The City of Bentonville is inching forward on selling several properties identified last year as having economic development potential.

At the most recent city council meeting on March 10, discussion centered on whether the city should play an active role in deciding the future uses of the properties — or simply sell them to the highest bidder.

City planning director Tyler Overstreet said his team is working to determine what an RFP (request for proposals) process would look like for the properties.

An RFP is a formal process in which the city asks buyers to submit proposals explaining what they would do with the property, not just how much they would pay for it.

First up would be the “AT&T building” at 402 S. Main St. He noted that a “number of parties” have expressed interest in the property over the years.

Other properties identified as having the potential to be sold:

Overstreet said it was his intent to evaluate bids based on “community benefit” and economic development potential in addition to sale price.

Council member Bill Burckart, who is a developer, questioned why there needed to be an RFP process instead of simply putting the land up for sale.

He said potential buyers may be discouraged by not having a fixed price on the properties, as well as the added complexity of an RFP process.

The city’s Future Land Use Map and zoning rules already give a clear picture of what would be appropriate for the property, Burckart argued. He said that the city had been sitting on some of the properties for quite some time.

“We seem to paralyze ourselves into thinking we know what to do with the market,” he said. “The city is not in the business of real estate development.”

Council member Aubrey Patterson said she disagreed. From her perspective, it would only make sense to sell if there was a clear benefit to doing so right now.

“I’m personally not convinced that we even want to sell this property. And doing the RFP, we can kind of decide if we get X, Y, and Z, then maybe it is worth it.”

Burckart said he thought Patterson’s point of view was reasonable. However, he added that it makes sense to go ahead and sell it to the highest bidder when “you’re out of money on infrastructure, and we have an asset that we’re making no sales tax on whatsoever.”

Mayor Orman said there is nothing stopping someone from submitting an offer to purchase any of the properties right now, regardless of any future RFP process.

“If somebody knows the property, they can give us a sealed bid and we can consider that,” Orman said. “That could basically happen right now for anybody interested in our properties.”

As it relates to the AT&T building, there are considerations around parking and “a lot of other things” the city should discuss before approving a sale, she said.

Orman suggested trying the RFP process for the AT&T building first, then deciding whether it made sense to use the same approach for the other properties. Depending on how the first RFP process goes, the city government could either follow the same procedure for the other properties or simply list them for sale, she said.

The discussion was informational only, with no official vote taken. However, the takeaway appeared to be that the city should move forward with the RFP process for the AT&T building as a test.