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Aldermen divided over land at airport |
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Wednesday, 10 September 2008 |
Motion to donate to park draws fire
An unexpected motion to donate 9 1/2 acres of land from Benton’s old airport site to the city’s Parks Commission drew heated discussion Monday night at a Benton City Council meeting.
The aldermen had just come out of an agenda session in which the meeting’s specified agenda items had been reviewed. Nothing on the agenda mentioned the airport property, and Alderman David Sparks’ motion caught the other council members by surprise.
“I’m in favor of the donation and [eventually] will support it ... but I hope that something like this in the future will be presented in an agenda meeting,” Alderman Charles Cunningham said.
Alderman Bill Donnor said he agreed with Cunningham and was “blindsided” by Sparks’ unanticipated motion.
Donnor also pointed out that he has not seen a survey of the land. “This definitely needs to go back to committee,” he said.
Alderman Doug Stracener questioned what committee would be appropriate for considering the issue and it ultimately was agreed that the Economic Development panel that he shares would be the appropriate one.
“It would definitely have economic value to the city,” Sparks said.
When the council purchased the land, it was done for the purpose of economic development, Alderman Steve Lee pointed out.
“I feel the council would be making liars out of ourselves by doing anything different,” he said. “I’m more in line with selling the land to the Parks Commission.”
Lee noted that the parks department has its own revenue stream through the city’s quarter-cent sales tax that is dedicated to parks.
Sparks defended the plan, noting that passing the site onto the parks would “definitely have economic value to the city.”
Alderman Joe Lee Richards said he, too, supports Sparks’ suggestion to donate the land for parks, but strongly objected to the issue being brought up following the agenda session where it was not mentioned.
Alderman Jerry Ponder said he would “hate to see the parks penalized” because of a procedural objection. “I think it’s not unreasonable to develop the issue further.”
Alderman Brad Moore said he supports the donation.
In another matter related to parks, Benton police Lt. Rodney Wright, who serves on the Parks Commission, told the council that the 2008 state Parks and Tourism grant work has been completed.
Projects accomplished with the $65,000 grant included constructing two new playgrounds for Bernard Holland Park — one at the adult softball area and the other at the boys baseball area.
Wright noted that the play sets included shade structures, security fencing “and a high-tech impact zone for extreme safety.”
Also included in the project was adding decorative white rail fencing throughout the park.
Total cost of the project was $138,000, which included engineering fees and contingency fees from Central Arkansas Planning and Developing Agency, Wright said.
He said the 2009 grant application has been completed and submitted to the Parks and Tourism Department to consider.
This year’s grant request concentrates on replacing all non-compliant bleachers at Bernard Holland, he said. New bleachers will be installed on concrete pads with handicap accessibility added, he said.
Bleacher shade covers similar to the existing covers will be added to two additional baseball fields, he said, and a pavilion will be built in the area across the sidewalk from the new playground.
Holland Park currently has no pavilions.
The next project will involve resurfacing and stripping the basketball court at Ralph Bunche Park, Wright said. Engineers have estimated that the project will cost $270,000.
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