Online Survey To Give Residents The Opportunity To Plan City’s Future

Friday, January 17, 2014

ROGERS — What Rogers and Lowell will be in 2025 is, to a large extent, in the hands of area residents, said the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce and city officials.

A contingent of Market Street Services staff members concluded three days of focus group meetings Thursday, a part of work which will lead to development of a community action plan for the cities. That plan is expected to guide decision-makers over the next decade.

Webwatch

Rogers-Lowell Community Action Plan

To take the survey go to www.rogerslowellvision.com

The focus groups spent about 90 minutes, discussing the strengths and weakness of Rogers and Lowell; what areas or features of the cities they believe need improvement; and how those improvements should be made, according to Market Street representatives.

Rogers aldermen approved a $100,000 last year to help pay for the project. The money went to the chamber which hired Market Street Services to conduct the six-month study. The chamber also provided money for the project, although officials would not say how much. Lowell officials did not appropriate money for the project.

Information from the focus groups — and the results of an online survey released Thursday — will help develop benchmarks which will be a part of the action plan.

“The survey contains the same questions as the focus groups were given,” said Matthew Tarleton, senior manager of Market Street Services. “This is an opportunity for area residents to voice their opinions and visions for the Rogers and Lowell areas.”

“The more people who take the time to complete the survey, the better our data will be to determine how private and public entities can work together to create the vision,” Tarleton said.

The survey — which is available through Jan. 31 — is a critical part of the research, he said. The survey is only available online.

“There is no way to tell what kind of response we will get. If it’s anything like the response we got from the focus groups in Rogers and Lowell, I will be thrilled. The focus group members were very positive and straightforward in their responses. They talked about the good things in the area as well as the areas that need attention,” Tarleton said.

Ed McClure, a local attorney and production chairman of Rogers Little Theater, was invited to focus group on Wednesday.

“The ideas flowed freely during the session I attended,” McClure said. “The chamber, city and Market Street are creating a holistic look at what the city does well, what it could do better and how to reach the goals we set for ourselves.”

There have been other studies done in the past, McClure said, “but there wasn’t the muscle behind some of those changes. There are a lot of people — from downtown merchants, residents and businesses to city officials — backing this study. I’m optimistic that something will get done this time.”

One idea that surfaced in a previous vision survey was to made the historic downtown area of Rogers a dining and entertainment district, McClure said.

“The same idea was expressed during my session this week, and I still think it has merit. It’s going to take the chamber, the city, the west side, the downtown merchants and everybody getting on the same page to make the changes necessary for Rogers to become the best destination in Northwest Arkansas,” McClure said.

Rogers is poised for another growth period, said Raymond Burns, president and chief executive officer of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce.

“The city is building roads that will provide additional connectivity throughout the city. The Arkansas Music Pavilion will be opening next year. We have good hotels and a magnificent convention location at John Q. Hammons Center. City officials are planning on spending about $17 million to renovate Lake Atalanta into a unique attraction that nobody else will have,” Burns said.

“We have a lot things going on right now, so this is the perfect time for study to discover what more the city can do and how to get there,” Burns said.

Over the next six months, Market Street staff members will collect and compile data,” Burns said.

A committee of 24 volunteers are serving as the steering committee for the study, Tarleton said.

Cameron Smith, owner of Cameron Smith & Associates, and Angie Tucker, of Tucker’s Appliances, are members of the committee.

Smith is no stranger to this type of study. He was on the executive board of the Northwest Arkansas Council when the council hired Market Street Services to conduct a regional study.

“There is a lot of work that goes into a study of this size and scope, so I expect to be busy the next six months,” Smith said.

Rogers is the hub of Northwest Arkansas as Times Square in New York City is the hub of that city, he said.

“This study should help the downtown area. It might become the dining and night life area for the city. What we have to figure out is what do we need and how to we do we satisfy that need,” Smith said.

One thing Tucker said she thinks is important is getting a good cross-section of people involved in the project.

“I’m not sure how we get people to engage in the process. A young unmarried professional will want something different that an empty nest couple. We need everyone’s input to create a new vision for Rogers,” Tucker said.