Panel Reviews Bond Plan

No Action Taken On Arts Center Request, Regional Park

Peter Lane, president and CEO of the Walton Arts Center, left, and Bob Davis, member of the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission, right, exchange ideas Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, during a meeting of the commission at the Fayetteville Town Center. Beside Lane is Terri Trotter, chief operating officer of the arts center, and Beth Bobbitt, public relations manager for the center.
Peter Lane, president and CEO of the Walton Arts Center, left, and Bob Davis, member of the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission, right, exchange ideas Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, during a meeting of the commission at the Fayetteville Town Center. Beside Lane is Terri Trotter, chief operating officer of the arts center, and Beth Bobbitt, public relations manager for the center.

— Advertising and Promotion commissioners want more input from the city before signing off on a plan that would commit hotel, motel and restaurant taxes to Walton Arts Center renovations and a regional park in southwest Fayetteville.

Commissioners Matthew Petty and Bob Davis both encouraged Marilyn Heifner, the commission’s executive director, to work out details of a possible bond issue with Mayor Lioneld Jordan and Parks and Recreation staff before next month’s A&P meeting.

The commission couldn’t formally direct Heifner to do anything Monday, because not enough commissioners were present. The seven-member commission needs four members to represent a quorum.

Davis, Petty and commission chairman Ching Mong attended Monday’s meeting, as did Matt Behrend, the commission’s choice last month to replace outgoing commissioner Hannah Mills. City Council members have yet to ratify Behrend’s appointment. Commissioners William Lyle, Maudie Schmitt and Justin Tennant were not present Monday.

Davis thanked Heifner for putting together a bond proposal that would jointly help fund Walton Arts Center and regional park plans. He said he would not support using the A&P Commission’s half of Fayetteville’s 2 percent hotel, motel and restaurant tax for regional park construction without a similar commitment from city officials.

“I think it needs to be an equal endeavor by both organizations,” Davis said.

Heifner said her proposal was an attempt to infuse cash into two worthwhile projects — both of which would draw tourism money to town. She added she hasn’t had much direction from the mayor or City Council about their needs and desires.

“Don’t you have to have a buffet to go to the public with,” Heifner asked. “Who’s cooking up that buffet?”

“It sounds like we need another proposal,” Mong said.

As of yet, neither Jordan nor Parks and Recreation staff have asked the A&P Commission for help with the more than 200-acre park, which is planned on part of the former SouthPass development off Cato Springs Road.

Heifner’s proposal estimates $11.3 million could be raised by extending voter-approved bonds used to build the Fayetteville Town Center. Heifner said, after paying off remaining Town Center debt and bond issuance costs, $9.8 million could be available for projects. She proposed giving $6.5 million to the Walton Arts Center and roughly $2.3 million to the city for the final phases of the regional park. Heifner went on to suggest city officials use part of their share of the hotel, motel and restaurant tax to issue bonds. The money would give the long-awaited regional park a much-needed boost.

Jordan said last week he appreciated Heifner’s effort. But, he added, he’s not willing to commit the city’s share of the hospitality tax to a 25-year bond issue. Doing so would limit the city’s ability to add to and maintain existing parks, Jordan said.

The mayor has said he wants new soccer fields complete in 2014, but he has offered no plan for how to pay for the rest of the regional park, which is estimated at $27.7 million total. The city has amassed roughly $4.5 million in hotel, motel and restaurant taxes for the park during the past 11 years.

Meanwhile, Walton Arts Center officials are waiting for a response to their Dec. 20 request for $8.5 million to help with renovations to their Dickson Street campus. Center CEO Peter Lane requested $6.5 million from Town Center bonds and $2 million from commission reserves.

Heifner, in her proposal, suggested fulfilling all of the bond request and giving the arts center $500,000 to $600,000 in reserve this year. She said Monday $500,000 is the most the commission has ever given an organization out of reserves.

Lane said he wanted some indication of whether commissioners supported his request before launching a fundraising effort that would pay for the remainder of the renovation, which is estimated at $20.6 million.

The City Council and, ultimately, Fayetteville voters would have to approve a bond issue that uses hotel, motel and restaurant taxes.

Petty, who sits on both the City Council and A&P Commission, provided a glimpse Monday of what the public might be willing to support. He released results of an anonymous, automated poll that asked Fayetteville voters several questions about a potential bond issue, but he refused to say who paid for the poll. Petty, Jordan, Heifner and Walton Arts Center officials have all denied any involvement with the telephone survey.

According to poll results, 40 percent of respondents would support a $6.5 million bond issue to renovate the arts center. Roughly 37 percent would vote no in a bond election, and 23 percent of respondents were undecided. When asked whether A&P funds should go instead to a regional park, 40 percent of respondents favored Walton Arts Center renovations; 22 percent favored the regional park; 20 percent selected “none of the above”; and 18 percent expressed support for “other projects to support culture and the arts.”

Petty called Heifner’s proposal “a great conversation starter.”

“We need to develop something that’s going to work,” he added. “Otherwise we’re spinning our wheels and, frankly, being presumptive about what the voters want.”

Upcoming Events