State Fair will stay in LR, panel decides

Ralph Shoptaw, general manager of the Arkansas State Fair, discusses the fairgrounds’ future during a board meeting Thursday in Little Rock.
Ralph Shoptaw, general manager of the Arkansas State Fair, discusses the fairgrounds’ future during a board meeting Thursday in Little Rock.

— The Arkansas State Fair will continue to call Little Rock home.

Arkansas Livestock Show Association board members voted Thursday to keep the fairgrounds on Roosevelt Road, turning away relocation proposals from Jacksonville and North Little Rock, and leaving neighbors east of the property worried about the fair’s expansion plans.

The Arkansas Livestock Show Association committee voted unanimously in a Thursday morning meeting to keep the Arkansas State Fair at its current location at the State Fairgrounds Complex in Little Rock.

State Fair to stay in Little Rock

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Board members - frustrated with aging buildings, lack of space and the crime rate in the neighborhood - started several years ago exploring options for moving the fairgrounds, and in 2009, they put out a call for new location proposals.

But after almost two years, the board decided that staying in Little Rock was its best choice.

“If we leave here, we have no financial gain because we don’t own the fairgrounds,” said board Chairman Ned Ray Purtle. “With all the trouble other state fairs have been getting into financially, we looked very carefully at our financial options before making this decision.”

The Virginia State Fair is looking for a buyer after its creditors rejected a bankruptcy plan last month. Also, state fairs in Nevada and Michigan closed in the past two years, according to the International Association of Fairs and Expositions.

After other central Arkansas cities began lobbying for the fairgrounds, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola offered counter proposals to help expand the fairgrounds at its current location. He included a promise of $3 million from the city’s capital-improvements portion of a sales tax increase that passed last year and started being collected in January.

Board members said Thursday that Stodola’s efforts helped make their decision easier.

“I’m pleased and excited they have made what I believe to be the right decision,” Stodola said via phone after the vote. “I think it’s reflective of the efforts of many cities nationwide who have turned urban fairgrounds into magnets for public events.

“With commitments and better coordination from the Advertising and Promotion Commission and the Convention and Visitors Bureau, we will work to pull more events into the fairgrounds facilities.”

While the board committed to stay in Little Rock, it did not vote on a specific plan to expand the fairgrounds. Residents in the South End neighborhood east of the fairgrounds are worried that their homes will be on the chopping block if the board decides to expand east.

In March, Stodola offered four expansion options, including one that would take in about 52 acres of mostly residential property east of the fairgrounds. About 10 acres of that are owned by the Metropolitan Housing Alliance and are used for the Sunset Terrace housing project.

Housing Alliance staff members have said they plan to raze the World War II-era buildings and pursue one of three options: rebuilding in the same location, rebuilding somewhere else, or helping residents move into low-income houses in the neighborhood.

The decision will be made as part of requirements under a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Choice Neighborhood Planning grant.

If the livestock association decides to expand east, HUD would have to agree to release the 10-acre property. That could involve a lengthy eminent-domain process.

Stodola said the city has demolished several dilapidated houses in the neighborhood and could acquire a dozen or more parcels through existing tax liens.

Still, dozens of residents have shown up at neighborhood meetings, saying they want to stay in their homes.

The state owns the fairgrounds property, which covers about 140 acres, a little less than half of which are unusable because of various topographical problems, such as railroad tracks bisecting the property. If the association decides to expand east, either the city or the state will have to exercise eminent-domain authority, the taking of private property for public use through the court system.

Stodola has said the city will not use its powers of eminent domain because it does not want to be a landlord for the fairgrounds.

Ralph Shoptaw, State Fair president and general manager, said the association has not asked the state to use its eminent-domain powers because the long-term plan for the expansion hasn’t been finalized.

“There’s enough property between the railroad tracks and with the possibility of the Sunset Terrace land that it’s not something I envision the board doing in the near future,” he said.

“The board may decide to acquire land as it becomes available, but I doubt our board would ever vote to relocate people.”

A second expansion option includes connecting the fairgrounds with about 34 acres to the west. The plan would move the junction of two sets of railroad tracks from its current location just north of Wright Avenue to a point farther south, which would free up the triangle shaped piece of property. Most of that land is owned by the city or the state, and acquiring it would be less difficult, Stodola said.

As for a third proposal, board members said they plan to start discussions soon with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department because the department is facing a fall deadline.

This proposal involves adding a pedestrian-friendly “promenade” to the plans for a new Roosevelt Road bridge that will replace the 76-yearold span over the railroad track interchange and connect with a 47-acre piece of property on the west.

Work on the bridge is expected to begin sometime after Oct. 3 when the bidding process closes.

This proposal also includes the possibility of using an existing 450,000-square-foot building that was formerly the Phillips Lighting Factory. Stodola said the owner is interested in the fair association using the building as an additional exhibit hall or for other purposes.

The fourth proposal would add an entrance on the south side of the fairgrounds and a possible interstate exit off of Arch Street that would run parallel to the railroad tracks near Interstate Park.

The board members said they will likely use elements from each of the four plans and begin conversations with the Highway Department and railroad companies as they explore westward expansion.

Regardless of what plan or pieces of plans the association chooses, it will have a hard time stretching the city’s $3 million to pay for all of the hoped-for renovations and additions.

An independent consultant, paid by the city, reported that the association would need to spend about $25 million to fix up its aging buildings if it did not expand. Expanding and staying put will cost between $48 million and $53 million, whereas finding a new home and replacing all of the fairgrounds current assets would have cost in the range of $120 million, Shoptaw said.

“The bottom line is funding,” he said. “We don’t make a lot of money, but we bring a lot of tourism. We’re going to stay here and make the best of what we have ... and begin work on a long-range strategic plan.”

The city and the association will have to sign an agreement to outline how the sales-tax money will be doled out and for how long the fair will be obligated to stay in Little Rock.

Stodola said Thursday that he is leaning toward asking for a long-term commitment from the association.

“Obviously, I think the citizens of Little Rock spoke loudly and committedly that they wanted the fairgrounds to stay in Little Rock, and we would like a term that’s reflective of that long-term issue,” he said.

Stodola also volunteered staff assistance to write grants to seek renovation funding and offered the possibility of a financing agreement that would make more of the $3 million in sales tax money available upfront.

Thursday’s decision did not surprise Jacksonville or North Little Rock officials, who said they won’t be waiting by the phone for a call to use their property in the future.

“You don’t see tears in my eyes because I’m not crying; I’m more excited for the future than anything else,” said Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher. “Once we realized they may not move, we began looking at other economic development options for that property, and this will free us up to pursue those opportunities.”

Joe Smith, economic development coordinator for North Little Rock, said his city would have loved to be the new home for the state fairgrounds, but he didn’t feel blindsided by the board’s decision.

“They are very smart, dedicated people, and if that’s the decision they feel is best, we will accept it,” he said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/15/2012

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