Two Oklahoma countiesmay be next statistic for Northwest Arkansas

By John Hacker

Globe Staff Writer

The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area doubled in size when McDonald County, Mo., and Madison County, Ark., were added to Benton and Washington counties in Northwest Arkansas by the federal Office of Management and Budget last year.

And, one of the fastest-growing statistical areas could easily have tripled in size had just a few more residents of Delaware and Adair counties in Oklahoma traveled to work in Northwest Arkansas.

Only a few percentage points in the number of people who commute from Oklahoma to Arkansas kept that from happening in 2003. Business leaders believe it will become a certainty after the 2010 census.

Those who live and work in Delaware County are divided on whether they want to become a statistic in Northwest Arkansas' back yard.

"Northwest Arkansas is like a whole other world," said Tom Sanders, owner of Sanco Lumber in Grove, Okla., and president of the Grove Area Chamber of Commerce.

Sanders said Delaware County should concentrate on creating its own identity and touting the benefits of its location on Grand Lake to attract new businesses and residents.

"It's booming over there (in Arkansas), mainly because of Wal-Mart, but most of that growth stays out of Delaware County," Sanders said.

"We've been working for years to develop a green area in conjunction with the other counties around the lakes. I think we'd want to have our own identity and promote this area around the lakes. We'd want to get identified as our own statistical area, not some other area."

Johnny Earp, vice president of Grand Savings Bank in Jay, Okla., and president of the Jay Chamber of Commerce, said he relishes the idea of being linked to the economic engine in Arkansas.

"The property values in Benton County are growing, and people are selling over there and looking for less expensive property in Delaware County, and that drives up property values here," Earp said. "That's good for the schools and business.

"I think Northwest Arkansas will keep growing, and eventually we'll become a bedroom community to that area. I'm glad to see every bit of the growth."

Jeff Wallace, director of the Oklahoma State Data Center, said numbers from the 2000 census showed that 17.4 percent of the workers living in Delaware County drove to Northwest Arkansas to work. In Adair County, south of Delaware County, the figure was 23 percent.

Twenty-five percent is the magic number set by the federal Office of Management and Budget for inclusion in a statistical area. Last year, McDonald County and Madison County were added to the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA because the number of people commuting from those counties to Benton and Washington counties to work exceeded 25 percent.

Joplin's role

Growth in Northwest Arkansas is good for the Four-State Area, said Rob O'Brian, president of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce.

"Any economic growth - and, more specifically, growth in McDonald County - is not only good for Northwest Arkansas, it's good for Joplin's MSA as well," he said.

O'Brian said Joplin's MSA will continue to grow. He said commuting patterns show strong links to Barton County to the north, the counties in Southeast Kansas to the west, and Ottawa County, Okla., to the southwest.

"If you are asking whether there are enough strong commuting patterns to literally grow the MSA or whether those areas will just remain strongly linked, only time will tell," O'Brian said. "I think you will eventually see a pretty dynamic economic corridor from Fayetteville to Joplin to Springfield along Highway 71 and I-44."

'Think regionally'

Designation as part of a statistical area can be significant for counties.

Rob Davis, director of economic development for the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce in Arkansas, said counties in statistical areas become more appealing to businesses and industries.

Retailers and manufacturers often look at statistical areas when they look for possible places to expand.

"When I talk to my counterparts in McDonald County and in Oklahoma, I tell them that we should think globally instead of just locally when looking at economic growth," Davis said. "Even now, when we put together demographic data on our area, we include the populations of Adair and Delaware counties.

"Everyone likes to think of the place where they live or work as the center of the universe, but it's always better to think regionally than of only your own little area."

Jeff Hawkins, director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Committee, said the growth that has brought the area national attention is continuing.

In 2001, the Milken Institute, a Washington-based economic think tank, tabbed the Fayetteville area as the best-performing area in the country in terms of economic growth and job creation.

The institute cited the area's diverse economic base, led by Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods, the presence of the University of Arkansas, and a large array of service-based industries as reasons to expect continued growth in the area.

Hawkins said that since the 2000 census was conducted, 57 percent of all economic growth in Arkansas has occurred in Benton and Washington counties. He said the area also leads the state in population and housing growth.

He said state and federal officials use this information when deciding where to spend resources such as highway money, and that better highways between Northeast Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas are a goal of area officials.

Davis said taking a regional approach to economic growth across the area will give the entire area a bigger voice when it comes to making decisions in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

"I think as long as our growth continues, there is a real strong likelihood that Delaware and Adair counties will be added to the MSA," Davis said. "MSAs are not beauty contests; they are based on raw empirical data that indicates the shift to Northwest Arkansas because this is where the jobs are."