Centerton City Council Recap | September 8, 2026

Downtown Plan Adopted, Greenhouse Road Moves Forward and More

There was a lot packed into the September 8 Centerton City Council meeting. The Downtown Master Plan reached its final adoption step, the city moved closer to acquiring right-of-way for Greenhouse Road, more than 80 acres of land were accepted for future park and outdoor use, and water and sewer infrastructure continued to take up a significant part of the conversation.

The biggest long-term item was the Downtown Master Plan, but there were several decisions from this meeting that residents will probably see the effects of much sooner.

The Downtown Master Plan was officially adopted

After the August 24 joint work session and the September 1 Planning Commission public hearing, Council considered Resolution 2026-28 adopting Centerton's Downtown Master Plan. The resolution included the land-use plan, master street plan and master trails plan, and Council approved it unanimously.

This was a pretty meaningful moment for me personally after having the opportunity to serve on the steering committee chosen to help guide the discussions behind the plan. There were months of conversations, questions and ideas that happened before this ever reached a City Council vote, so getting to watch it move all the way through the public process and ultimately be adopted was something I was proud to be a small part of.

Council also discussed feedback that had come in during and after the Planning Commission process. That included concerns about preserving green space and questions from a property owner about a future trail shown on the plan.

City officials explained that the trail map showed a future planning goal, not authorization to immediately build a trail across private land. How those connections actually happen will depend on future development, property ownership, right-of-way and other decisions that haven't happened yet.

So the Downtown Plan is official now, but we're still at the very beginning of implementation. The next phase is where things like zoning, development proposals and infrastructure projects start being measured against the framework that was adopted.

If you'd like to dig into the plan yourself, the City of Centerton has the Downtown Plan materials available here:

https://centertonar.us/community/centerton_downtown_plan.php

Greenhouse Road moved into right-of-way acquisition

Council also approved Resolution 2026-30, allowing the city to begin purchasing right-of-way and easements needed for the Greenhouse Road project.

There are 41 different properties involved, and some of the individual acquisitions could exceed the mayor's $35,000 spending authority. Staff estimated the city could need to put roughly $1 million toward the acquisitions initially, with approximately 80 percent reimbursed through grant funding.

The city engineer also said appraisals had been completed and agreements had already been reached with a large portion of the affected property owners, although the city had been waiting on finalized plans before sending everything out.

It's not construction yet, but right-of-way is one of those big behind-the-scenes steps that has to happen before a road project of this size can get there.

More than 80 acres were accepted for future green space

Another big item was Ordinance 2026-32, accepting a little more than 80 acres from Oak Landing Partners LLC. The property is across from the Versailles subdivision and extends toward Christian Lane.

For now, there isn't a final park design sitting on a shelf ready to build. Staff discussed pursuing grants for engineering and planning, with the property intended for outdoor public uses such as green space, trails, seating and potentially art.

There was also some discussion about restrictions attached to the property. The city will have to keep its use within the park and outdoor-purpose requirements tied to the conveyance, which means future city leaders won't have unlimited flexibility to use the land for something completely different.

Still, acquiring more than 80 acres of land for future public outdoor space is a pretty significant addition to Centerton's long-range plans.

Water demand stayed high while infrastructure work continued

Centerton Utilities reported that Benton-Washington Regional Public Water Authority had extended its request for water conservation through the end of that week because of continued heat and demand. Regional September use was pacing above 500 million gallons, which officials said would put it more than 10 percent above any previous September on record.

There was also progress on Centerton's new water-storage tank. The utility planned to bring the tank online with one pump while the second pump remained under maintenance and contractor discussions continued.

Water loss also came up during public comment and Council discussion. Residents referenced figures from previous audits and questioned what was being done to address the problem. Utility leadership said Centerton had internal crews and outside contractors working on service-line repairs and replacements and acknowledged that reducing water loss remained something the system needed to improve.

On the sewer side, work on the major projects residents have been hearing about for months was continuing. A separate joint City Council and Utilities work session was also scheduled for later in September to receive the long-awaited regional sewer study.

Several smaller items also moved forward

Council approved the updated Planning Commission bylaws that commissioners had worked through at their August 18 meeting. Most of those changes were housekeeping meant to keep the bylaws consistent with the city's recently updated code.

A $6,100 change order was also approved for the Perry Drive culvert project after construction uncovered a sanitary sewer conflict that required additional concrete work to protect the line. Council approved the city's municipal facility fee ordinance as well, including language dealing with complimentary use of city facilities, campaign and political fundraising events, and subletting city space.

The city also adopted a fraud, waste and abuse prevention policy establishing reporting procedures, internal controls and protections against retaliation. Staff explained that the policy applied broadly to elected officials, employees, volunteers, contractors and others doing business on behalf of the city.

An annexation ordinance also received its second reading but was not ready for a final vote that night, while Council separately accepted warranty bonds and easements associated with the Skylight Mini Storage development on Greenhouse Road.

A meeting where a lot of the pieces connected

The Downtown Plan was looking decades into Centerton's future while the Greenhouse Road project was dealing with the very practical work of acquiring easements today. At the same time, the city was working through water demand, sewer capacity, parks, drainage and the smaller policies that keep city operations moving.

That's one of the reasons these meetings make more sense when you follow them consistently. An agenda can look like a bunch of unrelated items, but most of them eventually connect back to the same question: how does Centerton keep up with the city we're becoming?