A planned ropes course in North Little Rock's Emerald Park swung past a hurdle Monday when the original company to propose the project became the sole group to answer requested bids.
Loco Ropes was the only company to submit a proposal when bids were opened Monday, city Commerce Director Mary Beth Bowman said. Loco Ropes operates a similar high-ropes course at Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View under owners and operators Judy and Bob Cox.
Loco Ropes, an Arkansas-based company, had been approved by the North Little Rock Parks Commission in April 2016 to create the high-ropes course, but ran into legal restrictions from the city over its proposed long-term contract to lease the city park property.
"It looks like we can move forward with that," city Parks and Recreation Director Terry Hartwick said Monday. "It's all but approved. We have some particulars to work out, but it looks like we've got a go. Very, very few things to work out."
Despite that optimism, the proposal still needs to have a lease negotiated with the city and earn approval by both the Parks Commission, again, and then the North Little Rock City Council, City Attorney Amy Fields said. Lease terms, such as payments and how many years the lease would last, are among details to be decided.
"We still have a ways to go to negotiate a lease with them," Fields said. "We have to go through that process to see if this is something [city officials] want to go forward with."
Hartwick said he plans to place the Loco Ropes proposal on next month's Parks Commission agenda.
The proposal submitted is the same one the Parks Commission approved, 4-2, two years ago, Judy Cox said Monday. Loco Ropes would construct the course, she said. The course would use Emerald Park and the Big Rock Quarry Park that Emerald Park overlooks near the Arkansas River.
The original proposal, approved as a 21-year lease, included a high and low ropes course, ropes bridges, zip lines, climbing structures and boulders, ropes assault and challenge courses, plus a business headquarters. A 1,200- to 1,500-square-foot building would include lockers, offices and storage.
"What's really neat about it is that it attracts a variety of users," Cox said Monday from Hartwick's office. "We have little guys, athletes, non-athletes. There is so much appeal to a wide spectrum of the market. Little ones and teenagers and then people in their 50s. Everybody participates."
The project stalled when former North Little Rock City Attorney Jason Carter said that the Parks Commission didn't have the authority to approve such a lease, an authorization only the City Council could make. Arkansas Code Annotated 22-4-503, Carter cited at that time, required that "any sale or lease" of public property "must follow an advertising and bidding process." The Department of Parks and Tourism also reviewed the request, Hartwick said last year.
"Even though the Parks Commission has operational control over the property, the city holds it in trust and the city actually owns the property," said Fields, who was appointed city attorney late last year after Carter resigned to enter private business.
Hartwick said he's pleased with the proposal and wants to see it go through.
"It got held up before because of legal language," Hartwick said. "It is what it is. I think everybody will be happy to have it. It will bring more people into our parks and more families."
Metro on 03/20/2018