El Dorado sets National Register surveys of neighborhoods

EL DORADO — With the development of a citywide historic preservation plan nearing completion, the El Dorado Historic District Commission is looking ahead toward the implementation phase, starting with surveying residential neighborhoods that could potentially be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

During a regular meeting Thursday, a team from the Lakota Group, an Illinois-based urban design firm, formally presented the second draft of the plan to Historic District commissioners.

Catherine Barrier, certified local government coordinator for the Arkansas Historic

Preservation Program, sat in on the virtual meeting.

Lakota was awarded a bid last year to develop a master preservation plan for El Dorado.

The 18-month process includes gathering input from the community and identifying and prioritizing historic preservation issues and projects in the city.

The work is being covered by a $42,000 grant from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and a $10,000 match from the El Dorado Works sales tax, which is earmarked for economic development, municipal infrastructure and quality-of-life projects.

In May, Lakota distributed copies of the first draft of the plan to the El Dorado Historic District Commission and Arkansas Historic Preservation Program for review.

Per the planning schedule that was laid out in the terms of the grant award and contract with Lakota, the firm formally presented the latest draft of the plan to the El Dorado Historic District Commission on Thursday.

An online workshop will follow and will be open to the public June 22 through July 3 at eldoradohistoricpreservationplan.com .

July 15 is the deadline for the final draft, followed by a final, online presentation to the El Dorado City Council.

Since the city and El Dorado Historic District Commission have made significant headway in drafting the plan, Barrier encouraged historic district commissioners to move forward with surveying potential residential historic districts for nomination to the National Register.

There are two such districts in El Dorado, the Murphy-Hill and Mahony districts.

The Murphy-Hill district includes 76 houses and is located just north of the city’s Central Business District.

The district was added to the National Register in 2007.

Four years later, the Mahony district was listed on the National Register with 94 buildings that contribute to its historical significance.

The 14-acre area extends northward and eastward from the Murphy-Hill district and its boundaries are Champagnolle Road, the area just east of North Madison, East Fifth and the railroad tracks near North Lee.

On Thursday, Elizabeth Eggleston, executive director of the El Dorado Historic District

Commission, said historic district commissioners previously discussed extending the residential districts north of Fifth Street to the Mellor Park area, which includes several subdivisions — Mellor, McKinney, Eastridge and Bodenhamer.