With all the buzz about the pros and cons of going green, it's important for Fort Smith residents to know about the "green" options that our community provides. The city provides a blue recycling bin, but where do all those newspapers, magazines, bottles, cans, cardboard products, and papers go? 

Operators of Fort Smith's recycling program point out that Fort Smith residents can put almost all recyclables into one blue recycling bin, but items that held food products should be rinsed, tops to plastic bottles and jugs should be thrown away, and clear glass should be bagged separately. All of these co-mingling items, however, must be sorted after pick-up.

Sebastian Hills, a neighborhood located in central Fort Smith, is one of the areas included in the city's first phase of automated trash collection. This neighborhood has a very high percentage of households that recycle, which led to its inclusion in the first phase. As part of the automated trash collection, sanitation crews use the city's first compartmentalized recycling truck to collect the contents of those blue recycling bins. This truck has separate bins for paper, plastic, glass, and cardboard, which allows workers to sort recyclables at the curb.

Baridi Nkokheli, Fort Smith sanitation director, says that "The collectors actually separate the material at the point of collection. So, when we take it over to Fort Smith Waste Paper, it's already pre-sorted. That helps us to eliminate the level of contamination."

The contamination Nkokheli mentions occurs when non-recyclable items (styrofoam, plastic bags, mirrors, oil and pesticide containers) are mixed with the items in a recycling ben and thus the recycling truck. In areas of the city without the automated collection program, recycling bins are dumped into a city garbage truck where they are compacted and later taken to a Material Recovery Facility at Fort Smith Waste Paper Co. Once there, the recyclables are dumped onto a section of pavement and then loaded onto a conveyor belt that moves up about one story to the sorting line. These mixed items must be sorted by hand by sanitation workers as the items move along the conveyor belt. Each worker is assigned a specific material to remove from the belt and place in a bin. Newspapers, milk jugs, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans are picked out.

At the end of the conveyor belt, trash (the contaminants) is placed in a large compactor and trucked to Fort Smith Regional Landfill. This process is less efficient than the automated truck system because trash is essentially being "double-handled" by the sanitation department when contaminants in recycling bins are transported to Fort Smith Waste Paper. Last year, the city removed 471 tons of trash from recyclable material and moved it to the landfill.

The compartmentalized truck helps eliminate contamination because city crews can leave contaminated items on the curb and add a large, yellow sticker across the top of the recycling bin that signals "no pizza boxes or plastic bags should be placed in recycling container."

 Once the recyclable material is separated (either on the conveyor line or curbside), each type of item is stored until there is enough to bale. Steve Gately, owner of Fort Smith Waste Paper, says it takes 50,000 aluminum cans to make a bale and 30 bales to fill a truckload for shipping. Last year, the city produced 2,700 tons of recycled items and earned $72,000 for this sale. 

Currently, a bout a third of the city has automated trash collection, implemented in August. Nkokheli says that another advantage of automated collection is that residents place all of their sanitation materials (garbage, yard waste, and recyclables alike) at the curb on a single day while other areas of Fort Smith have three different pickup days.  

According to CNN Money, there’s no guarantee that home prices have hit rock bottom, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a great deal on a home now. Though there’s no way to know how long the housing crisis will last, CNN Money offers these five rules for prospective home buyers shopping in a rocky market.

1. You Can’t Time the Bottom

The house you buy today will most likely be worth less next year, that’s unavoidable. This could get you thinking about trying to time the bottom, which is harder to do than you think. Right now is the best that buyers have had it in two decades be cause inventories are up and mortgage rates are low. So pace yourself, find the perfect place and bargain. It is to your advantage to bid 10% below what comparable homes are selling for – despite the seller’s asking price. If the seller shies away, move on. Remember that if you’re upgrading to a more expensive home, your current home could sit, so sell before you buy.

2. One Reason to Buy Now – Mortgage Rates

Homes are plentiful and will remain so for a while, but financing will get more expensive. Though the Fed has drastically cut interest rates, fixed mortgages don’t directly follow the Fed. Instead, they reflect the bond market’s expectations about inflation, which remains a concern. The 30-year, now at 6.1%, will likely reach mid-6% by December and 7% in early 2009, says Celia Chen of Moody’s Economy.com. This means there could be a penalty for waiting to buy, eve if prices continue to fall. Today, a $250,000 loan would carry a $1,500 monthly payment. At 7%, a $1,500 payment gets only a $225,000 mortgage. As for variable-rate loans, the spread between conforming ARMs and fixed loans is too narrow to benefit you very much.

