Spa City looks at wooded tract as bike-trail spot

Reviewing study, board told of big tourism possibilities

HOT SPRINGS — A 2,000-acre tract of unspoiled woodlands that the city owns north and west of Park Avenue shows potential to become a popular tourism spot, according to a new study.

Officials who have toured the restricted-access, old-growth forest surrounding lakes Sanderson, Dillon and Bethel marvel at its charms, Leon Younger, president of PROS Consulting Inc., told the Hot Springs Board of Directors last week.

Taking the experience public will require city leaders to choose between a range of options on the conservation-tourism continuum, two ends that aren’t mutually exclusive, Younger said at the Feb. 14 meeting.

“It depends on how much visitation you want on the site,” he said while presenting the Northwoods Urban Forest Park Feasibility Study, which was paid for with a $15,000 Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism grant and $15,000 from the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission.

“When you have a pristine site like this, you have to be careful about your approach to it and how to manage it effectively, and still at the same time provide your residents and visitors an opportunity to experience it.”

Younger recommended a two-step approach, with the first phase focused on mountain biking, walking trails and making the three small lakes accessible to kayaks and canoes. Steve Arrison, the chief executive officer of Hot Springs’ tourism agency, said it would build on the city’s recent designation as a ride center by the International Mountain Biking Association, which conferred bronze-level status on the Bear Creek Trail, Iron Mountain and Possum Kingdom Trail.

The tourism agency has hired the International Mountain Biking Association to develop bike trails in the Northwoods, part of the city’s plan to tap into what Arrison said is one of the country’s fastest growing tourism segments. Younger recommended supplementing mountain bike trails with a pump park, a berm and dirt bank-laden bike course that can be negotiated with an up-and-down pumping motion instead of pedaling.

“People will travel to ride mountain bikes and to ride trails,” Arrison said. “We’re trying to diversify the tourism product we have in Hot Springs. We’ve brought in the [International Mountain Biking Association] to lay out trails through the Northwoods and improve the trails we already have.

“We already have all the other infrastructure — the breweries, the restaurants and all the things mountain bikers like to do. We just need to increase the quantity and quality of the trails.”

Arrison said the mountain biking piece could be carried out as early as next year and connect to existing trails in Cedar Glades Park to the west. A Northwoods-Cedar Glades trail complex could be part of a statewide constellation of trails that includes the International Mountain Biking Association Epic Ride-level Lake Ouachita Vista Trail and silver-and-bronze level trails in Northwest Arkansas, he said.

“People could come for a week and ride trails in Bentonville and then come down to Hot Springs,” Arrison said. “[Mountain biking is] a great economic development tool for downtown and those businesses, and it’s something that can happen right away because the city owns the property.”

Phase two would move the Northwoods toward total financial self-sufficiency over 10 years by introducing a gate fee and recreational opportunities that run the gamut from zip line and aerial-ropes courses and archery and shooting to interpretive tours. The level of self-sufficiency will be a function of the city’s capital investment and the level of activity it allows on the property, Younger said.

He estimated $433,028 in capital costs to fully carry out both phases, including $100,000 for an archery-shooting range, $100,000 for a zip line course and $50,000 for a pump park. Last year, a consultant told the city board it would take more than $8 million to bring the dams impounding the three small lakes up to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stability standards.

“Our vision is to be at least 50 percent self-supporting in operating the site in five years, with a long-term goal of 100 percent cost recovery within 10 years,” Younger told the city board. “The goal is to be financially sustainable while protecting the natural resources on site and providing a worldclass experience.”

Younger estimated that full phase two implementation would require an annual operating budget of $764,000 that includes more than a dozen full-time employees. He said the city could hire a concessionaire to operate the site and give the city a percentage of the annual gross revenue, which he estimated could be as high as $600,000.

Younger said market research shows visitors are willing to pay for the kind of recreational opportunities the Northwoods can offer.