NWA LETTERS

Are Fayetteville leaders listening to residents?

Markham Hill, where the Pratt Place Inn and Barn in Fayetteville are located, is seeing its last days. This 144-acre wooded hilltop/ hillside property will soon be destroyed with development. RMD Properties now owns the land. They hired Specialized Real Estate Group to develop it and the Fayetteville City Council unfortunately approved their plans. They want to put 520 single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes and quadraplexes on 84 acres, along with an 80-room hotel, restaurant, other commercial buildings, parking lots, streets, driveways, sidewalks, utilities, etc.

Forty-four acres of woods on the far west next to Interstate 49 will be preserved in a conservation easement. This doesn’t ease the pain of mostly impervious surfaces on the remaining 100 acres. This beautiful wedding setting, woods, and natural habitat will be destroyed forever. Why? Because of the desire for money and the current frenzy of urbanization, infill and development. Those of us who have known and loved the woods, pastures, trails, seclusion and quiet of Markham Hill for many years are heartbroken.

Is the city of Fayetteville not listening to longtime residents any longer? Do they now consider the one developer more important and valid than the many residents?

Over 2,800 people (so far) have signed a petition asking the City Council of Fayetteville to not rezone so that most of the historic wooded Markham Hill could remain preserved rather than be destroyed by development. Many long-time residents of Fayetteville and those in the low-density neighborhood surrounding Markham Hill are very unhappy and shocked that the City Council didn’t listen to them but rather to the developer. The new owner RMD Properties is based in Oregon and we are told wants to remain anonymous. They don’t seem to really care about Markham Hill, the surrounding neighborhood or Fayetteville. We are very upset with the City Council, owner and developer for ignoring the wishes of the neighbors to save Markham Hill as well as remain low-density and rural.

We would like to ask the anonymous RMD Properties to please sell the 144 acres at a reasonable price to a group of conservationists (to be gathered). We want to put all 144 acres in a conservation easement to create a Markham Hill nature and wildlife preserve for the city of Fayetteville. We pray that RMD Properties will read this, have compassion on us, drop their development plans, and help us accomplish this preservation. It would be an even greater blessing if they chose to donate this land as a nature and wildlife preserve.

LISA ORTON

Fayetteville

Are Pelosi costumes

big sellers this year?

After the way Republican candidates keep making Nancy Pelosi sound like the Boogie Man, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a lot of little girls dressed up as her this coming Halloween.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not a big fan of hers, or of most Democrats in office at the moment, but the way Republicans like Steve Womack try to muddy the waters by scaring people is unconscionable.

In my opinion nothing could be scarier than for things to go on in Washington as they are now. The so-called tax break is a farce benefiting only the very rich, health care is a shambles, the national debt is astronomical and every day we are doing away with more environmental protection regulations. What kind of world are we leaving our children?

It looks to me like our elected officials are too busy carrying out Trump’s crazy agenda to remember the people who elected them in Arkansas.

EDWARD MARTIN

Rogers

[email protected]

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