The proposed terms

From the district's own settlement statement, the package has four moving parts:

• Money. “A single consolidated payment of $470,000 to the plaintiffs' side, split into two equal annual installments.”
• Interest relief for owners. “Assessment interest rates for tax years 2023–2026 are reduced from 6% to 3%.” The district frames this as letting owners' payments “pay down principal balances faster.”
• The counties pay something back. Sharp and Fulton Counties return 1.5 percent of collection fees.
• Obligations on the named plaintiffs. They pay off remaining balances and refrain from acquiring additional district property.

There is also a Voluntary Payment Declaration form for owners who would rather their share of the interest relief stay in the district's operational budget — an unusual feature, and one worth understanding before signing.

Crucially, on dissolution the district's statement is not silent by accident: it says nothing about winding up and states instead that the district “remains fully operational to maintain local amenities, lakes, golf courses, and infrastructure.”

What is not yet done

This is a proposed settlement, and that is why this report is filed as pending rather than as settled law. The district says the complete settlement document will be posted once it is “officially signed by the judge and processed through the court.” Until a court approves it, none of the terms above binds anyone.

The class notice published on August 3 was issued “pursuant to a court order issued by the Circuit Court in the pending class action lawsuit,” and the district has posted an opt-out route alongside it. Inquiries are directed to Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull PLLC, attention Andrew S. Dixon, and to the district.

We have not seen the full notice document itself — it sits behind a link the district posts — so this column is not stating the class definition, the opt-out deadline, or the date of any approval hearing. An owner in Cherokee Village who wants to opt out or object should read the notice itself and note its deadline, because a class settlement binds the members who do not.

What it changes for owners in Arkansas improvement districts

Assessment procedure is a real defence, and it is not available to HOA members. The theory in this case is about how the levy was made, not about whether the amenities were worth the money. An owner in an ordinary Arkansas subdivision arguing the same way has no equivalent argument, because a recorded declaration is a contract and its assessment machinery is whatever the instrument says. This is one of the few respects in which a district owner is better placed than an HOA member.

Interest on arrears is a bigger number than most owners realise. Halving the rate across four tax years is the part of this settlement that reaches the largest number of people. Anyone carrying a balance on Cherokee Village assessments for 2023 through 2026 should expect the arithmetic on their account to change if the settlement is approved — and should check it rather than assume it happens correctly.

Counties are exposed too. Both counties are parties, and both are returning collection fees. That is a signal worth noting for every Arkansas district: the county officers who place and collect a district assessment are not merely a conduit, and a defective levy is a problem that travels up the chain.

What to watch next

Three things. Whether the court approves the settlement, and on what terms. Whether the Voluntary Payment Declaration take-up materially changes what the district actually pays out. And whether the dissolution idea returns — it was on the table in January and is absent from the August package, but a district that has now been sued twice by the same plaintiffs over its assessment machinery has not obviously resolved the underlying question.

For the wider picture on how Arkansas districts are governed and what their disclosure duties are, see our reporting on the Improvement District Transparency Act, where a 2025 Court of Appeals decision cost two districts their elected commissioners.