Council delays River Rock Estates improvement district after wastewater raises fee-collection and ownership concerns

The North Little Rock City Council on June 28 agreed to hold an ordinance that would establish Municipal Property Owners Multipurpose Improvement District No. 41, the River Rock Estates project, after the city's wastewater utility raised legal and financial concerns. Council members and the developer agreed to delay final action for two weeks to allow the utility and the developer to resolve language about fee collection and ownership of sewer lines.

Why it matters: The ordinance would enable the developer to form a special improvement district to finance and construct sewer infrastructure for a new subdivision, and it includes language allowing the North Little Rock Wastewater Utility to assess and collect connection fees for properties both inside and outside the district. Wastewater officials said that phrasing could obligate the utility to act as a collection agent and potentially bear costs or liabilities they have not agreed to.

The council called the ordinance for first reading and then heard extended testimony from wastewater officials, the utility's attorney, the developer and the developer's attorney. Michael Clayton, executive director of North Little Rock Wastewater, described the utility's concerns and said his commissioners had not yet had a chance to review the final draft of the ordinance: "We've not had a meeting. Well, it'll be tomorrow as our…