Rolling Hills projects get resident input

Fayetteville officials hear about drainage, bike lanes

FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville residents participated in a public input session Monday on street and drainage improvements for Rolling Hills Drive.

The session was featured at Rolling Hills Baptist Church and was attended by Mayor Lioneld Jordan, city planners and key project representatives, who were available to answer questions for participants.

“We want to hear from the people,” Jordan said, explaining the meeting is a means to help the city find a way to ensure responsible development and safe passage along Rolling Hills Drive for vehicles, people and bikers in a manner that satisfies residents.

Rolling Hills Drive and its surrounding neighborhoods will have about $8.5 million in bond money put toward drainage and street improvements. The intersection with College Avenue will also get a share of the $10 million allocated for work along the U.S. 71B corridor.

Drainage improvements will consist of $5 million worth of work in the area of Missouri Creek. The area generally is bounded by Township Street to the south, Old Wire and Old Missouri roads to the east, and Sherwood Lane and Oaks Manor Drive to the west. The basin extends north where Missouri Creek enters Mud

Creek, north of Brookhaven Drive.

Peggy James attended the input session and shared how her home on Stanton Avenue is often impacted by water that flows from Woodbrook Drive and through her property.

“It’s almost taken down our chain-link fence a couple of times,” James said. “It’s that much water, running that fast.”

Chris Siebenmorgen, project engineer with Little Rock-based Garver Engineering, said a two-blocklong pipe that would run along Stanton Avenue to reroute water to a potential detention pond on Rolling Hills Drive south of Loxley Avenue would help alleviate that problem.

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“It’s almost taken down our chainlink fence a couple of times. It’s that much water, running that fast.” — Peggy James, about the impact of water to her property