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Events center sessions resume |
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Wednesday, 21 January 2009 |
More public meetings concerning the proposed events center complex for Benton are being held this week.
Three meetings will be held Thursday and two Friday at the city’s Advertising and Promotion Commission office, 205 E. South St., Suite 5.
On Thursday, an environmental session will be held from 1:30 to 3 p.m.; parks and utilities from 3:30 to 5; and A&P Commission and Event Center Steering Committee from 6:30 to 8.
On Friday, a session on equestrian and fairgrounds will be held from 8:30 to 10 a.m. and a summary session will be held from 10:30 to 11:30.
Representatives from GH2/Gralla Architects, the firm hired for the project, will be at the meetings.
Public meetings were held late last year with the architects. These sessions will focus on reviewing more detailed plans and programs for each of the major component facilities and their needs, A&P Executive Director Jill Jones said.
“With appropriate user groups, we will discuss the organization of planned land use on the site, the anticipated function of each building and the spaces to be developed within each,” she said.
“The primary goal of these sessions is to verify the scope and character of the project as it is envisioned in order to move forward to consideration of preliminary cost estimates and appropriate phasing strategies as needed.”
More meetings will be held in February and March, Jones said.
“At this point, the GH2 sessions will be reviewing the overall master plan, including potential architectural character, preliminary cost estimates and appropriate phasing strategies,” she said.
Those determinations will be based on decisions reached during earlier review sessions, Jones said.
“Presentation of all aspects of the overall event center master plan will occur during our summary session to be scheduled around the end of February or beginning of March,” Jones noted.
To develop the proposed project, the A&P Commission has purchased property along the Interstate 30 access road where a U.S. Fuel Mart once operated, as well as 5.29 acres on Fairfield Road adjacent to Sunset Lake.
The need for an events center has been previously noted.
Jones said she has a list of at least 40 local events that occur in Little Rock or Hot Springs because there isn’t a place to hold them in Benton.
For more information about the meetings, call the A&P office at 776-8062.
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