Council OKs zoning for business park property

The Berryville City Council voted unanimously at its Feb. 20 meeting to zone property in the Berryville Regional Business Park as either commercial or industrial.

The council had voted in December to annex the property — approximately 297 acres — into the Berryville city limits.

After the council voted to approve the zoning ordinance on its first reading, Mayor Tim McKinney proposed that council members proceed with the second and third readings, saying the move was not controversial and that a client at the business park wanted confirmation of the zoning.

The council followed McKinney’s suggestion and approved the ordinance on its second and third readings.

The council also heard a monthly activity report from police chief Robert Bartos, who presented statistics from January.

Bartos said Berryville police wrote 82 citations during January, down from 103 in January 2023. Sixty offenses were reported, down from 67 the year before, and the department had an 85 percent clearance rate, Bartos said. The department collected $1,410 in fines and bonds and responded to 13 accidents, down from 18 in January 2023.

McKinney told the council that he planned to visit a sludge drying facility in Springdale on Wednesday, Feb. 21, along with officials from Green Forest, Eureka Springs and Huntsville.

“Tyson’s has shown a great interest in it, also,” McKinney said. “Their environmental director’s going to be there. What we’re looking at is the concept of a regional sludge drying facility. We’re up to $93 a ton on our sludge now to get rid of it, if you can find a place to get rid of it.”

McKinney said cities like Fayetteville and Springdale have had “real success” with sludge drying.

“You basically turn something that you’re trying to get rid of into a marketable product,” he said.

During citizens’ comments, local resident Margo Failing spoke to the council for the second time about what she described as a problem of dogs barking frequently and disturbing residents at the Ozarks Meadows senior apartment complex on Clive St.

Failing read a letter to the council at its Feb. 6 meeting. At the Feb. 20 meeting, she asked if Bartos had read the letter.

McKinney said that he hadn’t given a copy of the letter to Bartos, who was not present at the Feb. 6 meeting.

“I’m just wondering if there’s been any solution for our problem of the dogs,” Failing said.

“No,” McKinney replied.

“I’ve only had three, maybe four, nights sleep since about the end of January,” Failing said.

McKinney asked if there was an alternative such as Failing moving into a different apartment.

“Why should I have to do that, sir?” Failing responded.

McKinney said the city has looked into the issue.

“Our animal control officer has looked at it, our police have looked at it, our council member has spent nights in the neighborhood,” McKinney said. “… Ma’am I don’t know what to tell you. Everybody’s looked at it and nobody sees the problem other than a couple of people.”

Failing said she had been told that if she called the police again over the issue, she would be issued a citation.

“The reason I told you was because we’ve had officers that spend hours on end out there and while they’ve been sitting out there for 20 or 30 minutes, not hearing anything. You call in and say: ‘Hey, this dog’s barking. It’s continual all night.’ And they’re like: ‘I’m sitting right here by the dog for the last 30 minutes and it is not barking.’ ” “I question that,” Failing replied. “I would never call in if the dogs were not barking.”

Alderman Linda Riddlesperger said she had spent the night in the neighborhood.

“I have heard them,” she said. “They will bark one or two times, and then they shut up.”

Failing said she had tried to record the dogs barking.

“I tried to tape them,” she said. “My tape machine is just bogus it won’t do it. I mean, I don’t know what else to do. I mean, I’m going to just have to call. You’re going to have to probably arrest me, sir, because I just can’t live like this. And we shouldn’t have to. We shouldn’t.”