LITTLE ROCK — No additional restrictions will be placed on the $22 million in sales tax money that Little Rock committed to pay for construction of the proposed Little Rock Technology Park.
The Little Rock Board of Directors voted down an ordinance 7-3 on Tuesday that would have barred the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board from using the city’s contribution to obtain residential houses through the use of eminent domain- the forced taking of private property for public use in exchange for compensation.
“This is a disturbing, puzzling precedent to say to the citizens of Little Rock that we are asking you to pay for a sales tax and then to use that money to displace them,” said Ward 2 Director Ken Richardson. “If the tech park board could tell us in some legally binding way that they will not consider any residential neighborhoods, then I would pull this ordinance and I would let this rest.”
Richardson, Ward 1 Director Erma Hendrix and Ward 7 Director B. J. Wyrick voted in favor of the ordinance.
Richardson first proposed the ordinance in May, and it went before the board for consideration last June. The board tabled the proposal for six months, instead accepting a different ordinance from At-Large Director Dean Kumpuris.
Kumpuris’ ordinance requested that the tech park board look for other sites and not consider residential locations unless there was significant support from the community to consider its neighborhood for the final location.
The ordinance triggered the tech park board to stop studying three mostly residential sites in the Fair Park and Forest Hills neighborhoods and to launch a second search that led to three commercial sites that are still being studied for the park’s location.
The Technology Park Authority Board is to meet next Feb. 13, but no agenda has been set. Board members said Wednesday that if preliminary engineering studies of the three remaining sites are finished by then, the studies will be discussed.
The three remaining sites are:
About 10 acres between Collins and College streets and East Sixth and East Eighth streets.
About 84 acres consisting of several parcels at South University and Asher avenues.
About 35 undeveloped acres near John Barrow Road and Interstate 630.
“I think it’s realistic, at least for two sites and maybe all three, that the preliminary engineering reports will be finished by the February meeting,” tech park board member Dickson Flake said. “If we’re not there with all three, we’ll discuss the two we have and as much of the third report as we can.”
The proposed park is a partnership among the city of Little Rock, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The plan for the park is to attract private companies and public investment to further develop research being done at the city’s higher-education and medical institutions.
Several city directors said Tuesday that they felt that Kumpuris’ ordinance had done enough to prohibit the authority board from choosing one of the three original residential sites. Other directors said they didn’t want to eliminate the use of eminent domain as a tool for future use.
Ward 4 Director Brad Cazort said the city would not have the $22 million in hand for a while because it would take time for the sales tax funds to amass and because the technology park is not a priority for him because of other capital projects that need funding.
“I do think it’s a long way away because it is going to be a while before any of this is in hand,” he said. “In my mind, we told them we were not considering residential neighborhoods. ... If they come back and say this is the spot and it is residential, then I will not be supportive of giving them the money.”
At-Large Director Joan Adcock said the previous ordinance covered residential neighborhoods, and she said she was tired of people causing fear in the residential neighborhoods that their property was still up for grabs.
“Those three neighborhoods are off the table completely,” she said. “Sometimes people start talking about them again, but they are off the table. I would like to see us just put this thing to bed tonight.”
Hendrix said the board may be biased against the ordinance for other reasons.
“When minorities bring something before this board, everybody gets deaf,” she said.
Richardson said he couldn’t see a reason to not support the ordinance, regardless of the effectiveness of the ordinance passed in June.
“There is absolutely nothing in the [ordinance] we passed that takes any residential neighborhood off the table. Absolutely nothing,” he said.
“The consultant hired by the tech park board said those three commercial sites may not be suitable. Here’s the slippery slope, and here’s the escape clause. This ordinance is simple.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with commercial property or vacant land, and it doesn’t say anything about private or corporate funding in terms of eminent domain. ... If we are 100 percent certain that residential sites are not on the table, then what harm or hurt is it going to do us to pass this measure?”
Kumpuris said the previous ordinance and a follow-up letter from tech park board Chairman Mary Good were clear that the residential sites were no longer being considered. He said he had trouble taking away the use of eminent domain, which he believed needed to be a tool of last resort in some cases.
“If I lived in a neighborhood being considered, and I knew we had to appropriate the money, I would go to bed feeling safe that my neighborhood is safe,” he said.
Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, a reverend at a church near the residential sites, spoke in favor of the ordinance. He urged the city to consider its responsibility to protect neighborhoods where residents have worked to build, stabilize and invest in a community.
“I urge you to send a signal to those neighborhoods that their neighborhoods will not be displaced,” he said.
Flake said a vote on the final three commercial sites would happen in March at the earliest but would likely come later in the spring.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/24/2013