City Council irons out bond issues

Fayetteville voters likely to be asked to renew city’s 1-cent sales tax

FAYETTEVILLE — Discussion during a City Council bond referendum workshop Tuesday centered around tightening the language voters will see, resolutions to guide policy relating to bond issues and what the bond money can legally be put toward.

Voters will likely be asked April 9 to renew the city’s 1-cent sales tax in order to pay for capital projects. The City Council will read for the second time during its next meeting Tuesday an ordinance

setting the special election date and the language of each of the bond issues.

The list of projects runs the gamut of transportation improvements and city facilities to public safety and building an arts corridor downtown.

City Attorney Kit Williams read language he drafted that would cover replacement parking once construction begins on the cultural arts corridor. Basically, before removal of 25 or more spaces at the Walton Arts Center lot, the city would have to ensure the availability of new spaces downtown to replace all 290 that the arts corridor potentially would take.

Williams used the phrase “must ensure the availability of” rather than construct because the replacement parking could manifest in different ways, such as through public-private partnerships or on-street parking.

Council Member Matthew Petty said it would be easy for voters to assume replacement parking strictly means building a new parking deck. He said he wanted to make sure voters know the term isn’t defined so narrowly.

“There’s going to be new parking. It’s going to be close to the parking we’ve already got,” Petty said. “That’s the commitment.”

Williams’ amendment also stipulates the replacement parking be within reasonable proximity of the Walton Arts Center. He defined reasonable proximity as no more

than 1½ times the walking distance from the farthest space in the lot to the Walton Arts Center’s main entrance.

City staff agreed to measure that distance after receiving questions from the council about it. The council on Tuesday also will consider a contract with Garver Engineering to come up with a site analysis for replacement parking options downtown.

Williams said additionally he would draft a resolution preserving the dollar amounts dedicated in the cultural arts corridor bond issue. About $21 million would go to building the arts corridor with $10 million going toward parking.

The council also discussed using bond money to create affordable housing. Williams said he would look into the matter further for a future discussion, but he believed the state’s constitution would forbid such a move.

Council members decided if affordable housing can’t be addressed with this bond referendum, they would explore what other options might be available to them. Council Member Sarah Marsh suggested reconvening for a working session.

“It’s a crisis in our community,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of people needing this, and we need to explore what we can do.”

The council also agreed to steer the priority of $3 million in the bond package for economic development toward job training and workforce development.

Parks staff also told the council including $15 million in the bond package for an aquatics center, as the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board recommended, would require about $1 million annually in subsidies to operate. That amount of money would likely be enough to build a smaller facility, which would be difficult to use to attract major competitions, Becker said.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan said the entire bond package is bigger than any single sticking point. The implications of the projects will put the city on a course for the next 15 years, he said.

“We need to get out, get it to the people and support it. Push forward,” Jordan said. “Our future of this city depends on it.”