HOT SPRINGS - City Manager David Watkins said last week that a private meeting was held with former President Bill Clinton recently to discuss redevelopment possibilities in downtown Hot Springs.
Clintons
Clinton visited the city to attend an April 5 political fundraiser at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa for James Lee Witt, a Democratic candidate for the 4th Congressional District.
Downtown property owner Ken Wheatley mentioned the get-together during a meeting of the Downtown Game Plan Task Force.
Watkins said the meeting with Clinton, who once lived on Park Avenue, was “totally apolitical.” He added that it was an opportunity to provide the former president with an update on what is going on with the Majestic Hotel site and ask “if he could help us spearhead the redevelopment of the Majestic property, Park Avenue and Whittington Avenue.”
One concept presented to Clinton, included in a brochure prepared for the meeting, would create a downtown gateway plaza with a performing-arts center and amphitheater that encompasses the entire Majestic Hotel property adjacent to the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts.
“We know the property isn’t owned by the city. However, we’re talking about concepts. And the one concept that has been talked about here for years was developing that site into a park with a thermal basin, which the National Park Service would have to sign off on. If a private developer wants to do it, then good. It doesn’t matter.
“The math and science school has wanted a performing-arts center that would be for the entire community for a long time. You could put it on top of that hill and tie it back into the campus,” Watkins said.
The brochure, “Up From The Ashes, From Majestic Rubble to a Signature Gateway Park,” states that “on the spot where Hot Springs Creek turns toward the Ouachita River, where Hiram Abiff Whittington opened Hot Springs’ first general store in 1832, there’s a fountain, a flagpole, an abandoned hotel, a charred pile of rubble, and a dream.”
One resident is quoted in the brochure as stating, “The Park Avenue neighborhood and this whole section of Hot Springs is experiencing a rebirth. The transformation of the Majestic property would be the centerpiece of a historic downtown renaissance.”
“We were going to do this anyway, but I wanted some kind of brochure we could produce in partnership with maybe the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission and others that kind of take that area, not just the Majestic but all of downtown,and put into perspective some of the opportunities we might be able to pursue long-term that dovetail with downtown revitalization,” Watkins said.
Watkins said the meeting with Clinton came about after Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis received a call from Witt, a former Federal Emergency Management Agency director, a day or two after the Majestic Hotel burned. Witt wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help the city deal with the aftermath of the fire.
“He set up a meeting with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission at the fire station about a week later, and we talked about different types of economic tools that we could possibly pursue to encourage development,” Watkins said.
Watkins said that, during the conversation, Witt mentioned the April fundraiser he was holding in Hot Springs with Clinton and that a meeting might be arranged. Watkins said he then learned that two of Clinton’s friends - Keeley De-Salvo and Mauria Aspell - live in Hot Springs, and he asked them to accompany him if the meeting materialized.
Watkins said confirmation of the meeting wasn’t received until the night of April 4 and he, De-Salvo, Aspell, Deputy City Manager Bill Burrough and Davis met with Clinton at the Arlington the afternoon of April 5. The meeting was limited to five people, Watkins said.
After talking about memories of what Hot Springs used to be like, Watkins said the discussion turned to what is going on now in the city.
“[Clinton] and his staff had driven up and down Central Avenue, and - not putting words in his mouth - he was pleased with the work done on the bathhouses and thought downtown was better than he remembered as a kid,” Watkins said.
Watkins said Clinton asked about the Thermal Basin Fire District, which covers the downtown area; use of Community Development Block Grant funds; and specifically about Environmental Protection Agency brownfield grants and loans.
“He said he was familiar with those programs and wanted to make sure we were getting receptivity from the EPA, and we are,” Watkins said.
Watkins said Clinton had several questions about the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, which was created while he was governor; the value of having students downtown; and historical buildings being converted into residences.
“We had what I thought was a great discussion about the future [of Hot Springs], and I was impressed that he, as our most famous [former] resident, was excited,” Watkins said, noting that Clinton said he wants to be kept up-to-date on the assessment of the Majestic Hotel rubble and EPA relationships.
As for a statement made by Wheatley that officials need to “slow it down a little bit” regarding redevelopment plans, Watkins said there are two issues - economic development and life safety.
“If they want to slow down and take more time to look at incentives, bank loans, or what have you, that’s not our deal. But when you’re dealing with codes, I’m not going to be responsible for slowing down a life safety code. I don’t want that on my shoulder,” he said.
Watkins said that if owners of the buildings that have been declared unsafe can’t meet the September deadline to have a plan submitted to correct the issues, the city would work with them.
“But there’s no reason for a blanket extension. We have property owners right now doing something, so I’m not going to penalize them. What we wanted to do here is be able to apply a code for existing buildings downtown as opposed to the new state fire codes, which would make it extremely expensive to comply with regarding unsafe structures or new structures.
Arkansas, Pages 23 on 04/13/2014