City of Bentonville planning staff are leading a collaborative effort to create a future land use map that outlines where and how Bentonville should grow in the coming decades.

A draft of the map, released last week, categorizes the city by “place type,” such as urban neighborhood, walkable neighborhood, and neighborhood center.

Once finalized and adopted by the city council, the map will inform zoning regulations and development for years to come.

City planning staff are gathering feedback online and hosting several in-person events to discuss the proposed map with residents.

Learn more in the Q&A with city planning director Tyler Overstreet below.

In the simplest terms, what is the future land use map?

Plan Bentonville is an update to the Future Land Use and Strategic Growth Chapter of the 2018 Community Plan.

After an online survey at the end of 2023, Design Week in February and numerous iterations in between, we are now ready to receive feedback on a draft Future Land Use Map.

The purpose of the Future Land Use Map is to determine how and where the city will grow, as we tackle the question, “Who does Bentonville want to be in the year 2050?” 

When was the last time Bentonville released a plan like this? 

The level and depth of engagement on Plan Bentonville is unprecedented, but our last comprehensive update to the Future Land Use Map came with the 2018 Community Plan.

Who should care about the future land use map?

Everyone. Future Land Use is such a critical part of the city’s growth projections and influences other city plans in regards to transportation, utility and parks planning.

When we’re taking a 25-year glimpse into the future, it’s important to realize that we’re not just planning for ourselves today; we’re planning for the city we want our children and grandchildren to be a part of too.

From the onset of Plan Bentonville, public engagement and involvement have been the city’s top priority. Our community members are the experts; they know better than anyone what they love about Bentonville and the type of Bentonville they want to see in the future. 

Can you explain the difference between this map and zoning regulations?

The Future Land Use Map is meant to be visionary and aspirational. The Map is composed of Place Types which are the activity centers, neighborhoods, and corridors at varying scales that create the places that people want to live, work, or recreate. The place types, like building blocks, are then arranged to create a growth vision for the community. In short, the Future Land Use Map does not change the zoning of property within the city.

Zoning and Development Codes are the regulatory tools that implement the shared community vision of the FLUM. Phase 2 of the Plan Bentonville project is overhauling our zoning and development code to ensure that the vision the community has set in Phase 1 is actually possible to be developed and constructed on a day-to-day basis.

You’ve been conducting several community listening sessions. What have you heard so far?

People genuinely care about Bentonville and its future. Normally, Future Land Use and Zoning are not exciting topics to talk about, but our team has been encouraged by the passion and interest displayed by our community. People understand the concept of the place types, how they work, and types of places they want to see. 

Are there any common misconceptions or sources of confusion you’re encountering?

The difference between zoning and land use, which I described above, is an important distinction as we’re talking about this project. 

If someone objects to plans for their neighborhood, how can they voice their concerns?

We want to hear from as many voices as possible on this project. The best place to stay in the know about Plan Bentonville is our website www.planbentonville.com. Residents can view the draft The Future Land Use Map and comment on parcels individually here. 

It is just as important that we hear from people in support of the project as people in opposition, because in order to establish a shared community vision, it takes all of us. 

What are the next steps for the plan? 

After online engagement closes on August 2, we will be collecting all of the comments received, studying them, and making revisions to the plan based upon what we’ve heard. 

Afterwards, we would move towards recommendation of the Map for approval by our Steering Committee, Technical Committee, and Planning Commission, and ultimately final approval by the City Council. The next step of the project would then be looking at our codes and ensuring that we can develop the types of places that our community has said it wants to see in the future of Bentonville.