3. Another Reason to Buy – Rates on Big Mortgages

Mortgages greater than $417,000 – the limit for buying by federally sponsored mortgage agencies – usually run a fifth of a percentage point above conventional products. Now, however, investors are shunning jumbos, which currently average 7.2% and are unlikely to drop much more this year, according to HSH Associates. Certain jumbo borrowers could get relief. A new law allows Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy loans as large as $729,750 in 71 high-priced areas. This program has gotten off to a slow start, so you’ll need to shop around. This bargain is for a limited time only; unless Congress says otherwise, it will disappear at year-end.

4. Don’t Buy Cheap; Buy Good Schools

At this point, you’ve probably heard several stories about people who have gotten great deals on foreclosed properties. But when you buy a home, you’re also buying the accompanying neighborhood, and foreclosures tend to be bunched in areas where residents and speculators took out unusual mortgages to get into homes they later found they couldn’t afford. Prices and quality of life could both decline further as a result of this. Also, avoid developments that have grown rapidly in the past few years. They too likely have owners with risky loans and little equity, says Mark Larson of Weiss Research. Instead, go for areas with highly rated schools. They generally fare better during downturns, and a study done by real estate Trulia.com revealed that this trend is holding today.

5. Make Sure Your Agent has Your Interest at Heart

The “real estate game” has a built-in conflict of interest since both the listing agent and you get paid by the seller. These days, more sellers are offering extra cash to buyers’ agents. Make sure you’re not being steered into a house that’s better for your agent’s pocketbook than for you. Agree up front on his commission and that any extra payments will go to you, says Jon Boyd, past president of a buyer’s agent trade group.

Fort Smith residents of a neighborhood near the east-end of Rogers Avenue learned last week of Developer Tim Whitten’s plans to begin construction on a Best Western motel. The site of this hotel, currently an empty lot that the former owner leases to people selling their cars, is zoned half commercial and half residential. The proposed motel is causing controversy among nearby residents who have expressed concern about the traffic the new motel will bring to their neighborhood.  

Vincent Hug, a 29-year resident of the aforementioned neighborhood, says, “My initial reaction was that I didn’t want it up there.” Though Hug believes the motel will be built anyway, he wants residents of the neighborhood to have a say in certain things pertaining to its construction and operation.  

Garry Cathcart with the Fort Smith Planning Department says, “Rezoning is for the portion of the building that’s going to lie within that residential.” The development company ahs agreed to leave 75 feet of this portion zoned residential so as to provide a boundary between the motel and the surrounding neighborhood.  

Whitten believes that the site is the best location for his motel. It will be among the first things people will see when exiting interstate 540 and heading east on Rogers Avenue, but this location is one of the busiest on Rogers. Traffic typically backs up at the light on the hill, but Whitten points out that Rogers is busy no matter where you go. Whitten thinks that most guests will make right turns into the motel’s parking lot from I-540 and right turns as they drive downhill to nearby restaurants. To turn west, however, they would have to attempt a seemingly-impossible left turn onto Rogers Avenue.  

Hug and fellow residents of the area have many more questions for Whitten. “First where the water’s going, second where the traffic’s going, what it’s going to look like, and what it’s going to do to property value,” Hug asks. He says the developer has told him the motel will be built. If the rezoning is not approved by the Planning Commission, Whitten plans to shift the building and sell part of the land; possibly for apartments, but Hug doesn’t want that either. Whitten, Hug, and residents will know more about the plans for construction of the Best Western after the Planning Commission’s Tuesday night meeting.

With temperatures rising quickly as summer approaches, many people have already turned on their air conditioners. They may not know, however, that what’s atop their homes may be keeping them from staying cool and comfortable. Dave Mann, president of Patriot Roofing, says “Clay and concrete tiles have been around for thousands of years. They are recycled material. They come from the earth – clay and concrete mines that come from the ground. They have a reflectivity quotient that’s above and beyond any other roofing product that’s on the market.”

Roofing tiles are the only materials that have two natural qualities necessary for energy reduction; they contain natural thermal resistance in the raw materials but also the installation of the individual tiles creates a natural airspace around each tile for ventilation that cools air and enables unobstructed circulation. Mann says that this can keep heat in or out of a home, depending on what is desired, resulting in less air conditioner usage and lower electrical bills.

Mann also says that only eight percent of the US residential market uses concrete and clay roof tiles but the market is warming up to the idea because of the cost-savings. Mann says, “The rising cost of oil and with asphalt shingles becoming more expensive the price points are equaling out now. This is the best product that’s on the market. It lasts the longest. It’s the most efficient and it truly is green.”

Though replacing a roof is a major home improvement project that many homeowners avoid until absolutely necessary, Mann says that changing your roof will drastically change your energy bill. Also, there are many attractive styles of concrete and clay available. “That’s the big misnomer in tile,” says Mann, “that’s its red, round, and heavy. It comes in flat products. It comes in a multitude of colors – blues, greens, browns, and blacks. You can get a concrete and clay roof tile in a round and flat in any color that you want. It’s, in fact, very versatile.”

