Monroe residents press city and county on water, sewer and a possible UGB land swap; downtown Riverside plan also discussed

City officials and residents of Monroe pressed Benton County planning commissioners and county staff about the local consequences of growth, water and sewer capacity, and a proposed land-swap discussion that could alter where future development occurs.

Steve March Maple, introduced in the meeting as the city administrator for Monroe, outlined local planning priorities and said the city is working to make permitting and approval processes more consistent and responsive. "We have a very... Monroeland use code... it's been updated and changed," he said, describing recent efforts to tighten decision processes and improve coordination between city and county permitting.

A central local topic was a proposed swap involving two parcels commonly discussed as the Brickyard (a large borrow pit) and a property owned by the Stones. City officials said the Brickyard area contains deep borrow pits, wetlands and soils that developers have advised are expensive or impractical to build on, while the Stones property has city services and may be easier to develop. City speakers described the Brickyard borrow pit as roughly 18–20 acres and up to about 14 feet deep and said soils and floodplain constraints reduce its near-term developability.

Steve described discussions with county…