The former Big Rock Quarry, a popular hiking and scenic spot in North Little Rock, gained City Council approval Monday evening to become future city parkland in a property exchange with a parcel inside the city’s Burns Park.
The resolution, approved 8-0, was to allow the city Parks and Recreation Department to move forward with submitting plans to state and federal governments for the proposed land conversion.
“This is only the first step in a long process,” said Deputy City Attorney Matt Fleming.
The property exchange is necessary for the city to market 73 acres in Burns Park off Charles Boyer Drive for the private development of a lodge or hotel, part of the parks master plan since 2006.
Burns Park was developed with federal Outdoor Recreation Grant funds that restrict the park’s use to outdoor facilities. The property exchange would release it from that obligation.
The Burns Park acreage is appraised at $925,000; the former quarry land, a 52.2-acre tract, has an appraised value of $3.05 million. The city owns the quarry property, but it never has been designated as a city park.
The quarry acreage, between Burns and Emerald parks, was the center of controversy a year ago when a proposal was made to commercially develop part of it. A group of residents formed to oppose the proposal, and the development idea was withdrawn. As a result, a city-appointed task force was formed shortly afterward to study all city-owned properties.
Connie Phillips, who was the task force chairman, spoke in favor of the exchange, saying that the task force unanimously agreed that the quarry area should be preserved for public use.
“Overwhelmingly, we were told by the public that they wanted the quarry saved as a park or green space and that they were not for its development,” Phillips told the council.
Phillips said that putting a lodge inside Burns Park was also thought to be “a good idea” by the task force and the public.
Mayor Joe Smith said that there is no development plan for a lodge and that the city would only be making the Burns Park site available to potential developers.
“There is no city money involved,” Smith said. “The city has no plan to build a lodge. The property will be for a private development.”
The lodge was envisioned as a way to house participants and their families at sports tournaments in Burns Park and provide meeting areas and a full-service restaurant to help keep participants in North Little Rock.
Parks Director Bob Rhoads told the council that Burns Park was host last weekend to a large youth soccer tournament that may have drawn 2,000 people and a team tennis tournament with maybe 150 people. Many participants were from surrounding states, he added, and could have stayed on-site if a hotel were available.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 10/29/2013