Mayor: Maumelle still making progress
MAUMELLE — Mayor Mike Watson said if he had to sum up the state of the city of Maumelle in two words, he’d use “still exciting.”
“Things are still happening in Maumelle,” he said.
Watson outlined the changes and progress in the city in a speech earlier this month, from a historic change in the way residents will get their water to an increase in the city’s general fund.
He said there are noticeable changes on the retail side, particularly with restaurants.
“Chick-fil-A coming to Maumelle caused quite a stir,” Watson said. The restaurant is being built on Maumelle Boulevard, adjacent to Walgreens, and will have a play area for children and outside dining.
Sonic is relocating to be next to Chick-fil-A in a more visible location, the mayor said.
And U.S. Pizza moved from its off-the-beaten-path location and opened a facility on Maumelle Boulevard that tripled the size of the restaurant’s space and added outside dining, Watson said.
“Ever since they opened, their parking lot has been full,” he said. “Everybody wants to be on the boulevard.”
In the industrial park, Kimberly-Clark, which manufactures Huggies baby wipes, added a new production line and is upgrading the facility’s facade this year, the mayor added.
One of the more significant moves for the city involves its water system.
On March 1, 2016, Maumelle Water Management merged with Central Arkansas Water as the water utility provider for Maumelle. On the same date, North Little Rock Wastewater Utility assumed the sanitary sewer operations for the Maumelle customers of Maumelle Water Management, which had been the water and wastewater utility since the beginnings
of Maumelle in the 1970s, Watson said.
“That’s huge for the future of Maumelle,” he said.
Although the merger required a rate increase, Watson said, the change will mean a better quality of water for residents in the future. The water will be supplied by Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona, and Central Arkansas Water has future water rights in DeGray Lake in Arkadelphia.
The required 30- inch transmission line to bring treated water to Maumelle is under construction and scheduled to be fully operational by March 2018. When that happens, Maumelle will be off well water for the first time in its history, the mayor said.
Also, the North Little Rock Wastewater Utility is constructing a 36-inch sewer interceptor to serve Maumelle that will allow the existing treatment plant in Maumelle to be eventually decommissioned. The wastewater treatment will move to an existing treatment plant near the Northshore Industrial Park.
“This should result in reduced treatment costs by economy of scale and operating only one plant instead of two,” Watson wrote in his address.
Another exciting development in Maumelle, the mayor said, is the new $4.6 million senior center at 2 Club Manor Drive.
A grand opening was held March 3 for the 16,600-square-foot Center on the Lake, formerly the Maumelle Senior Wellness Center. The facility was funded by a bond issue approved in 2015 by voters.
The senior center moved out of the lower level of City Hall into more than double the space in the new facility.
Watson said close to 300 people attended the event.
“[The new center] just opened [to the public] Monday, and it was full. They had nothing but compliments about that facility,” he said.
Part of that same bond project was a $2.7 million remodeling of Maumelle City Hall on Edgewood Drive.
Watson’s goal is to move district court into the space formerly occupied by the senior-wellness program in City Hall.
“They’re in a building by themselves — it used to be Police, Fire and Courts,” he said.
After new police and fire stations were built, courts was the sole occupant of the building.
“Now I have a building on Maumelle Boulevard and Millwood that would make a great retail site,” he said.
Watson said he would like to repurpose the building, but it will take City Council approval.
Watson said his No. 1 goal is to see including the long-awaited Interstate-40 interchange for a third entrance to Maumelle.
“We’re working on the Counts Massie Road extension; it’s over 70 percent done,” he said, adding that having to go through the White Oak Bayou wetlands delayed the project.
The $13 million interchange is 30 percent designed, Watson said, and last week the review plans were forwarded to the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. The state department works with the local office of the Federal Highway Administration, which also has to approve the plans.
“Both have to concur and tell us, ‘You’re good to go ahead,’ or ‘You need to change this,’” Watson said. “The most critical [review] is at 30 percent. If they review everything at 30 percent, the design layout is pretty well set at that point.”
Another project is the $3.2 million Crystal Hill Road widening. That project is part of a bond issue approved in 2013.
“Hopefully, later this year we’ll have that under construction. We’ve still got to tie up some right-of-way issues,” he said. Construction is estimated to take a year.
Watson said he would like to see the interchange, Crystal Hills and City Hall projects completed, “and then sit back and enjoy everything.”