2 days Ago By Dylan Neuner
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/FOX24) — The first of two meetings took place today for the Northwest Arkansas Council at the Fayetteville Public Library, where the council discussed the growth in the area.The council's goal is to develop a plan to help alleviate some of the stress that the area is experiencing from the rapid growth.
President and CEO of the NWA Council Nelson Peacock said the first step in the long-term plan is to establish short-term goals."There'll be a lot of community engagement, public input into how we want to grow and the people's thoughts about this. And then, probably next year in January, we'll have this ultimate report that will basically be a toolkit for city leaders to help them make decisions around their future.
Because what's happening is a lot of these smaller towns are the ones that are experiencing most of the growth," Peacock said.Plan Bentonville enters phase two of long-term development for cityThe meeting tackled issues from healthcare to parking concerns, but the one that remained a constant was the nonstop communication between city officials and their residents. With the coverage area being so vast, the NWA Council decided to call in a third party to help bridge the gap between the community and leadership.
DPZ CoDesign is a company that specializes in planning and reviving rapidly growing cities that have dealt with the same issues as Northwest Arkansas.Organizer for DPZ CoDesign, Matthew Lambert, said that rapid growth isn't always a bad thing. "A lot of what's happening here is accelerating growth, and a lot of people may see that as a bad thing, but it doesn't have to be.
A lot of what we'll be talking about is how to shape growth to achieve outcomes that benefit the community broadly," Lambert said. As the plan develops, both DPZ and NWA Council will be hosting community engagement events, and updates will be out shortly..
