot at 1801 Wirsing .

The Board will vote on a zoning change that would allow for the undeveloped property at 8603-9001 Chad Colley, 9201-9599 Massard, and 9600-9700 Custer to be developed into the Serrington mixed-use development that would include single family residential, townhomes, rowhouses, and multi-family residential, office, commercial, and retail buildings.

The Board will vote on whether to annex property at 11906 Old Highway 71 to facilitate the construction of a new O’Reilly auto parts store.

The Board may vote on ordinances prohibiting camping. The issue was discussed at the 11-12-24 study session meeting. A recent US Supreme Court decision upheld that Grants Pass, Oregon’s prohibitions against homeless camping were constitutional. This decision allows for stronger regulations to be enacted and enforced than Fort Smith currently has.

The Board may possibly vote on either a set of 2 ordinances that mirror the Grants Pass ordinances in that they prohibit camping, sleeping on sidewalks, streets, alleyways and doorways, and allow for removal of individuals and their property and campsites and allow for fines of not more than $50 for violation of the rules (but also allow for judges to sentence alternative penalties that address the reasons for the violation) but also add additional prohibitions found in other cities’ ordinances that prohibit obstructing pedestrian passage on streets and sidewalks by sitting, loitering, or lying on them. One ordinance would apply to property owned by the City and the other ordinance would apply to privately owned property that is zoned residential and to vacant lots. The City Attorney warns of possible legal challenges that might arise to these ordinances that include the additional strengthening that has not already been tested in the Supreme Court.

The Board may also vote on a single ordinance that mirrors the Grants Pass ordinance exactly (except for swapping out the name of the City where necessary). The City Attorney suggests that that version be amended to include addition provisions for the notice of removal of property (because they are already included in Oregon state law and are not already included here in Arkansas) and to include language about the utilization of existing Fort Smith trespassing ordinances.

The City Attorney suggests that rather than vote on any of the ordinances on the agenda at the 12-3-24 meeting, the Board table the issue to the 12-17-24 meeting to allow for an amended version of the Grants Pass ordinance to be presented and voted on instead.

The Board will vote on whether to approve the proposed 2025 budget and the departmental Capital Improvement Plans and Transit Asset Management Plan.

The Board will vote on whether to create a Utility Advisory Committee. The committee would be made up of 7 citizen members and meet at least monthly to research, discuss, and make recommendations to the Board on issues pertaining to water and sewer. The creation of a Utility Advisory Committee was voted down at the 10-8-24 meeting, but this proposed version of the committee has been changed to be all citizens (no members of the Board of Directors) and with all of the members being at-large rather than some from specific wards.

The Board will vote on having customers pay the fees for paying their utility bills using the online Payit payment system. Since 5-23-22 in response to citizen feedback regarding being charged the fees when the online system was first implemented, the fees have been being covered by the City. If the change is approved, the fees charged to customers would be the amount charged by Payit for the service (no additional revenue going to the City). They would be 80 cents per transaction plus 2.5% of the total bill. The change would take effect beginning March 1, 2025.

The Board will vote on whether to appropriate another $35,000 to continue the spay and neuter voucher program through the rest of 2024. The program has used up its original $150,000 appropriation as well as an additional $50,000 appropriation in October. 2000 pets have been sterilized through the program so far.

The Board will vote on whether to appropriate $3,807,221 in funding from the general fund for the airport runway aircraft arresting system.

The Board will vote on allocating up to $20,000 to cover the cost of the runoff election for Ward 3 Director.