Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 5/14/24
The Fort Smith Board of Directors study session meeting held 5-14-24 included a joint meeting session between the Board of Directors and the Parks and Recreation Commission regarding the Parks Capital Improvement Plans (CIP).
Parks Commission Chair Chris Raible talked about the commission’s focus on making “sure those are projects the citizens want” based on citizen input and to “affect as much of the community as possible.” He mentioned the emphasis on finishing projects before starting more new projects. He called Maybranch Greenway, John Bell Jr. Park, and the Creekmore park revamp top priorities to finish up. He also mentioned the importance of maintaining existing parks and amenities.
Director Martin said “A dog park is imperative.” and mentioned hearing frustration from the citizens who want a large dog park to replace the one eliminated by the airport runway expansion. Martin praised the improvement that has added a heating mechanism to all of the park restrooms that will allow them to stay open year round instead of having to close during the winter months. He mentioned hearing feedback requesting that swings be included as park play areas are renovated. He mentioned the Lights of The Ozarks in Fayetteville as an inspiration for potentially lighting Creekmore up even more extensively during Christmas. He noted that the light display in Creekmore “gets better every year” but expressed a desire to expand it to become a “destination place”. The Lights of the Ozarks display costs $150,000 and is handled with 11 employees dedicated to that event.
Director Christina Catsavis asked about the maintenance of the existing facilities. Parks Director Deuster said “We can maintain what we currently have.” She said the current turn-around time to address a parks issue is 9 days and that it would be quicker if there were more employees. She said that the department will struggle with maintenance with only the current staff when Maybranch Greenway is completed.
Director Morton said “Parks are very important.” and “We have excellent parks.” He suggested that low-maintenance trees be planted on the west side of play equipment areas to provide shade.
Parks Commissioner Andrew Deal said that based on public feedback swings will be added back to Creekmore and will be incorporated in the upcoming project at Carol Ann Cross. He also agreed that shade is a top request. He said of the dog park that the Commission has “definitely heard that a lot” and the “biggest hang up is location.” Director Martin mentioned the dog park possibly being a part of the future park at the former Acme Brick site. Deal said that the holiday lighting at Creekmore is not something that the Commission has heard requests on. He said that they hear requests on basketball and pickleball courts “all the time”. He urged the board to revisit discussion on the pickleball and basketball courts at John Bell Jr. Park that were included in the original CIP this year that the Board cut from the CIP and budget this year to use the money for other parks projects.
Parks Commissioner David Roberts highlighted Maybranch Greenway as a being “very important and an “artery that connects half the city to some of the best parks in Fort Smith.” He agreed on the importance of the dog park. He said that pickleball is the “Number One ball sport people are asking about.” He said that a shade structure is needed for the riverfront bike park because there is not time enough for trees to grow enough to meet the current need and said that funding for that may be available through the Parks Partners fund. He encouraged the Board to look for money for maintenance in the budget.
Parks Commissioner Sam Hanna said that there are a “slew of new trail initiatives coming” that will result in “really big amendments” to the CIP in 2025. He said that the Parks Commission tallied up their individual priorities and have agreed on several top priorities for the CIP and ranked them. #1 is Maybranch Greenway from the riverfront to Acme Brick. #2 is John Bell Jr. Park pickleball and basketball courts. #3 is shade structures and electric for the Farmers Market on Garrison. #4 is planning for the Acme Brick Park including it possibly being a temporary location for a dog park. #5 is a shade structure at the riverfront bike park. #6 is pickleball at multiple parks. Director Martin voiced his agreement with all of those priorities. Director Christina Catsavis said that pickleball is the most requested parks matter she hears. Director Good mentioned that the grant funding that was applied for the Farmers Market project did not work out but that he still “wants to make that happen.” Administrator Geffken said that funding through the Pollution Control Grant is being pursued for the Farmers Market with the shade structures being able to have solar panels installed on them.
Parks Commissioner Deal called the proposed resurfacing of the pickleball courts at Chaffee “putting lipstick on a pig.” and advocated for building courts at a better location elsewhere instead.
Director Morton reminded that the City has applied for a $25 million federal infrastructure grant for greenways, but said that it is not typical to win that grant the first year a city applies.
Parks Commissioner Sandy Sanders praised the Parks Department employees. He said that there are “a lot of things we’d like to do if we had the money to do them.” He said the Parks Commission is “trying to be very good stewards of tax payer money.”
Director Settle praised the murals on basketball courts coming soon and advocated for more of them throughout the parks. He suggested that attention be paid to not having all the parks be all the same, but rather having specialty parks to meet different needs in different areas. He advocated partnerships on parks with the schools including the public schools and UAFS. He mentioned Christmas lights displays in parks in other cities and asked “How do you distinguish our park from everybody else’s?” Director Christina Catsavis mentioned the train as a distinguishing feature of the Creekmore display. Director Settle agreed but said that the long line for the train is a “nuisance” and that the display needs “features” to attract people to take pictures. Director Christina Catsavis asked Deuster for any ideas on how to reduce the line for the train. Deuster said that many only want to ride when it is dark, so the desirable hours are limited, but the new configuration for the train will make it so that two trains can run at once. The track won’t be ready to run two trains yet this coming holiday season, but will be ready by the following year.
