The city of Eureka Springs apparently will pay to widen and resurface 820 feet of Lake Lucerne Road from Greenwood Hollow Road to a new high school that’s scheduled to open Jan. 3.

The City Council voted 4-1 on Monday to draft an ordinance authorizing the road work and $30,000 to pay for it. The ordinance, which will also name a contractor and waive competitive bids, must be approved at a subsequent meeting.

Curtis Turner, superintendent of Eureka Springs’ public schools, told the council the school district had already received two bids for the work, and they were within $400 of each other.

Turner said the school district can’t pay for repairing a city street, citing a 2004 opinion from then-Attorney General Mike Beebe.

Turner said Lake Lucerne Road is too narrow to accommodate two school buses side by side. The road is about 17 feet wide, and each school bus is about 10 feet wide, including the mirrors that extend out from both sides.

Aldermen Robert “Butch” Berry said that until six weeks ago, school officials were planning to do the construction; then came news that the school couldn’t spend its funds on a city street.

“This is one of those things where the city is going to have to bite the bullet and do this,” Berry said during Monday’s meeting.

Berry and other alder-men stressed safety concerns.

In Monday’s meeting, Alderman Parker Raphael said the construction shouldn’t be rushed and that a guard rail should be installed on one side of Lake Lucerne Road where there’s a hill next to the road.

“I say do it and do it right,” said Raphael.

James DeVito said the city has funds in reserve that can be used to repair Lake Lucerne Road.

“It’s a city street,” DeVito said Tuesday. “It’s got to bepaved because it’s in poor condition. Our dictate as a city council is the health, safety and welfare of the community. Those are our children, and they need to travel safely. It wasn’t a difficult decision for me. It was pretty obvious what we had to do.”

DeVito said the city has received about $29,500 in permit fees for construction of the school, so the road repair cost is basically a wash when compared with the $30,000 that will be spent on the road.

Construction began on the new 90,113-square-foot Eureka Springs High School in June 2011. Voters approveda property-tax increase in 2010 to help pay for the school construction, which cost about $10.7 million.

Turner said it may be too late in the year to lay asphalt for the road surface because asphalt work can’t be done during cold weather.

David Nilles, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said asphalt can’t be laid if the temperature dips below 40 degrees.

A temporary fix may be to widen Lake Lucerne Road with gravel, then pave it in the spring, said Turner.

“Time is our biggest enemy, and temperature,” Turner said Tuesday.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/14/2012