The Hot Springs Village POA Cooper Land Evaluation Ad Hoc Committee held its second public meeting on Wednesday, April 27 in the Ouachita Room at the Ponce de Leon Center. The committee explained the criteria they were using to evaluate CCI-owned property. Additionally, Water and Wastewater Superintendent, Chris Boutzale, addressed HSV infrastructure that is located on Cooper (CCI) land. This discussion touched on water tanks, lift stations, water/sewer lines, dam access, Danville Gate, and access to the Waste Water Treatment Plant.
Mark Quinton, the committee member in charge of correspondence with the community shared some of the public input he has received. Email hsvlandeval@hsvpoa.org with your comments and input.
Evaluating CCI Property
The committee is compiling various information about the CCI-owned properties. This information includes:
- POA assets located on the property – water towers, lift stations, etc. located on CCI-owned property
- Floodplain information
- Residential Impact
- Trails located on CCI-owned property
- Possible future water tank locations for the East side of the Village
- Property tax information
- A legal description of the properties of interest is still needed and Karen Crowson said she should be able to access that information.
Lofgren suggested a slide show should be built for the properties they have identified as needing analysis so the committee can better communicate to the Board and Property Owners at the end of the committee’s evaluation.
Discussion with Chris Boutzale Regarding Assets Located on CCI Property For Sale
- There are five CCI-owned parcels for sale that have HSVPOA water tanks located on them. CCI will give these properties to the POA, except for one that is a five-acre parcel. Lofgren said CCI will most likely divide that parcel up and give us access to the tank and the tank itself.
- Lake Lago’s Dam River Intake Line is partially located on CCI property. (This line is used to fill up Lake Lago.)
- Water and sewer lines go through the edges of some of the CCI-owned property, including
- The main sewer line going into the Cedar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant
- The large water line that feeds Magellan
- Boutzale said that access to and the buffer around the Cedar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is needed. Boutzale said, “Cooper sold part of our buffer zone for the Millcreek Wastewater Treatment Plant, already.” This property belongs to a private entity. This issue is separate from the Ad Hoc Committee’s responsibility and will need to be addressed with the Board and the POA “through legal channels for the easement, etc.,” stated Lofgren.
- Boutzale said, “They [the owners] cannot build a residence in that buffer zone.”
- Boutzale explained that we just need the easements for the sewer and water lines on CCI-owned property.
- For the lift stations located on CCI property, we only need the portion of the property containing the lift stations and not the whole parcel.
- Two properties will be needed in the future for water tanks on the east side of the Village.
- Jeff Lofgren asked Boutzale to address the Danville Gate concerns and the road access to the Cedar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant with the Street Department. Lofgren said these two issues may be able to be resolved in the May discussion with CCI. “Input from the experts will be helpful,” said Lofgren.
- Boutzale said water and sewer lines are located in the road right of way.
- Janet Rowe said the property containing the main feeder for Lake Balboa has been sold. “It is going to be interesting to see what happens with that water source,” said Rowe.
Golf Properties in Question
- The Coronado Golf Cart Trailer Parking Lot is owned by CCI. Director McLeod said, “I followed up with the Golf Department, trying to see if we could find another place to park trailers and there doesn’t seem to be any around there. I didn’t think there was. We don’t want to lose that if we can help it.”
- Lofgren agreed. “We will need to look at that specifically.”
- Golf Cart Path at Balboa Golf Course – the committee is uncertain whether this is CCI-owned property and will research this.
Cooper [CCI]
Rowe said, “I don’t think we can really do much until they [CCI] do their assessments and then meet with them.”
Mark Quinton said that he is concerned that CCI thinks the POA has an open checkbook.
Lofgren said the committee needs to be very careful, as they cannot commit the POA to anything. The committee will only have exploratory discussions with CCI as to what might be doable.
Input/Concerns From Other Committees
Concetta Dixon said the Lakes Committee would be interested in the main feeder for Lake Balboa crossing private property. Dixon asked how would this impact Lake Balboa? Dixon said, “When they say ‘feeder,’ what does that mean to us? Is that where the water comes in?”
Rowe answered, “Yes. Cedar Creek starts off property, comes into the west side of the property, and feeds into Lake Pineda. Then it goes down the spillway into Lake Coronado, goes through Lake Coronado, and then picks up on the east end. It goes down underneath Minorca, goes through Cedar Creek Trail, goes under Danville Road and that is where this property parcel starts.”
Dixon asked if there would be any impact on the water going into Lake Balboa. “Can they divert that,” asked Dixon?
Rowe responded, “Probably not. That is why we mentioned we need to get [contact] Brad Meredith, the Lakes Manager, and let him know the property has sold. I know there are some rules and regulations about what you can and can’t do with a water source for a lake. The state does have control over that. I think Brad would be a little bit better versed to be able to help us look at that issue and see how the POA is going to respond and connect with the new owner.”
Lofgren said if this property is not owned by CCI any longer, it is not the path of the ad hoc committee to analyze and run down this concern. This is a concern of the POA staff. “We can identify it as something they might want to look at,” stated Lofgren.
Input from the Community
Mark Quinton is in charge of handling community emails to the committee. He said, “The majority of all the emails are putting the cart in front of the horse.” The emails are saying, ‘we don’t want to spend any more money.’
Quinton assured Property Owners that the committee is in a “discovery mode.”
Next Steps
- Have someone from the Streets Department address Danville Gate at the next committee meeting and the access road to the Cedar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant
- Make a visual presentation [PowerPoint]] for each property of concern that has been identified. The Trails Committee has already developed a PowerPoint presentation
- Reach out to Charlie Brown, Community Development Manager, for feedback and ask him to attend the next meeting
May Scheduled Meetings for Committee
As of the date of the release of this article, the ad hoc committee scheduled May meetings are to be held at the Ouachita Room at the Ponce de Leon Center (across from the Woodlands Auditorium) from 1:00 PM to approximately 3:00 PM on the following dates
- May 12, 2022 – Lofgren suggests that the Committee take a look at templates [PowerPoint presentations] for each of the concerned properties. Lofgren wants to set up a Zoom meeting with CCI sometime during the week of May 16 through May 20.
- May 26, 2022
Email hsvlandeval@hsvpoa.org with your comments and input.
Who is on the committee?
The ad hoc committee consists of one representative from each of the POA Committees except Golf & ACC. The Committee Members are:
- Jeff Lofgren, Chair (Finance and Planning Committee) – Present at April 27 meeting via Zoom
- Janet Rowe, Vice-chair (Trails Committee)
- Karen Crowson, Secretary (Governmental Affairs Committee) – Present at April 27 meeting via Zoom
- Max Billingsley (Common Property, Forestry, and Wildlife Committee)
- Mark Quinton (Parks and Recreation Committee)
- Thomas Gale Smith (Public Services Committee)
- Concetta Dixon (Lakes Committee)
- Robert (Bob) McLeod (HSVPOA Board Member)
Also present at the meeting was Water and Wastewater Superintendent, Chris Boutzale.
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Cheryl Dowden, Publisher Hot Springs Village Gazette
