FAYETTEVILLE -- Visitors to downtown will see trail improvements, a more scenic streetscape and immersive outdoor elements incorporated with the city's biggest cultural attractions within the next few years.
The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a contract with Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects of Charlottesville, Va., to design a cultural arts corridor downtown. The contract will come in two phases: $618,431 for schematic design and $881,569 for design development, construction drawings and bidding.
Council Action
Fayetteville’s City Council met Tuesday and approved:
• Rezoning about 24 acres the Duggar family owns southwest of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Hanshew Road. The zoning will be staggered, with an urban thoroughfare closest to the highway, followed by a community services zone with the rest agricultural leading up to Kessler Mountain.
• An amendment to the city’s ordinance on accessory dwellings will go before the Ordinance Review Committee, consisting of half the council members.
• Council members also will tour areas near Walnut and Lafayette avenues and Locust Avenue and South Street before deciding two rezoning requests.
Source: Staff report
The work will come free to the city. In November, the Walton Family Foundation awarded nearly $1.8 million to the city for the design of the corridor. The idea is to create interconnected public spaces along the Razorback Greenway between Dickson and Prairie streets, spanning about 50 acres.
Outdoor elements and streetscape enhancements will integrate with cultural hubs along the corridor, such as the Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville Public Library, TheatreSquared and Nadine Baum Studios, according to city documents. The Fay Jones parkland west of the library also will serve as a focal point.
Breck Gastinger with the firm said the team has a long history of tying ecology and natural settings into urban design. Successful projects bring people of different backgrounds together, he said, and listening to the community serves as a key part of the puzzle.
"It's really a remarkable opportunity to be able to look not only at specific elements but to think in big district and citywide terms," Gastinger said.
Molly Rawn, director of the city's tourism bureau, Experience Fayetteville, said she visited a project of Nelson's in St. Louis. Everything from seating to trash cans was placed with intent, she said, and visitors were engaged.
"I went from excited to thrilled about what this project means to our city," Rawn said.
Council Member Matthew Petty of Ward 2 said the space's design could draw in visitors, rather than solely the events taking place there.
"This is the start of something that's going to be really transformational; something that is new," he said. "I couldn't be more excited."
The first phase is scheduled to wrap by the end of this year. A robust public outreach campaign will accompany the project. Local and national architects and engineers will join the team.
The estimated construction cost will serve as the basis for inclusion in a bond referendum city officials hope to put to voters by early next year.
Construction should finish by 2021.
The timing of the move goes along with a voter-approved expansion of the library, a new TheatreSquared facility and the University of Arkansas' planned art and design district near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Hill Avenue.
In other business, the council voted 7-1 to award a $153,066 contract to RDG Planning & Design to develop a corridor plan for U.S. 71B. The plan will include College Avenue from North Street to Lake Fayetteville, Archibald Yell Boulevard from Rock Street to South School Avenue, and South School Avenue to Cato Springs Road.
The contract focuses on redevelopment, complimentary land uses, urban design and capital infrastructure, according to city documents. Community outreach and participation also is part of the planning process.
Council Member Sarah Marsh said she had problems with the scope outlined in the contract, the team selected and other procedural issues. The contract as drafted made no mention of key aspects such as attainable housing and the city's cultural and historical resources, she said.
Other council members said they trusted the wisdom of city staff, who recommended the selection.
NW News on 06/20/2018
