Mountain Home City Council approves updated fire prevention code, new 811 requirements

The Mountain Home City Council passed two ordinances Thursday night, one updating the fire prevention code and one requiring use of the Arkansas 811 program before digging in the city.

Earlier this year, the council approved updates to the fire prevention code. Thursday night, they added a new paragraph to make sure any company doing inspections on their fire protection equipment shall submit, in digital format, their inspection report to the fire inspector’s office within 14 days of the completion of the inspection.

The council approved an ordinance that requires anyone who plans to dig, excavate or demolish property in the city, to use the Arkansas 811 program so they can come out and mark the underground utilities.

Fire inspector Shawn Lofton told the council he recently learned from Black Hills Energy that in Arkansas, 20% of utilities that are struck underground are by someone who did not call 811 prior to beginning their work. Lofton says that number from Mountain Home to Harrison is 50%.

With this new ordinance, anyone who fails to call 811 and damages an underground utility will be fined $250 for the first two offenses. Fines go up to $1,000. For each day a violation continues, the person shall be deemed guilty of a new violation.

The Mountain Home City Council heard the second readings of ordinances dealing with commercial buildings.

The new commercial building facade ordinance would amend ordinances passed in 1998 and 2007 and repeal an ordinance passed in 2022.

One of the big changes is allowing visible fasteners to be used which had previously been banned. Any denials by the Planning and Engineering Department can be appealed to the Planning Commission.

The landscape ordinance replaces the list of banned plants and instead has a link to a list of invasive plants identified by The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture which cannot be planted.

The old ordinance requires a minimum of three feet of landscaping along the front and sides of the building. The new ordinance requires landscaping features to be incorporated into building sides that require a facade.

Both ordinances will come up for their third and final readings at the council’s next meeting Sept. 18.

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