Highlights of the Fort Smith Board of Directors Meeting 6/27/23

The Fort Smith Board of Directors meeting held 6-27-23 with Director Christina Catsavis absent and Director George Catsavis leaving early began with a unanimous vote to follow the recommendation of the Audit Committee and approve for the external audit of City finances to be posted with the draft version by June 30th to meet the requirements of the bond covenants and the finalized version to be posted when it is ready. The audit final version is not quite ready yet due to delays at Forvis, the outside company that conducted the audit. Director Morton said that there are “no audit issues” and the audit “went smoothly” and speaking of the draft version called it “overall a very good audit, a very good report.”

64.6 Executive Director Talicia Richardson presented the first update on downtown since 64.6 entered a service contract with the City. The update included progress on some of the items included in the Propelling Downtown Forward Master Plan instituted in 2017. Richardson praised both the private and public sector efforts and also public/private partnerships that have resulted in improvements downtown.

Some improvements since the plan was adopted on the “riverfront activation” goal are 6.2 miles of trail, live music including the Peacemaker Festival and Levitt Amp concert series, a skate park, infrastructure improvements, John Bell Jr. Park, the Marshals Museum set to open this weekend, the riverfront RV park, and the Community School of the Arts is under construction. Plus land being donated for the riverfront site of the Fort Kids children’s museum was announced recently. Richardson said that the extent of riverfront activation over the past 6 years without any “huge foundations” making major contributions is “pretty exceptional”.

Some improvements on the “walkable downtown” goal have been a traffic analysis study, form based codes, the City hiring a Mobility Coordinator, enhancements of the streetscape, and the overlay of North A street. One challenge has been the walkability infrastructure between the Farmer’s Market and the Riverfront. The railroad tracks are a big obstacle to improving walkable accessibility there, especially for pedestrians with wheelchairs or strollers. Deputy Administrator Dingman said that the needed infrastructure there including things like pedestrian activated crosswalks are “not inexpensive”. Director Morton suggested that it might be something to look for grants to cover.

An effort to remove graffiti covered trashcans and dumpsters has shown noticeable success.

There are currently 28 bars and restaurants open in downtown. 2 closed in 2023 and 3 opened/are opening very soon (also one more restaurant development is going to be going into 3 buildings in the future). By the end of 2023 there will likely be only 2 buildings left that are vacant restaurant space.

There are 18 attractions and venues downtown. There are 210 units of rental housing with rental rates ranging from $600-$1200 per month. An opportunity for improvement in the housing area is more options in the “missing middle” with multi-family units and different varieties of dwellings.

Retail was cited as the biggest area of opportunity for improvement right now. The struggle with lack of retail was also mentioned as hindering the entertainment district program from reaching its potential (outside of during big events). People are less inclined to stroll and drink and congregate when there are less retail businesses open. There are 15 vacant front windows currently. There were long standing vacancies mentioned in the Ward Building, the former Tip Top Western Wear building, and the former Goins furniture building. The Agency on Aging building has recently sold and the new owner is redeveloping the property and it is anticipated to have better occupancy soon. The former Sears building that was empty for a long time has been successfully redeveloped into a mixed use development. The Bakery District has redeveloped successfully and is also improving their parking and walkability situation. 64.6 has been working to encourage maximizing use of the spaces including the upper floors and multiple businesses sharing large buildings. There is also work being done on the potential for cooperation with the Planning Commission to make codes more accommodating for the old buildings downtown.

There have been some challenges with property owners that are not interested in selling nor leasing nor utilizing their buildings. Some things that 64.6 has been receiving information about from Mainstreet Arkansas and Mainstreet America are ideas about how other communities are dealing with their similar downtown vacancy problems including ideas like vacancy ordinances and vacancy taxes.

Some things mentioned that 64.6 is looking forward to for the near future are the Farmers Market is seeking a grant for a pavilion, Christmas planning is already underway, 12 art infused transit bus shelters will be placed soon, and the Levitt Amp concert series will return starting in September.

Asked to clarify about vacancy taxes, Richardson said that they “Don’t go over well for property owners” but that 64.6 is still collecting information from Mainstreet including different ordinances that have been passed elsewhere to prepare an informational package for the Board on the topic. Director George Catsavis asked if she was proposing vacancy taxes. Richardson said that she was not advocating for a tax, but rather wanted to “allow the Board to get information” about options about things being done elsewhere. Director George Catsavis said he “would never ever vote for a fine or tax on somebody’s property”. Director Settle agreed with Director Catsavis.

Director Settle voiced his view that downtown hours don’t fit for many citizens with many businesses being open 10-5 Monday-Friday. He advocated for them staying open later. Richardson said “I agree 100%” but added that 64.6 doesn’t have the authority to control the business hours. She expressed frustration at the hesitancy of downtown businesses to be open more hours. She mentioned that a few years ago 64.6 went to each business with grant money already available to have a 4th of July celebration before the fireworks celebration with live music and such but that business owners were not willing to stay open. That celebration plan 64.6 designed for Fort Smith but couldn’t get business owners on board with was used by another city in another state and has now been happening there for 3 years running. Director Settle said “Why keep spending money downtown if owners aren’t helping?”

