Breaking News

November22, 2011

Pulaski County Planning Board voted unanimously in favor of recommending the Lake Maumelle Zoning Code unamended to the Quorum Court after a long and eventful night.

Quorum Court is the last phase of the legislative process in county government.

Quorum Court will next meet December 20, 2011

More information to come.

November 21, 2011

CAW Board of Commissioner voted in support of Zoning code

This afternoon Central Arkansas Water effectively undercut our efforts to improve the proposed zoning code when they issued a resolution expressing their support for the code unaltered.

CAW Commissioners have the attitude that "something is better than nothing. If we do not accept what Judge Villines has brokered, we will have no zoning."

We remain very alarmed with the absence of preservation of open space and the very intense density of development.
Read Arkansas Times Blog for more info.

Arkansas Times Blog

Full CAW Draft Resolution:
RESOLUTION 2011- 13

RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL ARKANSAS WATER BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGARDING ITS POSITION ON THE PROPOSED LAKE MAUMELLE WATERSHED ZONING CODE TO BE ADOPTED BY THE QUORUM COURT OF PULASKI COUNTY, ARKANSAS; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS RELATING THERETO

WHEREAS, on February 23, 2007, the Board of Commissioners (the “Commission”) of Central Arkansas Water (“CAW”) adopted the Lake Maumelle Watershed Management Plan (the “Plan”) in an effort to “maintain [a] long-term, abundant supply of high quality drinking water for present needs and continuing growth of the community,” and “provide an equitable sharing of costs and benefits for protecting Lake Maumelle”; and

WHEREAS, the Commission believes that protection of the watersheds for its source water lakes, Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona, is of utmost importance; and

WHEREAS, the Quorum Court of Pulaski County, Arkansas (the “County”), previously adopted the Subdivision & Development Code (the “Subdivision Code”), and

WHEREAS, the Commission supported the adoption of the Subdivision Code, and specifically endorsed Chapter 8 of the Subdivision Code; and

WHEREAS, Pulaski County has proposed the adoption of the Lake Maumelle Watershed Zoning Code (the “Zoning Code”), which is applicable only to areas of Pulaski County that are in the Lake Maumelle Watershed; and

WHEREAS, CAW staff and Tetra Tech agree that the Zoning Code is another good step forward in the continuum of watershed protection, which together with other measures that have already been put into place and future modifications that can be made if needed utilizing the adaptive management tools and approaches discussed in Chapter 12 of the Plan, will provide the consumers of CAW water with a truly progressive multilevel approach to source water protection;

WHEREAS, the Commission wishes to present its position on the proposed Zoning Code;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS WATER, THAT:

Section 1. The Commission wishes to express its support of the Pulaski County Quorum Court, the Pulaski County Planning Board, and the County’s planning staff for their past actions and ongoing efforts as they balance the various political, economic, and environmental interests to protect the water quality of Lake Maumelle and promote the health, safety, convenience, prosperity, and welfare of the people of the County and the ratepayers of CAW.

Section 2.
[Alternative 1: The Commission hereby endorses and fully supports the adoption of the Zoning Code in its current form, which will be presented to the Pulaski County Planning Board at its November 22, 2011 meeting.

[Alternative 2: The Commission hereby endorses and supports the adoption of the Zoning Code; however, the Commission has concerns regarding the impact of the Zoning Code as described below.

Section 3. The Zoning Code contains elements that are not directly related to water quality protection. While the Commission acknowledges that these elements are necessary for implementation of a comprehensive zoning plan and the cohesive development of the County, the Commission requests that the Pulaski County Quorum Court continue its efforts, along with CAW’s staff and the watershed constituents, to monitor the ongoing effects of these elements on the quality of life within the watershed.

Section 4. The Commission has continuing concerns that dense development within the Lake Maumelle watershed will require an adequate set aside of land and/or other measures to offset any negative impacts on water quality. The Commission therefore asks that the County, in concert with CAW’s staff, closely monitor the methods of future development and their impact on water quality within the lake.

Section 5. The Commission requests that the County periodically review the impact of all development within the watershed and make changes as needed, including to the Zoning Code, in response to development patterns within the watershed, the effectiveness of best management practices within the watershed, and the effects of development within the watershed.]

Section 6. This Resolution shall be in effect immediately upon its adoption.

ADOPTED: November 21, 2011


ATTEST: APPROVED:


_______________________________ _______________________________
Marie-Bernarde Miller Thomas W. Rimmer
Secretary/Treasurer Chair


CERTIFICATE

STATE OF ARKANSAS )
)
COUNTY OF PULASKI )

I, Marie-Bernarde Miller, Secretary/Treasurer of Central Arkansas Water, Board of Commissioners, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of Resolution 2011-13 of the Resolutions of Central Arkansas Water, entitled: RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL ARKANSAS WATER BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGARDING ITS POSITION ON THE PROPOSED LAKE MAUMELLE WATERSHED ZONING CODE TO BE ADOPTED BY THE QUORUM COURT OF PULASKI COUNTY, ARKANSAS; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER MATTERS RELATING THERETO, adopted November 21, 2011.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 21st day of November 2011.


_________________________________________
Marie-Bernarde Miller, Secretary/Treasurer
Board of Commissioners, Central Arkansas Water




November 21, 2011

Deltic Timber asked the Pulaski County Planning Board to delay their vote on the proposed zoning code in order to allow time for review and study of the new draft released Friday.

November 18, 2011

New draft of zoning code issued

Pulaski County issued a new draft of the proposed Zoning Code at the end of the day Friday November 11, 2011.

We have it under review.

You may review the new draft at http://co.pulaski.ar.us/pdf/pczo-11-18-2011.pdf