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BENTONVILLE -- The Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce and other local stakeholders will start seeking money by the end of the year for a plan designed to facilitate and manage the growth they want -- as well as address the positive and challenging aspects that come with growth. Brandom Gengelbach, the chamber's president and CEO, briefed residents, business owners and community leaders during the chamber's Build Bentonville event Tuesday on an economic development strategic plan dubbed Bold Bentonville that is being reviewed. Gengelbach said while Bentonville has been experiencing considerable growth and other positive developments -- including investments from area corporations, families and foundations -- it's starting to create a gap between the local economy and the ability of entities such as the chamber and city to help service that economy. He argued Bentonville needs an economic development strategic plan due to having a tax base of about 60,000 people to support "amazing assets" that far exceed that. Gengelbach said the chamber and other stakeholders involved in the plan want to be ahead of Bentonville's growth and be able to dictate that growth in a way that maintains the community's brand and charm, rather than being reactive to the growth. The Little Rock Regional Chamber has an economic development program called MetRock Forward while Jonesboro has had an economic development plan since 2017 called Momentum Jonesboro, he noted. PLAN DETAILS The chamber, city, Visit Bentonville and Downtown Bentonville Inc. have been developing the strategic plan for about the last six to nine months with the Little Rock-based consulting firm Boyette Strategic Advisors, according to Gengelbach. The group's process to put it together involved analyzing data, soliciting input from 14 local focus groups and conducting a resident survey, he said. Gengelbach said based on the data, Bentonville is a young, wealthy and very educated community. Bentonville's average and median household incomes stood at $137,352 and $104,355 respectively in 2024 while its per capita -- meaning per person -- income was $52,029. The city's median age that year was 33.6 and 59% of its population at or older than 25 years old had an associate degree or higher. However, Bentonville's median home value in 2024 was $368,688, which is higher than that of the country -- $355,577 -- and the Northwest Arkansas area overall -- $316,069. The city's median contract rent in 2024 was $1,143 while Northwest Arkansas' was $954 and the state's was $713. Gengelbach said Bentonville is dealing with a widening gap between the influx of high-income professionals moving into the area and the rest of the city's workforce. A key part of the strategic plan is to help shrink that gap to enable some of these essential workers to afford to live in Bentonville. Affordability was a recurring theme in the feedback received from stakeholders, according to Gengelbach. Other themes included the need to improve infrastructure and attract more unique retail. The resident survey -- in which about 1,400 residents participated -- revealed cost of living and housing availability/affordability are the most and third-most important elements to residents from a livability perspective, Gengelbach said. Residents cited available and attainable housing and transportation infrastructure as the top-two challenges in the Bentonville area and retail/commercial and residential as the top-two types of development they would like to see. Based on the data and feedback received, the three main themes of the strategic plan will be infrastructure, retail and enhancing the city's assets, Gengelbach said. The business community needs to help and support the entities planning to address the strain growth is having on local infrastructure, including water, sewer, roads, trails and the education system, he said. "Yeah, you could be critical, but at the end of the day, we need to be a part of the solution, not part of the critique," he said. "And so from this strategic plan standpoint, our goal is to be able to have you all around the table helping the city, helping the municipalities, helping the different entities figure out solutions to this and being ambassadors to help make that happen." The strategic plan's focus on bringing more retail to Bentonville is meant to improve the quality of life for residents and attract more tourists, Gengelbach said. It's also meant to generate more sales tax revenue to allow the city and county to provide necessary services, such as infrastructure improvements. Bentonville is home to a number of major assets, Gengelbach said. This includes Walmart, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, the Heartland Whole Health Institute and a planned health care campus by Interstate 49. The strategic plan will outline how to leverage these and other assets in a way that creates more economic development while continuing the brand and charm of the community. GOING FORWARD Gengelbach said stakeholders from about 19 businesses that helped fund the strategic plan are reviewing it. Their feedback will be due Friday. The City Council will get a chance to review the plan as well. The chamber, the city, Visit Bentonville and Downtown Bentonville will use that feedback to develop key performance indicators -- standards by which the plan's success can be measured, he said. They will then seek money from the public and private sectors to implement the plan, including from the city. The goal is to get $1.5 million for every year of the plan's five-year span to hire staff, do marketing and other purposes. The plan's actual scope will depend on how much money is raised. A launch party to present the plan to area chief executive officers is set for Dec. 4, according to Gengelbach. Aubrey Patterson, Ward 3 City Council member, participated in two of the focus groups that helped craft the plan -- one with the city and another with the Advertising and Promotion Commission. She believes the plan fills a gap that will help the city and said being able to increase the sales tax base will provide more money to fund the city's operations. "So this is really important, and I very much support it," she said. Kalene Griffith, president and CEO of Visit Bentonville, said via email the plan drives investment, supports local entrepreneurs and enhances the quality of life for residents. "By aligning tourism with broader economic goals, we're ensuring that Bentonville continues to thrive as a vibrant destination for both visitors and businesses," Griffith said. "The plan reiterates what we see every day: tourism is more than an industry in Bentonville; it is a catalyst for economic growth and community vitality." -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- On the web
