Plans for street and drainage projects for two of Little Rock’s seven wards were revised in a proposal given to the Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday.
City staff members spent months sorting through project requests for the first round of funding through the capital-improvement portion of the citywide sales-tax increase that started in 2012, and from the capital-improvements millage extension passed by voters in September. The changes came from public comments made during meetings last month in each ward.
“These changes were made as a result of the ward meetings and by going back and reviewing the requests,” said City Manager Bruce Moore. “None of the overall ward numbers changed, and the allocated amounts are still the same in each ward. The changes are mostly in Ward 1and Ward 2.”
Moore distributed a memorandum to city directors and the mayor Tuesday detailing the changes, which would take place in Ward 1 and Ward 2.
The proposed changes for Ward 1 sales-tax funding are postponing a $400,000 drainage project on 28th Street at Barber Street until a later funding cycle, and adding curb, gutter, sidewalk and storm-sewer system work on South Tyler Street from West 30th Street to West 32nd Street. The revision also includes adding more sidewalk projects because of the large number of requests for sidewalks.
The changes to the Ward 1 bond funding would use the citywide portion of the bond to pay for part of a proposed $1.7 million match to construct a Wright Avenue viaduct. The city said the project was chosen for priority funding because there was an opportunity to access a federal grant by matching city funds to complete the project.
Using the citywide project fund will free up ward-specific funds to add projects such as reconstructing 17th Street from Woodrow Street to Brown street with curb, gutter and sidewalks, and improving drainage on Plantation Drive at Pickett Street.
The proposed changes for Ward 2 sales-tax funding include moving a $400,000 project that was incorrectly identified as Ward 2 to the correct ward and spending that money on reconstructing Abigail Street from Eighth Street to 10th Street.
The changes to the Ward 2 bond funding also would use a portion of the bond revenue reserved for citywide projects to pay for about $1.5 million of $2 million in required city match money to build a railroad overpass on Geyer Springs Road. The city has an opportunity to receive $8 million to $9 million in grant money to complete the project by using that funding as a local match.
The freed-up $1.5 million in ward-specific funding would be used for sidewalk improvements on Dailey Drive from Base Line Road to the new Pulaski County Health Unit; reconstructing West 10th Street from Abigail Street to Washington Street; reconstructing Maryland Avenue from Elm Street to Lewis Street; reconstructing Elm street from West Eighth Street to Maryland Avenue, and adding traffic calming measures on Fair Park Boulevard.
The board will vote on all of the proposals Tuesday.
Ward 1 Director Erma Hendrix said she was not satisfied with the list, including a sidewalk project on Roosevelt Road, which is a state highway.
The city will have two more rounds of sales-tax projects and one more round of bond projects for a total of $105 million in bond projects and more than $72 million in sales-tax projects.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 05/15/2013