The city has been awarded a $43,300 grant that will largely be used to develop a community-wide historic preservation.
It was news on which the El Dorado Historic District Commission had been anxiously awaiting. The commission applied for the grant on behalf of the city, the actual applicant of the grant.
Elizabeth Eggleston, executive director of the EHDC, said she received word about the grant late Thursday afternoon.
Eggleston explained that an email notifying her and Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer about the $43,300 award came during a brownout, a temporary restriction in the availability of electrical power, at City Hall.
Eggleston said she found out about the email later after speaking to officials with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and while the brownout was being repaired.
“They said, ‘We sent an email,’ but I couldn’t see it because of the brownout,” she said with a laugh.
The Certified Local Government grant, a federal grant that is funneled through the AHPP, is awarded each year to CLG communities around the state.
El Dorado is one of 21 CLG cities in Arkansas.
CLGs engage in partnerships between local governments, the AHPP and the National Park Service to preserve local historic resources.
For the 2019 - 2020 grant cycle, the AHPP is placing priority on applicants who are looking to development communitywide historic preservation plans, Eggleston previously explained.
She has also stressed the need for a citywide project for historic preservation planning.
While a local match is not required for the grant, historic district commissioners said the AHPP looks favorably upon grant applications that are accompanied by local support.
In February, the El Dorado City Council and the El Dorado Works Board, which administers the city’s one-cent sales tax for economic development, approved a $10,000 request from the EHDC to supplement any grant funds that were awarded.
The $43,300 grant will also be used for the EHDC executive director’s salary, training/travel expenses for commissioners who attend ongoing education/training programs and EHDC memberships in preservation organizations.
Commissioners also issued requests for proposals and received proposals from two firms — Illinois-based Lakota Group and the DLR Group, which acquired the design team (formerly Westlake Reed Loskosky) that is working on the $100-plus million Murphy Arts District project.
Eggleston later provided an update, saying the DLR Group had stepped back from the proposal it submitted for the preservation plan, saying that the point person for the project would no longer be available.
Both proposals exceeded $46,000. Lakota, who has completed preservation planning projects in Iowa, Illinois, Hawaii and Texas, submitted the higher quote of $48,000.
Commissioners subsequently discussed whether they should solicit more RFPs.
After receiving an opinion from City Attorney Henry Kinslow and guidance from Catherine Barrier, certified local government coordinator for the AHPP, commissioners agreed earlier this month that they would make a decision on the matter after hearing back from the AHPP about the grant.
On Thursday, Eggleston said she will try to schedule a specially called meeting next week for the commission to either formally award the contract for the project or proceed with additional RFPs.
In the meantime, Eggleston has attended town hall meetings that have been hosted by city council members in Ward 1 and 2 to compile a list of citizens who are interested in participating in the preparation of the plan.
Town halls for wards 3 and 4 are scheduled for April 30 at St. James Village Outreach Facility and May 13 at Morning Star, No. 2, Baptist Church.
The meetings will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Eggleston has said input from residents will help the historic district and the firm who is developing the plan identify properties, neighborhoods and other components to include in the project.
“We want to identify properties … that we see every day and don’t think about. We also want to do neighborhoods, like African-American neighborhoods, to identify and acknowledge these places of history in the city,” Eggleston said.
Additionally, a comprehensive city planning study that was completed in 2001 by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center will be used to help draft the preservation plan, she said.
Eggleston told commissioners last December that the study was extensive and included recommendations for economic development, city design and revitalization.
The study covered several topics that were tailored to the fit the needs of El Dorado, including affordable housing initiatives, infill projects, beautification, transportation/walkability, gateways, rails-to-trails development, targeted industries/businesses, and public-private investment opportunities for such projects as a downtown parking garage and mixed-use development for Mellor Park Mall and the old Warner Brown hospital.
Eggleston said many components of the UACDC plan have not been implemented, while some of the recommended projects got under way years later.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at [email protected].