The Tile Roofing Institute (TRI) has just launched its green building campaign, “Go Green with Tile,” to promote the advantages of going green. The campaign hopes to educate both architects and homeowners about the environmental benefits of clay tile and concrete roofs. Also, they plan to inform homeowners about life-cycle cost, recycling, reflectivity, and sustainability.

“Roofing tiles on average are going to come with a 50-year warranty,” says Mann. “Solar products on average are going to come with a 25-year warranty and any reputable roofing contractor is going to give you a minimum of half of the life cycle of both products as far as labor goes.” Mann believes that these warranties strongly outweigh those “20-year limited warranties” offered by asphalt-based shingle roofing products.

The integration of solar usage and tiles is another green, energy-saving effort that’s becoming popular among homeowners. Mann points out, “They’re more affordable now and they’re making solar roof tiles that actually integrate with the actual tiles themselves so it’s not as ugly. It’s a lot more aesthetically pleasing. It’s walkable. It’s serviceable and a roofer can install it versus having two different contractors, both a roofer and a solar installer – you can just hire one.”

What Oklahoma City home builder Rachel Odom thought was a risky business venture may turn out to be one of the most practical solutions for baby boomer - homebuyers. Four years ago she began constructing an exclusive development where houses average only 1,800 square feet, a size substantially smaller than the homes of up to 6,000 square feet that her company had been building. Odom’s modest building plans fall 500 square feet smaller than the national average for new construction.  

Odom says “Our concept was that people would pay up for smaller homes with more architectural character, but since nearly everyone seems to dream of owning a large home, we were taking a huge risk.” Turns out, Odom was thinking in the right direction. In her Talavera development, where houses are as pricey as $275,000 (almost double the median local home price), she sold 115 homes in the first 18 months and expects to sell 600 total. For most, smaller houses just make more sense.  

Though many economists over the years have predicted a mass downsizing of the average American home, this size has continued to rise from just about 1,600 square feet in the late 1970s to almost 2,300 square feet today. A number of current trends, however, are signaling Americans may really be ready to trade expansive residences for smaller, more modest abodes. Baby boomers, the oldest of whom turned62 this year, are more and more frequently becoming “empty-nesters,” and thus need less space. Also, Generations X and Y are fascinated with downtown-style living where they can enjoy easy access to entertainment and restaurants, smaller commutes, and more manageable living spaces.  

“Ask anyone how many rooms in their house they don’t regularly go into and most will admit that they actually live in a small percentage of their home,” says Marianne Cusato, an architect who, after designing many 3,000+ square-foot homes, specializes in cottages. In February, a survey of potential home buyers given by the National Association of Home builders revealed that 60% of these buyers would rather have a smaller house with more amenities than the other way around. “In the past, people would say ‘Give me space and I’ll add the features later,’” said Gopal Ahluwalia, the Association’s president of research. 

Still, many Americans will find it hard to cope with less space. Cusato believes that newly constructed houses will have layouts that can “live bigger” than their square footage would suggest. Rooms can double in function; a den can be dressed up as a formal living room when needed (though Cusato points out that it will most likely not be needed often). Cusato predicts that the formal dining room will be the next space to go. Families can meet all dining and entertainment needs by enlarging the breakfast nook. Great rooms may also become obsolete; Cusato thinks “open spaces are great, but people don’t know how to use undefined rooms. So they don’t.”  

Sarah Susanka says, in her book The Big Little House, “The majority of your guests want to be in rooms you live in, not have their socks knocked off by a three-story foyer.” Susanka believes that designing smaller homes with as much storage as possible is vital in shifting the American mindset from “bigger is better” to “smaller is more practical.”  If this trend toward smaller residences continues, it could dramatically change home values. Online house-pricing service Zillow.com’s most recent online survey shows that less expensive houses appreciate more than larger, more expensive homes. If this also continues, the omnipresent mega-homes may become a rarity.

Residents of Fort Smith will be happy to know that bread production at Fort Smith Baking Co. in downtown Fort Smith will begin next week. Mary Krier, vice president of communications for Thomasville, Ga.-based Flowers Foods said the company’s supplementary bakery will begin making premium full-loaf Nature’s Own breads on Monday.  

The company currently has 44 permanent employees and 27 contract employees working on one production line, according to Krier. Fort Smith Baking’s current focus is on producing Flowers Foods’ new product, full-loaf Nature’s Own bread, which has been in strong demand since it’s debut in early 2007.

