Game and Fish reportedly interested in Lake Atalanta
Posted on Friday, September 12, 2008
ROGERS — While the Rogers Parks and Recreation Commission discussed its big plans for Lake Atalanta during Wednesday’s long-range planning meeting, some seem more likely to come through after a report from CEI Engineering.
John Mack told the commission that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is interested in moving its northwest Arkansas offices to the Rogers lake.
The plan that has drawn the interest of Game and Fish calls for a nature conservancy, a boardwalk and fishing pier, nature displays, a lower-level cave and aquarium, and possibly a gift shop. Mack, an architect working on the project, said that while Game and Fish is no longer interested in building standalone nature centers, it is considering a facility that joins a nature center, aquarium and offices.
Game and Fish wants to relocate from its current northwest Arkansas offices near Beaver Lake Dam, where Mack said there are rarely visitors and the staff size has been reduced. Discussions about any land-ownership agreements have yet to take place.
“ I think all of the dynamics of that have to be worked out, ” Mack said.
The offices would likely be part of an overhaul of the entryway to Lake Atalanta from Walnut Street. Tentative designs include moving the current roads to allow more play areas for children without requiring them to cross traffic. One of those roads might be built over the land that now holds the swimming pool. Commissioners said the pool would remain should the aquatic center question in the 2010 bond issue fail, but the pool would likely be removed if that indoor facility is built.
The Game and Fish facility is only part of a larger plan, what officials have called the pie-in-the-sky plan, that includes a conference center at the east end of the lake, an amphitheater and a butterfly garden. CEI’s plans for Lake Atalanta even extend into downtown Rogers and include the creation of a water feature that would run from downtown to the lake.
The Parks Commission selected CEI as the designer for the project, but there is not yet a contract for those services. If the city moves forward with the project, it will not be soon. Parks Director Rick Stocker said the 2010 bond issue currently includes money for Lake Atalanta for restoration projects only. The building projects would have to wait until the next bond issue, and possibly the one after that. Stocker said the project might have to be done in two phases.
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