FAYETTEVILLE -- Construction on a regional park is about to begin, but unless the city can come up with more money to pay for it residents will see a scaled-back version of the long-awaited project.
The City Council approved five contracts totaling $10.6 million for the first phase of the park last week. A groundbreaking ceremony is tentatively set for next month.
Fayetteville regional park
The first phase of the city’s regional park, at $10.7 million total, is being paid for with:
• $5.3 million from the parks development fund;
• $3.6 million in hotel, motel and restaurant tax-backed bonds;
• $1.4 million from transportation bonds voters approved in 2006; and
• $375,000 in parkland dedication fees charged to private developers.
Source: City of Fayetteville
The lowest of four construction bids came from Crossland Construction of Rogers. At $11.9 million, Crossland's bid was more than $1.5 million lower than other bidders. But it was still hundreds of thousands of dollars more than city officials were willing to spend.
Connie Edmonston, Parks and Recreation director, said the park's topography, on about 200 acres next to Mount Kessler, made it more expensive to develop.
She added, "The challenges that make the site more costly, we believe, will make it more unique. Once constructed, the park will be an inspiring landscape that we can all enjoy."
After sharpening their pencils, city officials were able to get Crossland's contract down to $9.4 million. That means several amenities are being left out.
Instead of four baseball diamonds, just three will be built. The baseball diamonds and six soccer fields won't include lighting for night games -- at least for the time being. City employees will install water and sewer lines rather than hiring an outside contractor, a move than cut roughly $250,000 from the budget. A playground is being postponed, and an entry road off of Cato Springs Road had to be reconfigured.
Having one less baseball diamond and having fields without lights, in particular, could hinder the city's ability to book tournaments at the regional park.
"It's important to have those to extend playing times where we'll be more attractive to the bidders of those tournaments," Don Marr, Mayor Lioneld Jordan's chief of staff, said during a recent City Council meeting. "It's a high priority -- probably the highest priority of the things we pulled out."
Marr said money for lights and other amenities could still be included in the Parks Department's 2016 budget. That depends on how the city ends the year revenue-wise.
A fundraising group called Friends of the Fayetteville Parks has also formed.
Sarah Sparks-Diebold, a volunteer, described it as "a group of private citizens eager to see the regional sports park be finished out in its completion -- both for child development purposes and economic development purposes."
"The average family spends about $250 per day when traveling to a sporting event for their children," she added. "Fayetteville is really missing their fair share of those tax dollars. And we're letting that go to surrounding areas."
Phase I of the park, as currently envisioned, includes six soccer fields, three baseball diamonds, two concession stands with restrooms, more than 400 parking spaces and associated infrastructure.
Park planners eventually want to add more baseball and softball diamonds; basketball, tennis and sand volleyball courts; a water feature or "splash pad"; new Parks and Recreation offices; and a maintenance facility in subsequent phases.
They don't know how they'll pay for the full build-out, which in 2006 was estimated to cost $28 million.
It took the city about 10 years to stockpile $5.2 million in its parks development fund for the regional park.
Another $3.5 million for Phase I is coming from bonds voters approved in November 2013. The bonds, which are also paying for expansion and renovation of the Walton Arts Center, will be retired over the next 25 years using the Advertising and Promotion Commission's half of the city's hotel, motel and restaurant tax. The other half of the tax goes into the parks development fund.
Another $1.4 million, for road construction, is coming from transportation bonds voters approved in 2006. The bonds are backed with local sales tax proceeds.
Approximately $375,000 is from parkland dedication fees levied on private developers. Future development in southwest Fayetteville would generate more money for the regional park.
Marr raised the possibility of a two-year dedicated tax that would pay for the full park build-out. Or, he said, the project could be built incrementally over a much longer period using money in the Parks Department's annual capital improvement fund.
Edmonston said despite future funding uncertainties she's excited to get the first phase of the park started.
"It is providing our citizens the dream that they wanted: to have a one-stop recreation area, in which their kids can all play sports in one park," she said. "I believe it will be a catalyst for community building, and, also, it definitely will increase the quality of life for our citizens."
Edmonston expects the soccer fields and baseball diamonds to be ready for play by fall 2016.
Soccer fields are the top priority because the city's lease with the University of Arkansas for the Lewis Soccer Complex ends in 2018. More than 1,500 children participated in the Parks Department's soccer program last year. She said Fayetteville Youth Baseball's participation grew to more than 950 kids last year. The city's baseball diamonds at Walker Park were built in the 1960s.
Joel Walsh can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAJoel.
NW News on 03/09/2015