For Flowers Foods, the new demand meant finding a new facility at which to boost production. The company went back to a familiar place on South Sixth Street in downtown Fort Smith where Flowers Foods once made frozen boxed bread. This production stopped in December 2006 and left 75 people without a job. Until then, the bakery had operated out of the Sixth Street location since 1921, when it was built by B.H. Shipley Sr. and his brother W.G. Shipley. The Shipley’s ran the company until it was purchased by publicly traded Flowers Foods in 1996.  

The new production line will produce fresh bread that Krier says will be available in Fort Smith grocery stores as early as May 16. Flowers Foods currently has 37 bakeries in the United States producing under brand names such as Nature’s Own, Cobblestone Mill, and Blue Bird as well as regional franchised brands like Bunny and Sunbeam. The company experienced an 8 percent growth in sales last year at $2.04 billion and their net income increased to $94.6 million (16 percent). Flowers Foods operates two additional Arkansas facilities in Texarkana and Batesville.

A bill that was discussed in Congress this morning proposes the allocation of $15 billion to states in order to allow state governments to buy, rehabilitate, at sell homes. This “housing-rescue bill” would give $7.5 billion in grants and $7.5 billion in zero-interest loans to states in addition to allowing them to partake in the buying and selling of real estate. This bill is sponsored by Rep. Maxine Walters (D-Calif.) and passed committee last week. It will probably be taken up on the House floor this week. In April, a Senate bill including a similar provision allocated $4 billion to this project.

Even if these proposals become law, the effort could be challenged in numerous ways. Cities that have attempted to buy and manage properties have found it difficult to maintain and sell them. In 2002, the city of Baltimore began its purchasing of abandoned properties, an effort they called “Project 5,000” for the number of homes they intended to purchase. The city of Baltimore now owns more than 10,000 vacant properties that it cannot unload. Their latest attempt to fix the problem – creating a nonprofit land bank to direct them – will likely cost $2.8 million.

Republicans who oppose the ideas floating around in Congress say that it would give lenders incentive to more quickly evict homeowners if they could “pawn them off” on local governments. Supporters, however, say the laws would create affordable housing while stopping vacant homes from becoming rundown and making surrounding neighborhoods unattractive.

Under the House plan, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would dispense loans and grants according to the number of foreclosures and home prices in an area. Cities could use this money to buy and renovate foreclosed homes, make them compliant to local housing codes, and resell or rent them. The homes can’t be resold to buyers who make more than 140% of the area’s median income and some funds would be reserved for low-income homebuyers. Loans would have to be repaid within two years if used for single-family housing or within five years if used for rentals. Also, the federal government would keep 20% of any profits made by buyers who resold houses they bought from the city.

The U.S. Council of Mayors has lobbied for the bill by soliciting mayors across the country to call local congressmen and ask for their support. While the current bill will only issue funds to the country’s most populous cities, the council is attempting to widen its applicability to more cities. Nonprofit groups in many cities would help local governments manage the programs and these groups believe the funds can be used effectively. Patrick Morrissy, executive director of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services in Orange, N.J., says “there’s no question that we need this money. It’s essential if we want to mitigate the impact of foreclosures in urban neighborhoods.” This nonprofit group has bought and renovated homes for over twenty years. They usually spend $160,000 to acquire, rehab, and maintain a home, and so far the group has applied this process to roughly 130 homes that they have resold at a discount price to first-time and low-income buyers.

Many towns, such as those that have been affected by mass layoffs in the past, have experience handling vacant homes, says Jennifer Leonard, director of the National Vacant Properties group. This organization actively promotes city programs that help to rehabilitate abandoned land and homes. This type of “seasoned” program can effectively stop vacant homes from becoming eyesores in their communities, she says. It may be difficult for some inexperienced cities to buy and sell foreclosed homes, Leonard says. To that end, the campaign has asked Congress to include provisions in the bill that would allow some of the money to be put toward raising cities’ capability to manage properties and later resell them.

Some real estate analysts remain skeptical of the plan’s projected impact on the housing market. Relative to the foreclosure crisis, $15 billion is unsubstantial. According to foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac, around 650,000 foreclosure filings on properties were submitted in the first quarter. If the allocated $15 billion were used exclusively to buy homes with an average price of $100,000, states could purchase 150,000 homes. Also, the bill is geared toward the low-end of the housing market. This could be a problem for some sing the bill would only allow the purchase of single-family homes with a purchase price no greater than 90% of an area’s average. In addition to these issues, some analysts worry that cities would be in too deep. “I don’t buy that it’s going to work. If cities were good at buying, selling, and developing things, we wouldn’t need private developers,” says Vincent Valvo, group publisher of The Warren Group, a Boston real estate analyst.