Fort Smith Board backs away from utility reg

The Fort Smith Board of Directors appeared to back away from approving a resolution that would require utility companies to place lines underground with development at Chaffee Crossing.

During a Tuesday (Oct. 25) study session, the board heard from Greg Davis, member service manager for Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative, and Rob Ratley, community affairs manager for OG&E, requested the Board consider a case-by-case “planning and review” of utility work at Chaffee Crossing.

The Board tabled the resolution during a Sept. 6 regular meeting.

Davis said the AVCC has for more than a year worked to minimize the use of overhead lines at Chaffee Crossing as part of an agreement with the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority.

“This is now our intention,” Davis said of the company’s engineering work.

Davis did warn of “unintended consequences” and costs of unilaterally requiring all lines be buried.

Engineers representing AVCC and OG&E told the board that large transmission lines require overhead infrastructure, but most residential areas are built with buried utilities. They also argued that installation and maintenance of buried lines are more costly, even when factoring in costs to repair storm damage to overhead lines.

Kandace Eaves, a senior region engineer with OG&E, said underground lines have a lifetime of around 20 years, while overhead lines may be good for 70 years.

Ratley said OG&E has agreed to be “more proactive” in seeking first to bury lines where possible. Davis agreed. They said they are working with developers and public officials on better balancing the costs, reliability and other issues when deciding on overhead or underground lines.

City Director Pam Webber said costs are important, but she also places value on aesthetics — on not looking out on a horizon and seeing nothing but poles and lines.

“I would prefer they all be underground,” Webber told Ratley and Davis. “I would like to see you all do more of them (underground).”

But City Director Philip Merry Jr. said a resolution requiring all lines to be buried “does not consider all the variables” that might factor into a utility placement decision. He said it appears the utility companies and public officials are working out a plan without the Board’s interference.

“I’m hearing (from constituents) more and more less government,” Merry said in pushing for the board to not approve a unilateral utility regulation for Chaffee Crossing. “They seem to have found their own solution here.”

Fort Smith City Administrator Ray Gosack said city staff will formulate a policy on utilities with an emphasis on burying utilities on Chad Colley Boulevard and other major corridors at Chaffee Crossing.

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
The Board also agreed to push forward with a comprehensive growth and development first approved in November 2020. However, based on a public input plan process similar to Fayetteville Forward, the city will involve citizens to help update the plan.

Directors appeared to agree that the plan should be updated with citizen input. (George Catsavis was not in attendance.) Webber said it is important for “citizens to have ownership” in the city’s plans for growth and development.