Fayetteville regional park gets underway

Long-awaited project to add ballfields, includes open space

NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Ryan Hale, home region program officer with the Walton Family Foundation, speaks during the ground breaking. The City Council awarded a $9.4 million construction contract for phase I of the park to Crossland Construction earlier this month. For photo galleries, go to nwadg.com/photos.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Ryan Hale, home region program officer with the Walton Family Foundation, speaks during the ground breaking. The City Council awarded a $9.4 million construction contract for phase I of the park to Crossland Construction earlier this month. For photo galleries, go to nwadg.com/photos.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The city's field of dreams is becoming a reality.

Officials broke ground Wednesday on the first phase of a long-awaited regional park in southwest Fayetteville.

By the Numbers

Fayetteville Regional Park

Construction on the first phase of the city’s regional park, at $10.7 million, 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.

• $375,000 in parkland dedication fees charged to private developers in the southwest quadrant of the city.

Source: City of Fayetteville

"The seed's been planted for this day since 2000," Mayor Lioneld Jordan told about 50 people. "This has gone on longer than a Cecil B. DeMille movie. It's been 15 years in the making, and it is here today."

"Once it is built, the regional park will be the largest multipurpose park in Fayetteville and will serve tens of thousands of citizens every year," Jordan added. "It will also generate new revenue for the city through the tournaments and special events which can be held here. We expect it to bring more and more visitors to our beautiful city."

The idea for the regional park began in the early 2000s. Residents who participated in a parks plan process told city leaders they wanted a one-stop recreation area instead of shuttling their kids all over town for baseball, soccer and softball games.

The park is also viewed as an economic engine.

"No longer will we have to hear our parents say, 'Well, we went to a tournament, and, oh, they had this wonderful park,'" Alderwoman Adella Gray said Wednesday. "They're going to be talking about our park soon."

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board selected the property, off Judge Cummings Road, in 2003 after an exhaustive search of 18 sites. The park was supposed to be developed as a public-private partnership with developers of a massive mixed-use project called SouthPass.

The SouthPass project never occurred, but Chambers Bank, which acquired the property in lieu of foreclosure in 2010, made good on developers' pledge of 200 acres to the city.

For years, financing for the park was a big question. It took the city roughly 10 years to stockpile $5.3 million of hotel, motel and restaurant taxes in the parks development fund. The project got a boost in November 2013 when voters overwhelmingly pledged $3.5 million in hospitality-tax-backed bonds for park construction.

All told, construction of the park's first phase will cost $10.7 million.

It will include six soccer fields, three baseball diamonds, two concession stands with restrooms, parking and associated infrastructure.

The plan had to be scaled back after construction bids from Crossland Construction came in $1 million higher than expected.

To make things financially feasible, the City Council voted to postpone one of the baseball diamonds and a playground. The city will hold off on installing lights for the six soccer fields, and city employees will install water and sewer lines rather than hiring an outside contractor. Transportation bond money voters approved in 2006 will pay for the entryway to the park.

Officials hope to reinsert some amenities before phase I is complete in fall 2016 -- either with money in the Parks and Recreation Department's capital improvement budget or through private donations.

Even less clear is how a full build-out of the park will be paid for. The overall plan for the park includes more baseball and softball diamonds; basketball, tennis and sand volleyball courts; a water feature or "splash pad;" a small amphitheater; new Parks and Recreation offices; and a maintenance facility. In 2006, the full build-out was expected to cost $28 million.

The park property is next to roughly 350 acres of wooded hillside on Mount Kessler. The city purchased the Mount Kessler land for $3 million from Chambers Bank in March 2014. The Walton Family Foundation and Fayetteville Natural Heritage Foundation helped pay for the purchase.

The park will provide a connection to several miles of hiking and single-track mountain biking trails on Mount Kessler.

"In this park, every day, there will be room for crowds and the silence for an individual," Steve Clark, president and CEO of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday. "Everyone -- resident or guest -- will be welcome."

Connie Edmonston, Parks and Recreation director, called the park a dream come true.

"It's a dream that came from our citizens," she said. "And we want more construction to come. Our dream is to keep the construction going until the park is totally built out."

NW News on 03/19/2015

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