More than 13 months after voters in North Little Rock's Park Hill neighborhood approved lifting a restriction on alcohol sales that had been in place for 47 years, new restaurants aren't knocking down any doors trying to locate in the neighborhood, community leaders say.
"I continually hear from other merchants up here and from friends: 'When's it going to happen in Park Hill?'" said Steve Winchester, president of the Park Hill Business and Merchants Association. "Any guess is as good for you as it is for me.
"We want Park Hill to get to a point where it's a viable option for restaurants and retail and all kinds of good businesses," Winchester said. "Right now, it's just not there."
The November 2013 special election to erase the alcohol ban had 80 percent or more approval in each of six area voting districts located generally along about a 2-mile stretch of John F. Kennedy Boulevard (Arkansas 107), also including part of Lakewood and Indian Hills. The independent voting districts were reinstated for the election to follow 1965 precinct boundaries as outlined in a change of state law last year that allowed current-day voters to decide the wet-dry issue.
Supporters of the change said that being within the only pocket of the city that didn't allow alcohol sales had created an obstacle for Park Hill to attract high-end restaurants that sell alcohol by the drink elsewhere in North Little Rock. Many also believed that more retail businesses would follow the change.
None of that has happened. At least not yet.
"I don't think there are any more there than what was there when they passed the election," said Terry Hartwick, president of the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, which spearheaded the "revitalization and jobs" election campaign. "As far as new restaurants developing, it hasn't happened."
E's Bistro, a restaurant in place before the election in the Lakehill Center, 3812 JFK Blvd., began offering beer and wine in May, said owner Elizabeth McMullen, which she said has helped her business.
"Yes, it has. We've had new people come in, and our old crowd still comes," she said. "We're hoping more businesses will move into the area. We need more restaurants and, hopefully, a grocery store. That's one thing that's kept them out, not being able to sell beer and wine."
E's beer and wine offering is "a nice addition," said DeAnn Hubberd, the Park Hill Neighborhood Association president. But the time it is taking for Park Hill to attract new eateries that could sell alcohol has residents "a little frustrated," she said.
"We thought that maybe something would happen sooner than now," Hubberd said. "Becoming educated about the existing buildings, I understand the complications involved. It's not as easy as I thought it would be.
"Of course, we're a little impatient, but change just takes time," she added.
Park Hill's geography is a deterrent as well. Park Hill is divided by JFK Boulevard, a four-lane thoroughfare lined with small retail centers and specialty shops with limited parking.
"It's just laid out kind of goofy," Winchester said, adding that a "hodgepodge" of buildings along a major street doesn't invite foot traffic needed for visitors or residents to want to go to eat and shop at a variety of places.
"It's just not really ready at this point and time to have a neighborhood restaurant that people can get to without getting run over," Winchester said. "We would very much like Park Hill to be accessible by foot and by bike and by car without a fear of death."
A design to change those shortcomings is under consideration by the city. The proposal would create an overlay district that would set guidelines for design and development involving construction and remodeling. The project comes from a Jump Start grant, a program coordinated by Metroplan, central Arkansas' long-range transportation planning agency. Recommendations include adding to the area's "walkability," such as requiring new buildings to be set back from the street to encourage pedestrian traffic.
The overlay recommendations, under consideration by the North Little Rock Planning Commission, have drawn questions and apprehension from area property owners, who have said they had trouble digesting the 85-page document that details a consultant's findings.
The neighborhood association is "very involved in the Jump Start process and in educating people about that," Hubberd said. "That [overlay] will give businesses and restaurants a much quicker path toward establishment."
Winchester said he's open to the plan but knows several property owners who are troubled by it.
"It's a real difficult document to digest," he said. "I don't know if the overlay district is the solution or not. There are some parts I like about it. Some parts I don't understand and I think a lot of property owners don't understand.
"The reality is, we've got to do something," he said.
Even with changes being slow-moving, Hartwick said, the election to go wet was needed to have any hope for change.
"I'm happy with what the chamber did in passing it," Hartwick said. "I'm just a little bit concerned that nothing else has popped up there. But it had been dry for 47 years. I just think it will take a little time for people to say this is the place they want to locate. As with everything else, it's a process."
Metro on 12/26/2014