FORT SMITH -- City directors expressed mixed opinions last week about whether the city should continue to develop land at Chaffee Crossing where a sports complex was once planned.
Directors are considering what to do with the 63-acre site that was supposed to be home to the River Valley Sports Complex before former state Sen. Jake Files and his partner Lee Webb vacated the project and the city terminated its contract with the developers in February 2017.
An engineering report, completed last October by a team headed by Morrison Shipley Engineering Inc., said it would cost more than $4.5 million to finish the eight ball fields and amenities associated with the complex.
The report recommended, among other things, that the city tear down two brick concession buildings on the site and build smaller, simpler buildings that would cost about $250,000.
Completing construction of the existing concession buildings at the complex was estimated at $320,000 each, the report said.
The engineers' report cited three safety concerns with the concession buildings. The shear walls to transfer wind load from the roof to the foundation were not installed, brick veneer around the perimeter columns was sitting on the floor slab and not supported by a foundation, and the perimeter columns are to support the roof but the roof actually is supported by the wood-framed wall sitting on the floor slab.
The report also said the fields, as designed, would not support adult softball or youth baseball as initially proposed by the developers.
"Without significant site work and sports lighting modifications, it will not be possible to site adult softball and baseball fields for over age 12 at the complex," the report said.
Files and Webb had promoted the sports complex idea to city directors in 2014 as having eight tournament-quality fields that would draw softball and baseball teams from around the region to Fort Smith as an economic boost to the area.
The report, which cost the city $55,000 and came from the $1.6 million in city sales tax money the city had committed to the project, also said significant dirt work on the site remained; there was no evidence that water, sewer or electrical service had been extended to the site; and no work has been done on two parking lots proposed for the complex.
There were other things as well, such as no irrigation installed; fencing, including backstops, were not completed; and none of the 16 planned dugouts have been started, according to the report.
Despite the amount of work that had not been completed before the city terminated the contract, Mayor Sandy Sanders and two of three city directors who responded last week to requests for comment from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette -- City Directors Mike Lorenz and George Catsavis -- said they would be in favor of continuing with the project as long as it was completed and operated by a private entity.
The other four city directors -- Keith Lau, Tracy Pennartz, Kevin Settle and Don Hutchings -- did not respond to the Democrat-Gazette.
"I firmly believe a quality ball field complex would be a huge economic driver for the area, and I hope to see this one finished," Lorenz said in an email. "However, it needs to be done by private development."
Catsavis said Fort Smith does not have the funds to finish the project by itself. He called the project a disaster from the start and a waste of taxpayer money that lacked city oversight.
A building permit was issued for the sports complex project with the contractor listed as Files' FFH Construction LLC and Webb as the authorized agent. City Administrator Carl Geffken's office also provided copies of requests for inspections for electrical and plumbing work.
City Director Andre Good said the sports complex project looked promising at the start.
"Me, personally, at this juncture, I say cut our losses and learn from this mistake," Good said.
Files and Webb told city directors in 2014 that they could build the complex if the city would commit $1.6 million to it. They said they would come up with the remaining cost through donations of money, materials and labor. The engineers' report estimated that the complex would cost $5.6 million as Files and Webb had planned it.
Files and Webb had spent $1.08 million of the city's money on the project before the city terminated the agreement with the developers for lack of progress and the developers' inability to provide a completion date.
Four companies Files and Webb hired to perform work on the sports complex sued the city for the more than $200,000 they were owed for work after the city terminated the agreement.
The city, in turn, sued Files and Webb as the River Valley Sports Complex for the return of $25,945.91 in state General Improvement Fund money Files invited the city to apply for so it could be used for infrastructure work on the sports complex.
However, Files falsified the three bids for the job so that one of his employees was awarded the low bid. When the money was sent to the employee, Files had the employee turn the money over to him, and he used it for his own purposes.
Files pleaded guilty in federal court in January to charges of wire fraud and money laundering for taking the General Improvement Fund money. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, which he began serving Aug. 2 at a lockup in Oklahoma.
The companies, Fort Smith and the sports complex went to trial regarding the lawsuits Sept. 10 in Sebastian County Circuit Court. The jury found that the city was responsible for the $200,000 debt. The city is considering appealing the verdict, Geffken said.
Fort Smith has not given up on developing the sports complex property. In July, the city advertised for proposals to develop the property for some recreational use. It was advertised in the legal ads of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith and the Tulsa World, Geffken said. The full request for proposals was posted on the city's website.
The deadline for submitting proposals was Aug. 16. One proposal was submitted.
Under the request for proposals, the city was seeking a "catalyst project" that would be a signature project for the city. The developer could use some or all of the infrastructure on the site or start from scratch.
"The city is not confined to a particular development and look to the proposer to present an arrangement that would result in the highest quality development consistent with the zoning district requirements," a portion of the proposal said.
Among the uses allowed in that zoning district are sports or recreational establishments, a country club, a driving range, a golf course, a fitness club, a sports complex, or a natural or other recreational park.
State Desk on 09/23/2018