Director Martin asked about the Unexpected Project’s current activities. Richardson answered that right now they are in a “maintenance” phase with periodic popups and maintaining existing assets and that no full-blown festival in planned soon. Director Martin suggested that installations of different types, especially interactive art, might be considered for future projects.

Director Rego requested that the Board be sent information from Mainstreet regarding things that the Board could do from a policy standpoint that would be helpful in downtown.

Director Good praised 64.6’s work in developing relationships and said “part of moving business forward is talking about the possibilities”. He said that downtowns are “vital to communities” and that downtown improvements fight blight and neglect and encourage economic development and that there are “many reasons for us to continue this work.”

Director Martin requested that updates from 64.6 in the future try to provide updates on the return on investment in terms of grant funding obtained through 64.6 and their involvement with the grant seeking. Director Good mentioned the importance of all the meetings and the relationship building and questioned “how do you put a number on that?” Director Martin agreed that those things are valuable but said you “gotta quantify what you can quantify”. Director Morton requested that updates on grant funding include the opportunities applied for, not just the grants successfully obtained. He mentioned that it took 3 tries for Conway to win their recent multi-million dollar grant.

Director Settle clarified that he is “not frustrated with 64.6 “ but rather he is “frustrated with business owners not stepping up to the plate.”

Director Settle expressed a desire to get Drug Court out of downtown. He supports the program itself but would like for it to find a new location. Richardson mentioned the significant investment Drug Court has made in the building and acknowledged the situation is “difficult”. She said that 64.6 has been working with Drug Court on the possibility of making it so that people enter through the backside of the building.

Mayor McGill mentioned the importance of 64.6’s work on retention of existing downtown businesses.

The agenda originally included discussions regarding Planned Zoning Districts and regarding building height regulations, but those two items were tabled due to the length of the meeting already and to allow the remaining agenda item to have more discussion time without making the meeting too long.

At the meeting held 4-4-23 there was some discussion regarding changes to the Unified Development Ordinance concerning chickens. But at that meeting the issue was not voted on as scheduled but instead was tabled so that it could go to a study session for more discussion and presentation of alternative options.

Currently the regulations require a half acre to keep chickens, allow an unlimited number of them, and allow roosters.

The proposed changes originally recommended by the Planning Commission would limit fowl to only ducks and chickens and would only allow female chickens, no roosters. It would allow 4 fowl on lots of 5000 square feet and a maximum of 10 fowl total on any size yard. Chickens would be required to be kept inside a fenced rear yard. Coops and roosts would not be allowed to be located closer than 25 feet to adjacent residential buildings. The proposed changes from the Planning Commission are intended to allow for chickens to be kept on smaller lots and to address concerns about noise from roosters and unpleasant smells created by large numbers of chickens.

Other options brought to tonight’s meeting by the Planning Commission to be discussed in addition to the original Planning Commission recommendations included prohibiting roosters only, prohibiting fowl entirely, changing the property size threshold, instituting a maximum number of fowl allowed, limiting fowl to the back yard inside a privacy fence, and leaving existing rules unchanged

Director Morton suggested that a change be made to the code to allow for chicken wire fences (which are currently prohibited) saying that if done properly chicken wire is no worse than chain link. He also said that a greater effort needs to be made on enforcement of existing rules regarding unsightly fencing that does not comply with existing codes.

Director Rego asked about the feasibility of enforcing the new chicken rules. He expressed concern about “creating expectation” without an efficient enforcement mechanism.

Director Martin expressed that he “would like to move forward with the rooster component on this” and said that all the feedback he’s been getting related to chicken regulation is in favor of getting rid of roosters. Planning Director Rice said that most of the complaints Planning receives about chickens are rooster complaints. Director Rego asked what would happen if there is rooster complaint received. Rice said Planning investigates and gives the owner 7 days to get rid of the problem chicken and it is “typically not a problem”.

Director Settle asked if someone wanted to keep more than the 10 chicken maximum if they could seek a zoning variance to keep more. Rice confirmed that they could. Director Settle asked if chicken owners would need a business permit to sell eggs. Rice said that they would not because eggs are considered an agricultural product and fall under the cottage industry exemption.

Director Settle expressed agreement with a maximum of 10 chickens. Director Settle said that he liked the new ordinance as written by the Planning Commission. Directors Martin and Morton said that a limit of 10 is too small. Rice added that Fayetteville allows a maximum of 20. The Board seemed to express agreement with 20.

The ordinance as originally recommended by the Planning Commission except with a maximum of 20 chickens (instead of 10) will be up for a vote at the 7-11-23 meeting.

The only speaker to participate in the Citizens Forum section of the meeting was Jo Elsken. She mentioned that when she lived on Barry Street she had one dozen chickens and no rooster and there were no complaints.