Proponents Pitch Mount Kessler Preservation

— The city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board could become the latest of several groups to endorse preservation of 387 acres in southwest Fayetteville known as the Mount Kessler Reserve.

By The Numbers

Mount Kessler

Here’s how Mount Kessler’s 387 acres compare with other natural areas in Fayetteville:

-Lake Fayetteville — 652 acres

-Mount Sequoyah Woods — 97 acres

-Gulley Park — 27 acres

-Wilson Park — 23 acres

Source: City Of Fayetteville

Without a buyer, the future of the large tract of wooded hillside remains unclear.

For months, longtime resident Frank Sharp has coordinated efforts to prevent development on Mount Kessler.

The land lies just south of the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse, a business Sharp’s family has owned off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard since the 1940s.

All 387 acres that Sharp wants preserved are owned by Chambers Bank. The land was part of plans for SouthPass, a 910-acre, mixed-use development featuring nearly 750 houses, 2,900 apartments, 630 condominiums and 360,000 square feet of nonresidential space. No homes were ever built, and the bank acquired the land in lieu of foreclosure.

Developers John Nock, Richard Alexander, Hank Broyles and Steve Aust agreed to donate 200 acres of the SouthPass property to the city for development of a regional park. They also agreed to give the city $1 million to help pay for streets and water and sewer lines in the area.

The city now holds the deed to the promised park land, and Chambers Bank in 2010 agreed to make good on the $1 million donation incrementally, as development occurs.

With the University of Arkansas now eyeing land for new intramural fields, Sharp and a collection of outdoors groups, volunteer city boards and area conservationists have said the university and city should partner to also buy the Mount Kessler land and preserve it in perpetuity.

Hikers and mountain bikers use roughly 8.5 miles of wilderness trails on Mount Kessler for recreational purposes. Several university professors have said it would also be ideal as outdoor research space.

“To have a natural laboratory so close to campus would be invaluable,” said Donald Steinkraus, professor of entomology, in a Dec. 27 letter to university Chancellor David Gearhart. “I cannot think of any place else near to Fayetteville as suitable as Mount Kessler.”

Steinkraus and Steven Beaupre, chairman of the university’s Biological Sciences department, noted natural areas that other institutions, such as Clemson University, Cornell University and the University of Alabama, own for research purposes.

Jeremy Battjes, UA director of recreation, said preserving Mount Kessler has not been part of his discussions with university administrators when talking about a location for more athletic facilities.

Battjes said his main priority is finding a way to add badly needed ball fields and tennis courts for university club and intramural sports. He estimated the university needs about 11 additional ball fields and 12 tennis courts to serve its growing student population.

The university has studied four locations for athletic facilities: a portion of the former SouthPass property just west of Cato Springs Road; land owned by the Marinoni family at Wedington Drive and Interstate 540; a location west of the Randal Tyson Track Center at Razorback Road and 15th Street; and land north of Sam’s Club off Arkansas 112.

“The bottom line is, ‘What’s this going to cost,” Battjes said. “To my knowledge, we’re still at the number-crunching stage of all this.”

Sharp said Monday he didn’t have a good idea of what it would cost to purchase the 387 acres. He added that Mount Kessler’s steep, rocky terrain is not conducive to development.

“It’s just as rough as a cob,” he told parks board members Monday.

Sharp said he is looking for foundational assistance and money from environmental groups that would be interested in preserving the property. He said he hopes to show as much support as possible before taking preservation plans to the City Council and university Board of Trustees.

“I’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Sharp said.

Members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board will consider officially endorsing Sharp’s plans at their February meeting. Sharp is scheduled to make a similar presentation Wednesday to the city’s Active Transportation Advisory Committee.

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