There have been several important updates since I published my original blog post on the Northwest Arkansas Industrial Development Authority, including an IDA Town Hall in Benton County, the City of Highfill's proposal for its own IDA, and questions over why some information was deleted from the web the day after my post was published.
My original post explains why Washington and Madison counties strongly rejected a proposed three-county IDA earlier this year: concerns that it would grant vast powers to an unelected board, including eminent domain, the ability to cut property tax deals, and the potential to override local planning and zoning, all without needing the consent or approval of local elected officials. There’s also no ability to remove board members or dissolve the authority. These problems can only be fixed by the Arkansas legislature.
After the vote, new revelations surfaced about the Northwest Arkansas Council’s push to use the IDA to give special treatment to military drone and AI-powered autonomous weapon manufacturers that it wants to attract to our region, through a project called "Hephaestus’ Forge®". The NWA Council is a private nonprofit closely tied to many of the largest corporate interests in our region, and has been the main force behind the IDA. The day after my blog post was published, some of the NWA Council's source information was removed from the web.
Upcoming Calendar Dates
Saturday, April 11, 12:30 pm-2:30 pm Benton County Justice of the Peace Joseph Bollinger is hosting an Industrial Development Authority Town Hall meeting at the Bella Vista Public Library. You can sign up on his Facebook page.
Monday, April 13, 6:00 pm the Benton County Quorum Court is set to decide whether to move forward with the Northwest Arkansas Industrial Development Authority on its own without Washington and Madison Counties. There will be public comment. That's at 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville, on the first floor of the Benton County admin building. You can contact Benton County Justices of the Peace in advance here.
Tuesday, April 14, 6:00 pm the City of Highfill (bordering XNA/Northwest Arkansas National Airport) will vote on its own Highfill Industrial Development Authority. That's at Highfill City Council Chambers, 2560 W Hwy 12. You can contact Highfill City Council members in advance here.
The Highfill Northwest Arkansas Industrial Authority
Newly announced this week is that the City of Highfill will vote on whether to create the “Highfill Northwest Arkansas Industrial Development Authority” on Tuesday, April 14. If approved, the city will petition the Benton County Circuit Court to formally create the authority. Highfill's website says the authority would support economic development efforts, including industrial and technology growth within the region. I don't have information yet on who has requested this, or if the Northwest Arkansas Council is directly involved like they have been with all other IDA proposals in our region.
However, the Northwest Arkansas Council has been marketing a 1,400-acre Commerce & Technology Park in Highfill, called CTP@XNA, focusing on "aerospace and defense opportunities". It's the blue area in the image below, immediately west of Northwest Arkansas National Airport. CTP@XNA is pitched as offering through-the-fence access to the airport's 8,800-foot runway, a future foreign trade zone (FTZ), future rail and air cargo service, and a nearby workforce development training campus. Based on the attached map, most of the property appears to be Mathias Ranch in Highfill. The majority of the property was rezoned to light industrial in 2016, then to general industrial in 2021, in a pair of controversial votes.
The Northwest Arkansas Council's information about CTP@XNA was deleted from the web the day after I published my original blog post on the IDA. However, the archived version can be found here.
Another interesting thing to note is a potentially conflicting land use. The Arkansas Highway Department has identified the same piece of land in Highfill as a potential route for a new western north-south bypass connecting Benton and Washington Counties. Even if the bypass is routed around the proposed aerospace and defense park, it would still be a double whammy for Highfill. ARDOT is now actively accepting public comment on this proposal. The in-person meetings have been filled with property owners concerned about the future of their quiet community and their land being used for this project and potentially taken through eminent domain.
Disappearing Web Pages
Nothing says transparency like quietly removing information from the web after a duly elected representative of the people starts asking questions.
The day after I published my original blog post about the proposed Northwest Arkansas Industrial Development Authority, the Northwest Arkansas Council's web pages for Hephaestus’ Forge® and CTP@XNA were taken down.
Those pages described a regional effort across four Northwest Arkansas counties to give favoritism to military drone producers and autonomous AI weapons manufacturers, with plans for proving grounds, technology parks, and related public infrastructure in our cities and rural areas.
Then, after those pages were brought into public view and questioned, they disappeared. (An archived version is linked here)
Supporters of the proposed IDA told local elected officials it would be used as a neutral economic development tool to attract any kind of industry. But the information on the "Sourcehere" site told a different story. It pointed to a focused effort to use the IDA for public infrastructure to attract one specific industry - defense innovation, manufacturing, testing, and military-connected technology - through an under-the-radar initiative called Hephaestus’ Forge®.
That was exactly the kind of information the public and local elected officials should have had before anyone was asked to vote on handing an unelected IDA board vast powers, including eminent domain, special tax deals, and the power to override local planning and zoning.
Taking the pages down now does not answer any of the underlying questions. It only raises more. Who approved those pages in the first place? Who decided they should be taken down? Why were they not presented openly to the public and to local elected officials before the IDA push began? Why remove the evidence instead of explaining it? I’ll try to get those answers for you.
This is not how transparent regional planning is supposed to work.
If the Northwest Arkansas Council’s message is that none of this means what it appears to mean, then it should say so publicly and directly. It should explain Hephaestus’ Forge®. It should explain the plans for ARES and Operation Golden Egg in Madison County. It should explain CTP@XNA in Highfill. And it should explain why those pages disappeared only after questions started being asked.
Removing webpages does not erase the concerns people raised. And it does not erase the basic issue at the heart of this debate: whether local communities were being asked to create a powerful new unelected authority without being told the full story about the kind of future it was meant to help build.
Regardless of which industries come to Northwest Arkansas, residents have shared concerns about having a direct voice in decision-making through their elected representatives. They're concerned that some industries might not mesh with existing ways of life in rural and agricultural areas. They're concerned about their land being taken through eminent domain. They're concerned about the ability to stop deals they think might be harmful or not in the best interest of local residents and businesses.
Washington County and Madison County were right to say no to the IDA. Before Benton County or Highfill go any further, the people of Northwest Arkansas deserve real answers, not just disappearing webpages.
