Little Rock is moving forward this week with proposals for about $2.4 million worth of sidewalk, drainage and other public works improvement efforts, as well as several zoning changes.
The city's Board of Directors will vote on whether to approve the contracts and changes at its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
In Ward 1, a $155,218 contract would cover the construction of a sidewalk on the north side of East Roosevelt Road from Interstate 30 to Main Street and along the east side of Main Street from Roosevelt Road to 24th Street.
Eighty percent of the project's funding comes from Federal-Aid Transportation Alternative Grant funds through Metroplan and the Arkansas Department of Transportation. The rest is from city sales-tax money.
In Ward 3, $946,355 would go toward continuing to construct a concrete-paved drainage channel on Briarwood Ditch, which is southwest of Sun Valley Road and between Choctaw Circle and Ouachita Circle.
In Ward 7, $457,705 would be allotted for storm sewer improvements in the Chateaus subdivision. In addition to the storm sewer improvements, the project includes concrete paved channels at the rear of homes.
Those two drainage projects are on a list of improvements the city Board of Directors approved in 2016 to be completed over three years. Each of the seven wards was allocated $2.6 million for various street and drainage projects over the three-year cycle. Those funds come from the capital improvement portion of a 1 percent sales tax that voters approved in 2011. There will be a total of three sets of three-year cycles of projects over the 10-year life of the tax. The cycle that runs from 2016 through 2018 is the second.
A total of $72 million has been pledged for public works projects over the 10 years, with an additional $105 million in bond projects. No bond projects are included in this second cycle.
Additionally, the Public Works Department plans to purchase two rear-loader sanitation trucks for $366,898 and a fuel truck for $151,828.
In addition, $112,642 will go toward closing part of the city's landfill, located at 10801 Ironton Cutoff, to meet state regulations and help with stormwater runoff issues.
The Little Rock Port Authority is requesting a $250,000 addition to its capital improvement plan that the board approved in September 2015. That money would go toward railroad track and crossing improvements.
The board will also vote on whether to establish several planned zoning developments.
In Ward 5, nearly an acre of land located at the southwest corner of Gooch Drive and Taylor Loop Road is to be rezoned to allow for the construction of six residential townhouse units.
In Ward 6, a 10-acre site at 10800 Colonel Glenn Road would be rezoned to allow for a planned Lumber One hardware store. That location was the site of Clear Channel Metroplex.
Also in Ward 6, a rezoning of three lots at the northeast corner of Bowman Road and Colonel Glenn Plaza Drive would allow for the development of a shopping center, an office warehouse and an office showroom.
Metro on 08/06/2018