A Better Cherokee Village Plan Vision 2030

Thanks to Trout on the trail info for "visitr". That is what this forum's all about. People helping people about what they need to know about the village, and you are well versed in the workings of Cherokee Village. Thank you for that.

Also thanks to Paul. This topic is very informative. I didn't realize how important the walking trails are to people but it is obvious they are. I completely agree on enhancing the parks and the trails as much as possible. That is money very well spent in my opinion. It beautifies the village and costs very little money to do so. I agree with Trout to put the bug in SID's ear. It can't hurt. I will try to find out more info on this.

Visitr, we all hope you enjoy your stays in the village. It is a wonderful place.

Hi trout and our new guest,

I do think that there is genuine interest in sustaining walking trails of some length. Thanks for the info on the one by the bridge. It sound very inviting. The trail at Town Center is quite nice, and it is possible to take it to the T-Bird Center with just a brief crossing over of a dead end road. Walking is important exercise for a lot of us. The more the better for a decent length walk. The woods are great in CV.

Paul the city does not own the parks and SID has done all the previous work. Someone probably just needs to bring up the subject and see what they think, SID works for us remember.

There is a trail that runs by the SF river over by the Flathead bridge there is a parking area and the trail is 3/4 mile long with rest benches. the trail is maintained by SID and they use mulch for the trail making it easy to walk. the trail goes along the river and curves around the woods going back to the parking area. Very nice.

Are there walking trails that go go along the river? We like to walk and along the river would be very nice if possible. Thank you for any help. God bless.

Trout, does SID simply maintain or actually build stuff also? What I'm after is new trails or the serious expansion of the ones we now have in terms of length of walk provided. Maybe I'm missing something and there's more trails than I know.

Paul I would bring this up with the SID manager and see what he thinks. The things you are talking about is a SID responsibility.

Hi Forum,

Okay, moving along to another part of the 2030 Vision. There is a portion of the Vision called "Natural Resources." A portion of that section reads:

The city has created quality hiking, biking, riding trails, and parks suitable for all ages.

I would like to observe how these "parks suitable for all ages" were a part of the original vision of CV. They are already placed throughout the Village and offer a nice place to relax. Some need tidying up, and some need access paths better cut and identified. Mr. Cooper clearly cared greatly about more than just "common property" but also "common space" to promote community.

What needs a good bit of help in my view is the matter of trails. The established trails are lovely and well cared for. Many sights along the way are glorious. However, they could provide for longer walks. They seem a little short to me. Also, we need more of them and trails dispersed more throughout the Village.

We want to remember that those who want to walk in fact have only the trail areas to do so. The roadways are too busy and traveled to be truly walkable. I would love to see more paths cut and longer trails. I very much encourage this part of the Vision.

I think septics in the village are very workable and a city sewer is just not necessary at this point. I don't see the need for a massive city sewer project when septics in a rural area like CV work just fine. Plus the eyesore of that kind of a construction project in the village is nothing most people would want to put up with for what would seem like an eternity.

Hi trout,

I have the utmost respect for the genius of septic. In fact, I watched a documentary once that said septic was one of the most important inventions the world has ever known. It has radically curbed disease and death.

I take your word for it on the rock. They were going to lay gas pipe just a short while ago so it has to be practical if the economic return is high enough. I think the plan for gas lines throughout the City met its demise due to lack of interest rather than fear about the cost of laying pipe. Maybe they would have gotten started and found themselves with more on their hands than they wanted.

According to the Early History of Cherokee Village put out by the Village Historical Society, even Mr. Cooper's guys found the rock situation enormously worse than thought when they built the Dam. And they had government engineers telling them it would be fine which was not what they found!

Paul the sewer line crosses the river at the Flathead bridge and runs along that side of the river going toward the boy scout camp to the processing lagoon. Homes on that side hooked into it years ago. We have owned our place for over 12 years and have never had a problem. I did watch them replace the water lines a few years back and buddy the rock is everywhere and a sewer line thru the full village woud be a costly nightmare. Spetic tanks have worked since the first person had to good to the pot( I cleaned that up a little)
and it is an approved way to control waste. So why try and recreate the wheel.

