Two Rivers Park tract is public's, court says

Map showing the location of Disputed parkland by the Two Rivers Park Bridge
Map showing the location of Disputed parkland by the Two Rivers Park Bridge

The northern landing of the landmark Two Rivers Park bridge rightfully belongs to the public, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled Thursday, ending, at least for now, almost five years of litigation over who owns that 45-acre tract.

The park's 5-year-old lighted pedestrian and biking bridge connects the Arkansas River Trail to the park at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Maumelle rivers. It's also a popular link for cyclists heading to Pinnacle Mountain State Park.

A consortium of claimants on the land, banding together as Blackwood's Island Joint Venture, sued in February 2012, asserting that land across the river from the Little Maumelle River boat launch had been illegally seized.

But the judge ruled Thursday that they had waited too long to sue.

"Time has passed you by," Piazza said, while acknowledging the likelihood of an appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court. "I think this case is controlled by the statute of limitations."

Pulaski County and the city of Little Rock have jointly operated the 1,000-acre park since 1992. The county put up about half the land with the rest coming from the city.

The property at issue is part of a 500-acre tract the city has claimed ownership of for 40 years. Little Rock seized the land through condemnation in 1974, and the state Supreme Court affirmed in 1976 that the city had acted legally.

Attorneys representing the county and city respectively, Chastity Scifres and Amy Beckman Fields, said the plaintiffs had seven years under the law to challenge the public claim on the land by proving their ownership but never took legal action to assert their claim.

Fields said the latest the plaintiffs could have sued was in 1999, seven years after the city began to further assert its ownership by improving the park property by growing trees and building trails and other amenities.

But the public ownership was not challenged in court again until just after the $5.3 million, 1,368-foot Two Rivers Bridge was completed in July 2011, the judge said.

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The Blackwood's plaintiffs asserted that the two proceedings that the city said gave it title to the land, a 1915 delinquent-tax sale and the 1975 condemnation, were so faulty that they should be nullified to recognize the plaintiffs' claim on the property.

Potential claimants were never given legal notice in either of those proceedings that their ownership was in dispute, a failing that should nullify both actions, attorney Richard Worsham told the judge.

He said the plaintiffs can trace their stake back to 1820. The plaintiffs have the records that prove property taxes were properly paid on the land for more than 100 years, up until the lawsuit was filed, he said.

The city and county attorneys disputed that the documents proved the taxes had been paid. The plaintiffs only have tax assessment records, not the payment receipts or affidavits that would show payment, they said.

The Blackwood's group is comprised of Michael D. Wilkins, who has claimed to own a piece of the property since 1996, and the Moore-Broadway LLC real estate company headed by real estate broker John A. Ryles and attorney Stephen Whitwell, which purchased a 40.7-acre tract from Wilkins in 2009.

A Section on 01/06/2017

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