Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Residents discuss complex plans
Springdale community members sound off on city’s proposal
SPRINGDALE — Community members sounded off and inquired about city plans to create a municipal campus, which includes a new criminal justice building, during a public input session Wednesday.
Designers with Duvall Decker Architects of Jackson, Miss., were on hand at the city administration building to interact with residents.
Five residents attended the input session. Albert Newton, one of those attending, reassured Roy Decker, principal-in-charge of Duvall Decker, to not be discouraged by the low attendance.
“I think the lack of citizen turnout shows that they support you and the city council to do the right thing,” Newton said.
Decker, who presented design plans, said he appreciated the expression of trust.
“This isn’t a building to serve one purpose, it’s a building to serve a community,” Decker said. “The most important thing is to make a modern police station that will serve your community for years in the future.”
The council approved a $3.3 million Walton Family Foundation grant in December to cover designing both the criminal justice building and renovations to the administration building. The council in May approved hiring Duvall Decker.
Duvall Decker will design both the 80,000-square-foot criminal justice building and 40,000 square feet of the city administration building for a combined cost of $3,250,508. The design also includes a
civic square that will unite the administration building with the new criminal justice building.
The criminal justice building will house the police department and city attorney’s office, district court and the information technology department. Those offices are currently located in the administration building.
“The most important part of this project is to make a modern police department that serves the public safety mission of Springdale,” Decker said.
The criminal justice building will likely be two stories, but could end up being three stories, Decker said.
Newton asked if the new building will include a jail.
“All we will have here is a temporary holding facility,” said Capt. Derek Hudson, Springdale Police Department. “It will be short-term and inmates will be taken to the Washington County Detention Center,” Hudson said.
Police Chief Mike Peters recently said the department is looking to close its shortterm jail facility and send its misdemeanor inmates to the Detention Center.
The Police Department in the new building will be approximately 60,000 square feet, Decker said. The department has been renovated 20 times since 1994 and needs a new facility that will meet its growing needs, Decker said.
The building inspection office at 107 Spring St. and community engagement office, located across the street from the administration building, will move into renovated portions of the administration building. The administration building will have one entrance instead of the multiple entrances it currently has. That entrance will be located at the building’s north end, which is where the civic square will be.
Decker said a new City Council chamber will be built in the administration building’s north end and have greater capacity than the current chamber, which has a maximum occupancy of 182. Alderman Jim Reed, the only council member who attended
the session, said more space is needed.
“I’ve seen the room completely overflowed, and citizens shouldn’t have to do that,” he said.
Decker asked those in attendance to describe the most important city trait that should be incorporated into the Municipal Complex. Liz Haggard, a local resident, said diversity.
“I think there is so much diversity in the cultures and people that live here. It needs to be something that everybody can enjoy,” she said.
Decker said that the civic square will connect to the Razorback Greenway and be at the heart of Northwest Arkansas, welcoming community members who come into Springdale from cities north and south. He said the square could feature art which expresses the city’s diversity.
The complex will be an extension of Springdale, representing its culture and aspirations, Decker said.
“A great building is never a building that looks like it’s from some other place, but looks like it was always here,” he said. “We want to root it in your history but push where you’re going into the future.”