The city of El Dorado has agreed to enter into another partnership with the state highway department to complete improvement projects for U.S. 82B (Hillsboro/Junction City Road) and U.S. 167B (West Avenue).
On June 21, El Dorado City Council members passed a resolution authorizing Mayor Frank Hash to negotiate the terms of the latest agreement with the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
The city has already agreed to adopt and maintain U.S. 82B upon the completion of an ArDOT project to widen and improve the U.S. 82 corridor and gateway through town.
The project, which is still in its developmental stages, calls for roundabouts at the South West Avenue and College Avenue intersections, landscaped medians and the replacement of two bridges — the Hillsboro viaduct and the Rock Island bridge.
The city’s portion of the project will cost $3 - $4 million.
ArDOT has presented another proposal to team up with the city to relocate utilities underground on Hillsboro between South Washington and College avenues.
The proposal also calls for improvements to drainage and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility along West Avenue and for the city to assume ownership of the avenue between Hillsboro and U.S. 167 once the work is completed.
For work on Hillsboro, ArDOT officials said the cost would be $7.7 million to bury power, natural gas, water, wastewater, cable TV and telephone lines.
ArDOT has asked the city to kick in $1.4 million to help cover the cost of the project, noting that relocating utilities underground would help provide a more aesthetically appealing gateway for the city.
Hash said the overall master plan for U.S. 82B has been tweaked to help prevent the loss of several businesses along the route.
An initial idea was to four-lane the three-and-half-mile stretch, but doing so would have taken out more than 100 local businesses.
“They can relocate, but where are they going to move to? We looked at how we can fix that and make it better but not hurt ourselves at the same time,” Hash said.
One fix was the addition of roundabouts, he said.
Brownfields
In a related matter, the council also authorized Hash to send out requests for qualifications (RFQs) for environmental firms to identify and assess brownfield sites in the city.
On June 12, city officials and the El Dorado Works Board heard a presentation about a grant program that is offered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to fund such projects.
Jere “Trey” Hess — of PPM Consultants, Inc., Monroe, Louisiana-based environmental science and engineering consulting firm — explained how the grant program works and he encouraged city officials to consider hiring a firm and to apply for the grants.
Hess explained that the presence or potential presence of brownfields — real property for which expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant — often hinders economic development opportunities for communities.
City officials and EWB members said there are several brownfields along U.S. 82B, including two on the north side of the intersection of South West Avenue.
“There is no match for the grants, and the grants can be used on public and private property,” EWB chairman Robert Reynolds told aldermen last week.
Reynolds said the most common brownfields are former gasoline stations and dry cleaning businesses.
Elizabeth Eggleston, executive director of the El Dorado Historic District Commission, said an example of a possible brownfield site is the Griffin Restaurant/Music Hall, which is part of the Murphy Arts District.
Historically known as the Griffin Auto building, the site was once home to an automobile dealership and gasoline station.
“When we did the (Certificate of Appropriateness) research, the (Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality) provided us documentation where underground tanks had been removed from the property and taken to a landfill in Hope,” Eggleston said.
Hash asked if the old Warner Brown Hospital building would be considered a brownfield site.
“If asbestos is there, it could be,” Reynolds said.
The building is owned by Pete Dunn, a Virginia-based real estate developer who has renovated several local properties, including the El Dorado Federal Center and the Armstrong Building — which houses PJ’s Coffee, the El Dorado Creamery and several other businesses.
Dunn has plans to renovate other buildings in town.
He had intended to use the Warner Brown facility to open up a VA outpatient clinic, but the federal contract for the project was awarded to another outfit who built the new VA facility at 1702 N. West Ave.
“We want to try and repurpose that building. We don’t want to take the building down,” Hash said of the Warner Brown building.
Reynolds said the city’s Department of Public Works would prepare the RFQs and engage any contracts, which would require the mayor’s signature.
“And you’re authorizing him to do it. We’re talking about potential use on the Hillsboro corridor and improvements there, and hopefully some on North and South West Avenue,” Reynolds said.
Parking
The council also granted a request from downtown developer and property/business owner Richard Mason for three designated parking spaces at the Mason House on North Jackson near the intersection with Peach.
The Mason House is one of several lodging sites for Union Square Guest Quarters, and Mason said the designations would help alleviate ongoing parking issues at the property.
“There’s only one parking space, and that’s in the driveway,” Mason said, adding that guests often have to park a block or two away and carry luggage.
Hash noted that the Mason House is a couple of blocks outside the controlled downtown parking zone.
The designation will provide three, on-the-street parking spaces in front of the Mason House.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.