The dam on Little Sugar Creek, which creates Lake Bella Vista, has been considered failed since 2008 when it was topped by flooding. It has also been topped by flooding in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Following the flooding in 2008 and 2011, the city of Bentonville applied for funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to tear down and rebuild the dam. The city got a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was necessary to fulfill the FEMA requirements, in December 2016, but it expired in March 2017. A lawsuit filed by Friends of Little Sugar Creek, which is a nonprofit organization that is advocating for removal of the dam to restore Little Sugar Creek, also revealed city of Bentonville employees discussed plans for a whitewater park downstream from the dam with a whitewater park company and the Walton Family Foundation.
Listen to part two here.