Hi trout and chanuter,


Chanuter raises the issue of the tough rock formation. I would assume that the pipe would be laid beside the existing roads. A lot of that has been dug and moved around already, but maybe it would be much more demanding than I imagine.

Trout, did the sewer connect to your place because of the proximity to Town Center?

Sewer would be a cost savings for new construction and ultimately for anyone who had a serious upgrade or septic fix in need of happening. I'm not sure the overall cost wouldn't come out in the wash.

Septic tanks are fine. No need to turn to city sewer. with the rock it would be too expensive for this much sqr miles. it won't never happen.

Not really needed especially with the limited growth and the overall cost of such a system . As old spetic systems fail they will be replaced by the new ones under the new codes. Also with people having limited income and no growth why would we even think about such a system. Industry is not coming here period. I would put more effort into a 24 hr ER. over any sewer idea.

Also our home is on the SF river and we have sewer thru Daggett's system which runs thru town center.

Hi Forum,

Okay, let's keep moving through the 2030 vision.

We are hardly done with health care and the hospital and if anyone wants to return to that subject, that would be great. Right now, I want to continue on to the section under "Utilities." Let's take them one at a time. The 2030 Vision hopes for the following:

The city has planned and is developing a sewage treatment facility.

How important to you is getting off of septic in the Village? The Town Houses already are on sewage. I believe that is so for Town Center also. But let's focus residentially.

How would the cost of maintaining septic systems by individual owners balance against the upstart cost of a sewage system over the long term that would get folks off septic? What about the environmental benefits, especially around the lakes?

Is it worth it? How do you make it fair if not everyone is in the loop all at once? Thoughts?

Hi Trout,

Do you think that the Village needs a local hospital to grow? With respect to Fulton, my sense is that the issue is less the percentage of private insurance patients as it is the limited scope of what they offer. What I'm saying is that a truly high-tech 24/7 ER could work with transport to Batesville or Mountain Home, or a true full-service hospital. What I don't think can survive is something halfway between the two. That's my impression about Fulton. I could be wrong. I wish Fulton well.

As for Mr. Cooper's learning curve, I would say that he was 100% right on about the area. The issue was sustaining the continued growth of the earlier period. If you read the Early History of Cherokee Village, the 1970s were hoping. The thing about Cherokee Village is that it is drop dead beautiful whether there's further growth or not. Other "retirement areas" are more about the "retiring" than the "area" if you get what I mean. Most of Florida is a perfect example.

I think Mr Copper saw the possible disadvantage of our location and decided to move to other areas that could provide those outside services that we don't have.  Bella Vista, Hot Springs and several other places in the country were developed and grew and have those services that  the village does not have.  We were the first and were the learning curve.   A side note. the Fulton county  hospital is still having a bad money problem and I don't think it will be here much longer. Sad to say but the will also impact growth in the area no matter what  "2030" people say.  The village is just that the village like or not.

I was not referring to you. I was commenting on the money spent on a vision that is so optimistic that it cannot be achieved. And I really hope good tax money was not used in this. Cooper was optimistic, but at least he was realistic and didn't promise or hope for stuff that was out of reach.

Hi Chanuter,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm all for low taxes. I hope that my talk in the Insider History about "vision" isn't being read the wrong way. Promoting the Village has always been a part of the Village's identity. The Village wouldn't even be here without Cooper's promotion and vision. The more that vision is filled out, the more potential there is for lower taxes. Dead lots don't raise money! What I think about the "vision thing" is that the Village could use a good shot in the arm right now in terms of recapturing its own history and purpose. It's not about any radical change of the place. It's an attitude thing -- being forward looking. Hope that clarifies at least what I'm trying to say.

this is total bs. this vision thing is a waste of any tax money that was spent if it was. does anyone know if public money was spent on this or was it private donations? if the big boys in town want to play with their own money to make themselves feel good then they have that right. but don't spend any tax money on it. keep the taxes low please!

Hi Trout and Mike,

Let me chime in on this one a little late in the game. Perhaps the deeper question is this: What is Cherokee Village in the first place?

If we take seriously the way John Cooper had it platted out, provided water and electric, carved roads, and the extent to which he searched far and wide -- multiple states -- for those who would visit and possibly relocate, it is clear that the present population is much less than Mr. Cooper had in mind.

