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Senate committee clears path for Holiday Island to seek incorporation vote
Summary
The Senate City, County & Local Affairs Committee advanced SB548 after residents and the municipal league said the bill restores Holiday Island's option to petition for a municipal incorporation election by carving an exception to a 3-mile prohibition adopted in 2017.
Senator Ballinger asked the committee to advance Senate Bill 548, which would allow Holiday Island residents to petition for an election on incorporation despite a 2017 change that established a three-mile prohibition near existing municipalities. Ballinger said the language, drafted with the Arkansas Municipal League, narrowly restores an option Holiday Island lost when the law was amended.
John Wilkerson of the Arkansas Municipal League told the committee SB548 clarifies statutory terms and reduces the incorporation-population threshold to 1,500 in certain circumstances, while preserving the requirement that an existing nearby city may affirmatively consent in writing unless the area seeking incorporation contains 1,500 or more residents. Ballinger and witnesses said the municipal league's language was intended to be narrow and not broadly change incorporations elsewhere.
Several Holiday Island residents testified in favor. Al Selleck, who identified himself as a member of the Holiday Island Citizens for Incorporation Committee, said the community had previously certified a petition and that 88% of registered voters who expressed an opinion supported incorporation; he told the committee, “We're asking that SB548 be moved forward so that Holiday Island may have the option to incorporate and move forward as a city.” Vernon Anderson and Doug Taylor described local governance problems and argued incorporation would provide authorities to enforce covenants and set local rules. Ken Mills recounted a certified petition and a county hearing in 02/2018 that he said was denied after an unforeseen statutory change.
Committee members asked whether nearby Beaver had been consulted; sponsors and witnesses said residents of Holiday Island had met with local officials and that many emails opposing related legislation were tied to a separate bill, SB510. Ballinger said he removed SB510 from committee consideration to address those concerns. The chair put SB548 to a vote and the committee approved it to advance (committee action recorded as passing to Senator Ballinger).
The measure, as presented, does not itself incorporate Holiday Island; rather it restores a statutory pathway so citizens can pursue a petition and, if verified, hold an election whose date would be set by the county judge. The committee's approval sends the bill forward for consideration by the full Senate or subsequent floor action.
