Board reviews dog park plans for Fort Smith, estimated cost at $3.2 million
Plans for the city's new dog park amount to an estimated $3.2 million which would make it Fort Smith's most expensive park once it is built.
Kirk Keller, a landscape architect with the California-based company Studio One Eleven, unveiled his designs for the Chaffee Crossing dog park Tuesday at a Fort Smith Board of Directors study session.
The proposal breaks down construction into three phases. Keller estimated that the first of the phases would begin construction in 12 to 18 months and that the park would be completed in two to five years.
At the study session where Keller spoke, the directors expressed dismay that construction was so far in the future.
“I know people want the dog park today," Director Kevin Settle said.
Director Lavon Morton agreed.
“I’m certainly in favor of doing something basic and enhancing it over time," Morton said.
City Administrator Carl Geffken reassured the directors that despite the design, the city plans to implement something basic in the meantime.
“We’ve always understood that we need to get something quickly," Geffken said. "This preliminary, this design does not mean anything that it’s, that as we implement something, as we implement this design that it would not go quickly, so we could provide something basic. But this is the overall design that what we would like to present."
Geffken said that the next step is hiring an engineering firm, and then the firm could help the board break the phases down into smaller steps.
Geffken is looking into getting grants to pay for the park. The city plans to work with the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority to pay for the maintenance of the park.
The new dog park will be 24 acres. The previous dog park was about 30 acres. It closed because the airport runway is expanding to fit the requirements of the fighter jet program coming to Fort Smith.
“I think that it would be extremely unwise to have the airplanes get here before the dog park is working," Director Jarred Rego said. "I think we’ve asked people to make sacrifices. We need to move on it. I know it’s a priority, and hopefully will remain one”
The planned dog park will feature a wading pool, open space, a doggie playground, woodland trails, restrooms, and a creek.
The architecture firm asked Fort Smith residents in a survey what they wanted to see in the dog park and used that to form some of their own ideas. The survey received 451 responses, which Geffken said was an unheard-of number of replies.
“First of all, I would like to say that I was very impressed with the design, so the design seems to be excellent," Director Robyn Dawson said. "The amenities that are out there are so much greater than the dog park that we had existing, so I applaud you on your design of the park. It certainly is going to make me want to take my dog out there, and I haven’t done that in the past. Maybe even make some people wish they were a dog because they get to use that park."
Alex Gladden is a University of Arkansas graduate. She previously reported for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and The Jonesboro Sun before joining the Times Record. She can be contacted at agladden@swtimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Board reviews plans for new dog park in Fort Smith, $3.2 million cost