The issue for growth has always been the supporting services and opportunities of the surrounding area -- mostly employment. Strictly as a retirement community, the numbers could grow quite a bit with a serious address of a hospital or 24/7 ER. Healthcare becomes the critical issue because the income is retirement income. But if the idea is to develop a genuine family community, which I think Cooper had in mind, local employment more than land and space is the real issue.

Right now we seem at a jumping off point and something has to give.

Article in AreaWideNews on this subject.

http://www.areawidenews.com/story/1683868.html

There is nothing wrong at all with a vision to grow a community to keep it healthy and vibrant and without dramatically changing the character of it, however, I do think wasting $1600 on mailing it to residents is not a good use of the public's money at all.

Growing the town over time by a few thousand people in 20 years with all the empty land in this area cannot be seen as dramatically altering CV. In fact, it is keeping in tune with Cooper's vision. Realistically, CV will not change that much at all whether it has 4000, 5000, 6000, or 7000 residents. Sure, it may be a big percentage increase, but the area could handle it with no problem and may help bring a few better services that the majority of people, local or new resident, would like to see in the area. If anything, the growth of new population and new homes would be in the western side of the village because of all the open land available, and then some of the older areas away from the lakes on the eastern side could be cleaned up better. I agree with trout to not make a monster and to keep our local govt small and in check, but I'm not too worried about that happening. I highly doubt it would become a monster. Just my thoughts.

How much is this going to cost us?  Remember the brochure that created several years back to promote the village. It did not work to well.  It is nice to dream but most came here to get away from street lights, and big government  let's not create a monster. If you want all the things mentioned in the 2030 vision report then move back to where you came from.  Let the village be the village.

nutzo wrote:When I was getting gas yesterday I heard two women saying that Lynn Maxedon city councilman wants to spend your tax dollars to send all of us a letter in the mail explaining to all of us this "vision thing". Do the math. That comes out to maybe 2 grand when you figure postage, envelopes, paper to print the letter on, toner and ink, and the labor to do it all. Maybe I'm too high but maybe I'm low, could be 3 grand who knows. Whatever they say it will be, you can add more to it because the city council can't do math very well like we've seen in the past. I say no to this. If a resident wants to read it, they can find it on the internet or go down to city hall and ask for a copy. This is nuts!

I actually agree with you on this. I wouldn't find it necessary to mail out the Vision 2030 to all residents if that is the cost. It's not needed and the money could be better spent promoting the village another way. If a resident wants to read it, they can read it here or on the city's website and it costs the taxpayer nothing extra. Agreed. Hope to read more of your comments in the future. Thank you for your reply.

When I was getting gas yesterday I heard two women saying that Lynn Maxedon city councilman wants to spend your tax dollars to send all of us a letter in the mail explaining to all of us this "vision thing". Do the math. That comes out to maybe 2 grand when you figure postage, envelopes, paper to print the letter on, toner and ink, and the labor to do it all. Maybe I'm too high but maybe I'm low, could be 3 grand who knows. Whatever they say it will be, you can add more to it because the city council can't do math very well like we've seen in the past. I say no to this. If a resident wants to read it, they can find it on the internet or go down to city hall and ask for a copy. This is nuts!

The "A Better Cherokee Village" (ABCV) Committee has come out with their long term vision and plan for what they and others hope to see
come true in the next twenty years.

You can find it on the front page of the city website at http://www.cherokeevillage.org/

This is the committee's vision of what perhaps could be a visitor's view of Cherokee Village, Arkansas in the next twenty years. Let'shope this is a reality!

A Visitor’s View of CV in 2030

Imagine it is the year 2030. While driving along Hwy 62/412 you are welcomed to the naturally beautiful city of CV with a population of 7,000. There is a convenient shopping area of attractive stores for all your daily needs. There is a beautiful medical park nearby. As you are driving into the Village on smooth streets and safe bridges, you see modern homes, schools, parks, recreation and sports facilities for all ages. You were attracted to CV because of its inviting web site with fresh information of all the activities and services available there. You find the people friendly and the cost of living is modest considering all the
opportunities so you decide to buy a home and live in Cherokee Village.