FAYETTEVILLE -- Residents can expect continued street, sidewalk and trail construction, a new parking deck and a plan for combating invasive plant species in the next few months.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan and several of the city's department and division heads briefed residents on ongoing and upcoming projects during a town hall Monday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
City website
Also on Monday, Fayetteville’s outgoing communications director, Lindsley Smith, reviewed some of the features of the city’s redesigned website, which launched last month.
The website can be used to find documents, contact city officials and watch roughly 30 public meetings per month.
Smith highlighted several online service request features in particular under the website’s “How Do I” heading. Residents can use the feature to report potholes, pay parking tickets or tell the city about various types of public safety issues.
“We want to get that information about how we can serve the public as soon as possible,” Smith said, “so we can get it routed to the people who can go out and check on it or fix it.”
To use the redesigned website, go to fayetteville-ar.gov.
Source: Staff report
The 240-space parking deck that's taking shape on the south side of the Walton Arts Center should be complete in late October or early November, Jeremy Pate, Development Services director, told about a dozen residents who came to the meeting.
The $10.9 million project is being built by Baldwin & Shell Construction and paid for using bonds that will be retired over the next 30 years with money from the city's paid parking program.
The parking deck's piers are in place. Utilities and mechanical systems are going in. And several major concrete pours have occurred in March, April and this month.
"We actually now have a deck instead of just a parking garage," Pate said.
Several other construction projects are expected to begin by the end of the year, including the restoration of bridges on Lafayette Street and Maple Street; a 1-mile extension to Rupple Road between Persimmon Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard; Clabber Creek Trail construction between Holt Middle School and Holcomb Elementary School; and new sidewalks on Mission Boulevard and South School Avenue.
City Engineer Chris Brown said other projects, such as Zion Road improvements between Vantage Drive and Crossover Road, College Avenue beautification between Maple and Sycamore streets and new sidewalks along Old Wire Road are in the design phase and slated for construction in 2016.
Dot Neely, one of two members of the public to address the panel of city officials Monday, said the Old Wire Road construction is badly needed.
"I've tried to walk that stretch of road up to Gulley Park, and it's really dangerous," Neely said. "So, the connectivity through there with the sidewalk is just wonderful."
Peter Nierengarten, sustainability and resilience director, said a plan for addressing invasive plant species like bush honeysuckle, kudzu and privet should be ready for City Council consideration by the end of the year.
The plan will focus on reducing or eliminating the planting of particular species, eradicating invasives on public land and educating residents about the ill effects of specific non-native plants.
Connie Edmonston, director of the Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Department, said crews with Crossland Construction have been grading the site in southwest Fayetteville where the first phase of the city's regional park is being built.
The park's first phase, scheduled for completion in fall 2016, will include six soccer fields, three baseball diamonds, two concession stands with restrooms, parking and associated infrastructure. More ballfields, basketball, tennis and sand volleyball courts, a small amphitheater, maintenance facility and splash pad are planned in subsequent phases, although, as of yet, city officials have not determined how to pay for a full build-out of the park.
Edmonston said the Parks and Recreation Department is offering lots of activities this spring and summer, including swimming lessons, Be Active camps and adult softball and kickball leagues.
NW News on 05/12/2015