Call for synergy : Mayor wants to work with school district, UA to develop high school area
Posted on Thursday, September 4, 2008
With the school board now leaning toward new facilities or a major retrofit at the current Fayetteville High School site, Mayor Dan Coody has offered the city's help in addressing traffic and development issues at the location.
In an Aug. 29 letter to Fayetteville Superintendent Bobby New and University of Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart, Coody wrote he hopes the two entities and the city can work together to develop a plan for the area. The high school and UA are located next to each other.
"Overall, it is absolutely the right direction we need to go and a perfect role for the city and mayor to play in the future of the high school," New said.
"If our city staff and I can help facilitate an exchange of ideas focusing on the existing site, it may be possible to come to a favorable conclusion where the District, the University, and the City may all come out ahead, " Coody wrote.
The high school campus covers 40 acres, which are divided among two north-south parcels in the 1000 block of West Stone Street. The south side of the campus fronts Sixth Street while the property on the north side of Stone Street ends at California Boulevard.
Nearby UA facilities include a new softball stadium and the Bud Walton Arena.
"I am most grateful for his support and cooperation," Gearhart said. "We're committed to doing everything we can to work together the best we can."
While acknowledging he does not have all the answers, Coody writes that this could be an opportunity to explore altering the streets and traffic patterns in the area.
He alludes to the proposed idea of closing Stone Street as part of redeveloping the campus.
Some of the possibilities include "altering our existing street layout to increase available land for construction and to improve mobility for both the U of A and school district," he writes.
New said he believes closing Stone Street could be essential to helping the district utilize the 40 acres to its utmost potential.
Gearhart did not have much comment on how closing the street could impact traffic patterns around the university.
"I would think that (closing Stone Street ) would be more of a matter for the high school than us. I really haven't had a chance to analyze it that much," Gearhart said.
Coody also writes in his letter about the possibility of developing multiple-use and shared-use facilities at the site and redesigning the area to be more walkable and conducive to public transit.
One possibility is developing a new practice hall at the redesigned school and using Walton Arts Center facilities for performing arts events, he said.
In the summer of 2007, the Fayetteville City Council passed a resolution endorsing the idea of keeping the school at the current site. The city has not said much else about the topic since, preferring to let the school district work through the matter, Coody said.
The school board had planned to sell the current site to the UA to help fund the construction of a new school, but last month, the UA withdrew a standing offer to buy the property for $ 50 million.
New said he looks forward to the three entities coming together to develop a plan for the area.
"As painful and slow as this whole process has been, I think we can all look back and see that this was a silver lining on a cloudy day," New said.
There are a few issues that New said he may need to clarify in light of recent developments • He does not plan to pursue the purchase of 73 acres along Morningside Drive in south Fayetteville as an alternate or new school site.
• The district does not need to pursue or build a second high school in the foreseeable future. "We just simply cannot afford it," he said.
• He will not re-approach UA officials in an attempt to negotiate a sale. "I absolutely believe you got to utilize the current space," New said. "We've got to do a lot of planning and think urban models."
"The next mayor, either the incumbent or a new mayor, I don't think they would find anything offensive about what (Coody ) has suggested," New said. "I like the mayor's suggestion."
The mayor is up for reelection in the fall and there are five other candidates in the mayor's race.
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