Saturday, October 2, 2004 11:06 PM CDT

Beebe city officials are recommending that the city boundaries be enlarged, nearly doubling the size of the city. The gray areas above are existing city land, and the yellow areas are those proposed for annexation.

If Thursday night's planning commission meeting is any indication, the people of Beebe are among the most civically literate in White County.

The commission held a public hearing to receive input on their proposed development plan, the blueprint for future development. The three dozen citizens present used the opportunity to hold a wide-ranging and at times philosophical conversation about population growth, the need for jobs, the advantages and disadvantages of government regulation, and property values.

The development plan is intended to be the guiding legislation for Beebe land-use decisions over the next decade. It has two main aspects, each of which comes with its own set of potential controversies.

First, the plan sets forth zoning categories for every parcel of land within the city limits and within the city's "planning area," which extends the city's jurisdictional control over an area that stretches about three miles beyond the actual city line.

The zoning regulations will become law as soon as the Beebe City Council adopts them - probably in about three months.

Second, the plan suggests that the city annex directly into the city a land mass which will about double the land area of the city. This area extends outside the existing city limits about a half-mile in each direction, as well as in a two-mile corridor along each side of Hwy. 64 stretching to Arthur Cook Road. For these areas to be annexed, the city council must schedule an election on the issue, in which voters living in both the city and the annexation areas will vote.

Maps of the proposals are available on the city's web site, www.BeebeArk.org .

The zoning designations determine how owners can develop and subdivide their property. Owners can build houses or apartments in areas zoned residential, but subzones control how densely those houses can be packed together. Other designations allow industrial and commercial development. The zoning categories are exclusive: Owners can't build houses on industrially zoned land, and can't build warehouses in residentially zoned land.

As laid out Thursday, the plan has three major changes inside the existing city limits:

- Property just south of the Hwy. 31 intersection with Hwy. 67 has been zoned industrial. This area - around the Beebe Speedway and across the highway - consists of the only contiguous large parcels left in the city that are undeveloped, explained Economic Development Director Marjorie Armstrong. As such, the area remains the only place for a corporation to locate a large distribution center or plant in the city.

- The entire downtown residential area was rezoned from R-1, single-family housing, to R-2, which allows for duplexes and smaller apartment complexes. Resident Pat Kinnersley lambasted the change.

"No one wants to see our downtown area lose its charm - it's pretty down here," she said. "Duplexes just aren't kept up, and they take away from the area."

Jason Scheel, chair of the commission, said that the change was made in order to bring "fairness" to property owners.

"Some people own a vacant lot next to someone who has already built a duplex," he said. "Maybe it was a mistake to do that in the first place, but is it fair to say to the guy next door he can't build a duplex?"

But after more discussion on the matter, Scheel said it wasn't his intention to rezone the entire downtown area, and the plan would "likely" be revised to change the zoning back to R-1.

- An area on the east side of Hwy. 67, behind the commercial corridor along Dewitt Henry Drive, has been designated as R-3, allowing for large apartment complexes.

The zoning changes outside the city limits, however, proved more controversial. The planning area creates an odd quasi-regulatory environment for property owners. As far as most city laws go - regulations on animals, prohibitions against shooting, etc. - property owners in the planning area are not affected. But in order to subdivide and develop their properties, these owners must have their plans approved by the Beebe Planning Commission.

The planning area has a northern line that follows a township boundary that corresponds with George Nick and Ridge Roads. The western limit follows a line about a half mile west of Marvin Fisher Road, and a half mile east of Gillham Road. The southern limit follows a line that corresponds to Lloyd Henderson Road. The eastern limit extends along a line just to the west of Pearce Road.

There are two significant changes in zoning in the planning area:

- A large chunk of land that is currently undeveloped - most of it west of the city in the Hwy. 64 and Swinging Bridge Road areas, but also north of Campground Road and along Ballpark Road - is zoned for residential development.

- The Hwy. 64 corridor itself is zoned commercial to just west of Stony Point Church Road. This area is getting a double dose of regulation, as besides being in the Planning Area, it is being suggested for outright annexation into the city.

Eddie Duke, who owns 40 acres in the area, objected strongly to the Hwy. 64 change.

"We don't want to be in the city," he said. "What is the reason for this? Is there money tied into here?"

Joseph Hughes agreed.

"I've got water, I've got sewage, I've got cable," he said. "There's nothing you can give me I ain't already got."

But officials said they needed to enlarge the city in order to control future development. City Clerk/Treasurer Paul Hill said that without a development plan, Beebe could go the way of Las Vegas, which saw surrounding areas develop into full cities of their own, leaving the city core without a tax base to take care of basic needs.

"People [in outlying areas] were suing the city assets and paying no taxes," he said. "Las Vegas failed to have a vision for the future."

Similarly, he continued, "without a plan for growth, we're not going to cut it as a city."

Commissioner Fred Cheek told Duke that expanding the city boundaries will ultimately benefit his children, because they'll be able to use the property to build houses of their own and will see increased property values.

"Without this plan, the city dies on the vine," Cheek said.

Allen Riding, the city's code enforcement officer, said those annexed into the city will be grandfathered in - that is, they can continue using their property as they are at present. Even those presently within the city, he said, can have one horse or one cow per acre.

Scheel said in the end, the issue came down to a matter of realpolitik.

"Some people never want to live in the city," he admitted. "They never want to have city regulations. There will be minds that we'll never change, and we recognize that."

In other words, people like Duke and Hughes may not like coming into the city, but there probably isn't much they'll be able to do about it.

Duke recognized as much as well, but complained about the process.

"The vote is unfair," he said. "The people in the city will all vote for it, because they'll want to see the city grow. But why should they have the same vote as us?"

Regardless, it will be some time before annexation proceeds. The revised development plan will be presented to the city council at its Oct. 25 meeting, and the council will continue to debate the issues, probably into next year. No timetable has been set for an annexation election

FREE space by