Fayetteville council to reconsider vote on parking deck

FAYETTEVILLE — A City Council member who voted Tuesday against a construction contract for the parking deck associated with the arts corridor downtown says he acted shortsightedly and wants to change his vote.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan called a special meeting for Tuesday so the council can reconsider its vote. D’Andre Jones, one of three members who voted against the contract, said he intends to vote in favor of it.

The other two members who voted against were Mark Kinion and Teresa Turk. Sloan Scroggin, Sarah Bunch and Holly Hertzberg voted in support. The final tally was 3-3, but the measure needed five affirmative votes to pass. Therefore, a vote from Jordan would not have made a difference in the outcome, according to City Attorney Kit Williams.

Sonia Gutierrez Harvey was absent Tuesday. The vacant seat left by Matthew Petty will not be filled until after a special election on Feb. 8.

The contract was with Nabholz Construction to set the maximum cost of construction for the deck, set to be located northwest of Dickson Street and West Avenue. Wade Abernathy, facilities manager with the city, said the total cost of the deck is about $13.2 million, with construction and soft costs such as the land deal combined.

The cost is $3.2 million over the initial $10 million estimate administrators figured in 2018. Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker told the council last month to expect the cost of the deck to exceed estimates. The covid-19 pandemic caused labor and material shortages, resulting in inflation beyond what administrators anticipated, he said. The city could make up the difference with about $11.8 million available in unreserved general fund money or from another part of the arts corridor budget, he said.

Becker said change orders to contracts are standard procedure. An original contract can only go so far on a project the size of the arts corridor and parking deck, he said.

The council already approved the original construction contract and an early site package to do the groundwork for the deck. Tuesday’s item covered the rest of the work for the project, Becker said.

LOCATION, LOCATION

Voters approved building the cultural arts corridor with a $31.6 million bond issue in 2019. A specific location for a parking deck to replace the 290 spaces lost once the Walton Arts Center parking lot becomes the civic space of the corridor was not included in the bond language.

However, a clause specifies a deck would be completed before removal of 25 or more spaces at the Walton Arts Center lot.

Harvey said Thursday she planned to vote in favor of the contract for the deck. Scroggin, Bunch and Jones also said they would vote yes. Hertzberg, who voted yes on Tuesday, did not answer the phone or respond to messages Thursday. Turk said she will stick with her no vote. Kinion said he will keep an open mind at the special meeting.

Jones said when he looked at the bigger picture, he realized his vote could result in a lower-quality parking deck.

Not accounting for the cost overruns would mean engineers having to cut more out of the deck’s design, Jones said. Abernathy said $1.3 million had already been cut from the cost.

Delaying construction of the deck also would mean delaying construction on the rest of the arts corridor, Jones said. Delaying the arts corridor further is not in the best interest of the city and its residents, who voted to support the project, he said.

No one from the city’s administration influenced Jones’ decision to reconsider his vote, he said.

Jones said comments made at the meeting initially swayed him. Turk said she has consistently disapproved of the way the administration has handled the decisions with the parking deck. She thought putting the deck at the city-owned lot across the street from the Spring Street deck or using a portion of the Walton Arts Center lot would have been more appropriate.

Turk also expressed displeasure over the negotiations with the private owners of the lot northwest of Dickson Street and West Avenue. She said she felt the city is giving away too much and the deal too heavily favors owners Greg House and Ted Belden.

Turk said she would be in favor of reevaluating the sites for the deck.

“Being a City Council member, my job is to be a good steward of the city’s revenue and the amount our citizens pay in taxes and the bond,” she said. “When I started adding up all the numbers and saw how much the city was giving away to two developers, I just didn’t feel it was good for our residents. I never really got anybody to tell me exactly how it was a good deal for the residents.”

Chief of Staff Susan Norton said picking a different location is not feasible at this point. Extensive design work has already finished for the proposed location and the city has to spend 85% of the money for the deck’s construction by August, she said.

Picking a new location would involve months of redesign and repricing, Norton said.

Construction of the rest of the arts corridor would be put on hold, and the cost of concrete and steel will continue to rise, she said.

“Nearly two years ago, the council voted on the location for the deck and we do not believe changing horses in midstream is any way to manage such a massive city infrastructure project,” Norton aid.

NEGOTIATIONS, TIMELINE

The council authorized Jordan to negotiate a deal for the lot northwest of Dickson Street and West Avenue in January 2020 after three meetings spanning about a month. The vote was 5-3 with Harvey, Kinion and Turk voting against. The council approved a framework for the land deal by a 6-1-1 vote in March after about four months of debate at meetings. Turk voted against, and Kinion abstained.

Kinion said Thursday he supports the arts corridor project as a whole. He said he has reservations about taking money out of the city’s general fund to cover the cost overrun of the deck, and the public-private partnership poses a risk.

“I’ve got a lot to think about,” Kinion said. “I do want this to occur. The whole concept is just beautiful. But I’m having trouble.”

The deal between the city and House and Belden is set to close after the construction contract passes the council, Norton said. Groundbreaking would happen soon after. The projected timeline is to finish the deck by January 2023 and finish the civic space by early 2024.

Scroggin said he was unhappy with the cost overrun and how long the land deal has taken, but the city needs to pay for the project it already committed to building.

A deck at another location is still going to need steel and concrete, so moving it won’t fix the inflation issue, he said.

Brian Crowne, owner of George’s Majestic Lounge and member of the Dickson Street Merchants Association, said the group wants to see the arts corridor completed. The merchants asked for construction of the deck to finish before civic space construction at the Walton Arts Center lot started so customers would still have a place to park and businesses wouldn’t suffer, he said.

To finish the corridor, the council needs to approve the contract on the deck and close the deal on the land, Crowne said.

“The cost overrun is an unfortunate reality that’s happening to anybody who’s building anything right now,” he said. “It’s not like there was some negligence involved in the process. It’s just a legit expense.”