Director Settle praised Parrot Island calling it “a gem” and noting that it is “starting to become a destination point” for out-of-area visitors. He advocated making a master plan for major expansion of the water park including eventually doubling its size. Parks Commissioner Hanna agreed that Parrot Island is an asset but expressed his preference for bolstering other parks first instead of prioritizing expansion at Parrot Island.
Mayor McGill mentioned that the miniature golf course at Creekmore needs paint on the timbers and “kind of spruced up.” Deuster said that the Parks Department is in the process of replacing the greens and the lessee will paint the timbers.
Director Christina Catsavis asked if the Parks Department plans are mindful of attracting tournaments. Deuster said that they have not done that in the past but have started partnering with the Convention and Visitors Bureau on that recently. They have actively recruited prominent swim meets to be held when the new bath house is completed at Creekmore. Geffken said that the improvements to the Creekmore tennis courts and turf at Kelley ball fields will help attract tournaments.
Director Good told the Parks Commission that “Your input is valued.” He encouraged the Board to consider funding for maintenance and for replacing equipment. He advocated for art at the skate park at Martin Luther King Park and suggested an arts grant might be found to help fund it. He inquired about the soccer fields at John Bell Jr. Park. Geffken said that a public-private partnership is being worked on regarding those fields and the potential for bringing in a professional soccer team whose home field would be at John Bell Jr.
Director Martin called greenways “vitally important.”
The Board discussed an offer from the owners of 720 Garrison (the building that currently contains First Security Bank and Prima Italia Restaurant) to purchase the parking lot next door to that building and the City parking garage that is owned by the City. The 720 Garrison building owners are currently leasing that property for parking. The current 5 year lease is priced at the same price as leasing spaces in the City parking garage, with the 17 spaces at $40 per month totaling $8,160 per year.
Deputy Administrator Dingman mentioned that there has been a plan in place for a long time to expand the trolley line downtown and that part of that planned expansion would go through that property.
Director Christina Catsavis invited the property owner seeking to purchase the parking lot to speak. John Alford spoke on behalf of them. He said that a tenants of the building want to be assured (especially when they make significant investments in interior remodeling) that there will be access to convenient and safe parking next to the building. He said that patrons of the restaurant especially because of its late hours may prefer parking in that lot over walking to the parking garage. He said that if needed that the City could negotiate with the State that owns the other side of the parking lot for the trolley to go through that property instead. He said that the “trolley issue has been around for many years” but that there is no money to expand the trolley.
Director Christina Catsavis noted that the strip of property is less than 10,000 square feet. She called it “really useless” to anyone other than the adjacent property owner and said it “looks like a remnant to me.” She said that it is too narrow to be developed for anything else and noted that it is not being used for any City use. She expressed her view that selling it would be in line with promoting business downtown.
Director Settle said that the trolley issue has come up many times and that the Board need to know what the plan and timeline are going to be with the trolley and that they also need to know what the plan is going to be with the parking garage. He expressed a desire to consider those factors and the potential to do away with metered parking downtown permanently and how all of those factors would relate to the parking lot so that they would not at some future date wish that they had not sold the property.
Director Christina Catsavis said that the trolley plan is 23 years old and “still nothing’s happened.” Dingman noted that there was a trolley expansion in 2014 and that it “went as far as it could go with funding.” Director Christina Catsavis mentioned that the trolley could not ever cross Garrison because Garrison is a State highway. Director Settle said that Little Rock has a downtown trolley that crosses a State highway.
Director George Catsavis asked about the price being offered for the purchase of the parking lot. Geffken said that a price has not been discussed yet and Dingman said that no appraisal has been done yet. The discussion at the meeting is the very first step in the discussion process.
Director Settle asked administration to look into whether 8th from Rogers to Garrison has ever been officially vacated and suggested that it might be a “better purpose long term” than leasing the property as parking or selling it for parking to instead turn it into a road to serve as a “gateway to the Convention Center.” Dingman said that the property was not that right of way and that the parcel doesn’t go all the way to Rogers.
The Board discussed allowing taxi cab companies to use any licensed local mechanic to perform the car inspections required by the City rather than continuing to attempt to maintain a list of vendors contracted with the City to perform the service. This issue was discussed and tabled for further discussion at the 5-26-24 meeting.
Director Christina Catsavis distributed to the other Board members a copy of the 19 point inspection form that Uber drivers are required to have completed by any licensed mechanic and then submit to the Uber company.
