Times Editorial : A time for action Springdale gambles on green
Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008
It's a lousy economy we're living through these days. Each day Wall Street seems to tumble just a little further down the hill. In comparison to the economic razzle dazzle of just a couple of years ago, we seem to have entered into a historic, if unnerving, new age. From stocks to oil, the price of everything seems out of whack these days. That's bad news if you're most of us - unless, that is, one of the tasks you seek to fulfill every day is hunting for land a city might be able to afford for the purposes of creating a brand new public park. For city planners, the rocky economy the rest of us are suffering through cannot be considered an entirely unfortunate event. Due to this downward spiral, Springdale may finally be able to build the sizable park on its east side that's been lacking for years. And that's got to be considered a good thing.
Open spaces in Northwest Arkansas are still worth plenty, mind you, but not what owners could have easily fetched only a few years ago. For example, the city has about $ 1. 8 million in its pocket with which to make a big splash. A couple of years ago, Springdale spent $ 95, 000 an acre for the 40 acres on which it eventually built Arvest Ballpark. By comparison, none of the five large tracts city planners are currently studying have owners asking anything above $ 35, 000 an acre.
The city is looking at purchasing roughly 70-100 acres, but there are larger offers on the table. The city's Parks and Recreation has for some time been sitting on a wish list that includes trails, soccer fields and several baseball diamonds. City officials are expected to present these offers to the public later this month.
As with many towns next door to each other, Springdale and Fayetteville have long had a bit of a rivalry, even if they're neighborly on most counts. Some in Fayetteville have gone all high and mighty about how their town is better than Springdale (and most others, they would likely say ), but so much of that is just parochial pride. Springdale deserves much of their own lately. If you doubt us, hop in your cars and check out the new Don Tyson Parkway, which glides east to west across Springdale's southern stretch with ease. Soon, major expansions of Huntsville Avenue and Wagon Wheel Road will act as wideopen corridors that move motorists across town and should go a long way to relieving congestion along U. S. 412.
This is all great news for Springdale, including the parks pursuit. One thing Fayetteville has done very well in recent years, and which Springdale has not, has been in its development of greenspace through the opening of multiple parks to the construction of a trails system that is already the envy of the region. Neither Springdale, nor any nearby town, will surpass what Fayetteville has accomplished throughout the last decade anytime soon. Nonetheless, Springdale is among those towns that see the sensibility of developing additional greenspace and wants to get in on the action. For Springdale, that means creating a complement to the Randal Tyson Recreational Complex on the city's west side.
We can't help thinking there's something in this for the region, too. Once Springdale decides on which tract of land it wishes to build its east-side park at, wouldn't it be something if the county's two biggest towns hooked up to create a scenic trail that permanently joined together the two communities on a physical level ? Someday, Springdale folks would be able to use this path to reach Fayetteville's trails system, and from there could reach any place in the city. With Fayetteville residents able to do the same, perhaps Springdale would be inspired to invest still more funds into its own trails budget.
That's the type of future that is not only possible, but likely, with smart planning. Springdale could take a big step toward that type of future if it invests in creating the type of park that complements not only its own values, but those of all of Northwest Arkansas.
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