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Northwest Arkansas Times Monday, September 9, 2002 Reprinted with author's permission Forcing a task - Public hearings coming up on I-540 site BY FRAN ALEXANDER We humans create a bundle of strange word combinations in our ongoing efforts to communicate with each other. Lately the words "task force" have been playing a local role. The meaning of task seems clear enough although definitions can range from work and responsibility to duty and even to drudgery. Then there is the issue of force. Although I do not know how this word got itself involved with task, the two have been seen together for years, possibly decades, and are frequently used in combination to somehow set their stature and function apart from, say, a mere committee. Force generally conjures up a mental image of power, strength and dynamic intensity. It can, of course, also be a form of coercion so this is not a word to use casually. And, if you search the Internet for some fixed definition of task force you can wander over 3 million possibilities. Hopefully by now you have heard that in June the mayor appointed a Task Force to analyze the proposed use of the publicly owned 289 acres which harbor Wilson Springs and are located near I-540 and Highway 112. Task Force members divided themselves into three sub-groups to gather what information is available concerning the hydrologic, biologic, and economic factors which will be impacted when the fate of this land is determined. This effort to develop some sort of recommendation for the City Council to begin chewing on has now moved toward the public input phase. This is where you, Johnny and Joanne Citizen, come into the picture. Beginning this week, two public forums will be held, the first on Thursday and another on Sept. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Center. If the final recommendation to the council is made by early October, then the public will need to show up again at City Hall because, after all is said and done, the aldermen are the only folks with a final vote on the issue. What is at stake? What difference will showing up at a forum or at city council make? Well, the Task Force is dealing with its "task" by accumulating as much information about this property as the individual members have time to absorb. Some debate occurred at the last meeting as to just what should and would be heard at these forums. One side said only factual information about the site, not just opinion, would be beneficial to Task Force use, while others felt that opinion actually is information since it reflects community values. My take on this is that once again, as is all too often the case in local matters, body count will be important at all of these input opportunities. All along, the bizness element has been ever-present at the Task Force meetings as have some of us enviros, and lately the sports constituency has shown up. In the final analysis, however, the if, how, and why decision of what land uses could or could not overlap will be based on community values, if you express them, of course. Sure, the land could be bulldozed, drained, pushed and paved and every living thing, whether rare or not, killed or displaced for roads, buildings, parking lots, and ball fields. Fortunately most of the people working on this task have not, at least not so far, recommended that kind of force be put upon the land. But, that extreme scenario has occurred on private property countless times. While their stance has been characterized as not wanting any of the site used for anything other than wildlife habitat, this is not what environmentalists have said over and over from the very beginning of this discussion. When the scientific data is collected to indicate how the land and biology function together to create the conditions that are supporting the unusual ecosystems there, only then do they feel a fair and logical assessment of land use can be made. It is almost funny that the retort from some voices in City Hall, in the media and elsewhere to this data request has been, "You want it all!" It is as though the promoters subconsciously know too much pressure from development might very well kill this ecosystem. "What we don’t know won’t hurt us," seems to guide their verbal responses. And certainly, if the science says that entire site should not be disturbed if the wetlands are to survive, then a whole different civic discussion needs to occur. Interestingly, very little real economic projection, evaluation, or marketing vision has been produced or is available. In place of such analysis, at some civic group gatherings there has been the painfully simplistic asking for a show of hands from an audience to indicate support for high-paying jobs. Is the message then that all that is required for such jobs to appear is that the city enter the land-development business? Silicon Valley will not be replicated here just because we have lots for sale and want companies to buy them. Economic life is more complicated than that. Information is available at a couple of locations to stimulate your curiosity juices and aid your participation in the upcoming public forums. The Wilson Springs Business Park Assessment Task Force web site is at: comp.uark.edu/~jeffc/ and for multiple articles, documents, a timeline, and numerous pictures of the wildlife and land, go to www.mudwompers.org. It is now the citizens’ turn to take on the task of deciding where the force of community values should be placed. See you at the forums. |