Police Chief Baker clarified that Arkansas State law requires that cabs be permitted by the city where they operate and that they have a surety bond but that any and all regulation beyond that is left up to the cities. He said that while he originally had concerns about deregulation of taxis, he has since done research on taxis and ride shares and what is being done in other parts of the country. He said that the data he found “changed his mindset.” He said that regulation “seems to have the opposite effect” of the aims the City has for taxis and that it also results in higher fares. He says that regulation sounds like the “antithesis of what we’re trying to do.”
Director Morton said that “insurance is not ideal” for cab companies so he wants vehicles to be as safe as possible.
The majority of the speakers in the Citizens Forum section of the meeting were residents of Cisterna Villa speaking to advocate for a masonry wall to be built to shield their neighborhood from Massard now that it has been expanded to 4 lanes with a 40 ft median in the middle.
Theresa Mock spoke and came with a petition signed by 74 Cisterna Villa households requesting the wall. She expressed concerns that the expanded street has disturbed the peace and quiet of the neighborhood, diminished property values, poses safety risks from cars coming off the road and hitting houses, and disturbs sleep. She said that there was $368,331.45 left over from the amount budgeted for the cost of the expansion that could have been used to build the wall.
Ann Lee read a letter from her neighbors Terry and Carrie Roller advocating for the wall and expressing concerns about safety and noise. The letter said that the Massard expansion is “destroying existing greenspace and recreating it in the middle of the road.” and the barrier wall would “undo a substantial portion of the damage to our neighborhood.”
AJ Lee advocated for the wall and complained about the noise level from traffic being “unbearable.”
Mark McDaniel advocated for the wall and expressed concerns about safety risks. He told a story about a dump truck tire crashing through a privacy fence at his son’s house in Cave Springs. He said that many new houses in Northwest Arkansas are being built with masonry perimeter fences to reduce that sort of accident.
Mike Jansen compared the expanded Massard with other streets including Greenwood, Grand, Phoenix, and Kelley Highway. He noted that the speed limit on Massard is higher than all of those except Kelley Highway. He noted that while houses are close to the road on Phoenix they are older houses that face frontwards toward the street and that if a car were to go off the road it would hit the pier and beam foundation and the front of the house where the houses in Cisterna Villa are built on slabs and cars coming off the road would hit the back of the houses and could enter the bedrooms. He noted that there are more stoplights on the other streets to help reduce the speed of the traffic. Of Massard, he said “It’s dangerous and only getting worse.”
Steve Jackson said that when advertising for Cisterna Villa he “wanted to emphasize the romance” of Italian villa style living and complained that Massard is not in keeping with that vision. He called the streetscaping “absolutely beautiful” and keeping with that vision but in addition to trouble with the noise said that it creates a potential danger for people sleeping in bedrooms if cars run off the road. He said that it takes 88 ft for a driver to put their foot on the brake pedal and that bedrooms are now 50-80 ft away from Massard.
Jim Shephard spoke about 15 ft high shrubs 10-12 ft away from the asphalt that were removed when the road was being constructed that were only replaced with small ones. He complained about the reduction in privacy from the loss of the shrubs. He also advocated that the wall would be protective and help drivers focus on the road and be better beautification than visibility into backyards.
Susan Haynes, a resident of the Riverlyn Addition neighborhood that backs up to Carol Ann Cross Park, spoke regarding concerns related to construction of the new trail at the park. She said that construction has brought in heavy equipment, piles of gravel, and traffic. Her main concern, though, is that a swath of woods has been cut to access the construction and she is worried that access through the neighborhood to the trail will be continued even after the construction is finished. She asked that when the trail is completed that the path be blocked so that people could not conveniently access the trail through the neighborhood. She also asked that the city repave the street running through Riverlyn.
Steven Phelan voiced complaints about the number of “dope houses” in his neighborhood on I Street and also advocated for a ban on aftermarket vehicle stereo systems. He said that the loud stereos can be heard “15 blocks away” at all hours of the day and night.
Andy Posterick mentioned that greenways are “very intertwined” for both recreation and transportation. He said that “trails have a more utilitarian purpose” than just for fun. He spoke about the percentage of downtown property that is dedicated to parking and mentioned that parking lots pay low property taxes and generate zero sales tax. He said that the design of Massard tends to increase speed and noise pollution. He said that the study session meeting format is a “very formal setting” and expressed that the Directors don’t get a chance to work together as a team as well as they might in another format. He suggested a more informal get together for them to be able to talk about things, like going bowling together as an official meeting. Director Martin expressed support for a less formal meeting format of some type. Geffken agreed that in spirit it is a great idea, but reminded that FOIA rules make it very difficult to have less formal meetings and that the Board is required to meet FOIA meeting requirements when having more than 2 members interacting with each other even by accident. Director Morton said that because of FOIA concerns the Directors don’t talk to each other between meetings.
