LITTLE ROCK — Members of the Little Rock Technology Authority Board met with citizens Wednesday afternoon for a discussion and explanation concerning the location for new Little Rock Technology Park.
The group of about 35 citizens in the board room at the Willie Hinton Resource Center had plenty of questions.
The board laid out three separate plans for different locations for the pack around the city. Members of the board said they hope the whole process will be done sometime in June. The board explained during the meeting that they are hoping to prioritize the three sites, then move on to evaluating the particulars of each site.
The research for the sites is being performed by Crafton Tull Engineering and Surveying.
Citizens had many questions, some high tensions being felt throughout the meeting between the board and the public. Of the many issues, trust was key, with a number of citizens questioning the process by which the site will be chosen. It was also important to the public in the room that the board not ignore that some sites will displace some residents, regardless of the site.
One of the more serious talking points came with the proposal of the "5-minute rule" which the board stated meant that the new site would be 5 minutes from several important areas around the city. These include University of Arkansas-Little Rock, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital.
Read more about this story in tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.