Little Rock notebook
Firm chosen for downtown plan
A firm is expected to prepare a master plan for downtown Little Rock in exchange for up to $745,000 after members of the Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday adopted a resolution authorizing the agreement.
The architecture and design firm Sasaki, which has offices in Boston, Denver, New York and Shanghai, was selected to develop the plan following a request for qualifications.
According to city board documents, the goal of the master plan is “to establish a roadmap for future decision making” between the city, the Downtown Little Rock Partnership and others.
“This includes addressing issues related to the fragmented urban fabric, connectivity and mobility challenges, open space opportunities, commercial redevelopment, downtown residential density, and tourism and institutional strategic alignment,” board documents said.
The city intends to fund the study using a portion of its direct aid from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The resolution was approved along with other items as part of the city board’s consent agenda.
Group aids 3 parks with $5,000 each
A nonprofit group with the mission of supporting Little Rock parks will provide $15,000 to support projects at three city parks, with $5,000 earmarked for each, according to a news release issued Wednesday.
The funding from the City Parks Conservancy is expected to support trail improvements at Allsopp Park and Two Rivers Park as well as a new accessible playground at Boyle Park.
“These parks are vital community assets, and we believe that this investment will make them even more enjoyable for residents and visitors alike,” the group’s chairman, Matt Buie, said in a statement included with the release.
Ottenheimer hall bid deadline near
A “request for interest” soliciting bids related to Little Rock’s Ottenheimer Market Hall will close at the end of the month, members of the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission were told at a meeting Tuesday.
Gina Gemberling, the president and chief executive officer of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, told commissioners that officials will review the bids and determine next steps in conversation with those who submitted bids.
The food court located in downtown Little Rock’s River Market District is managed by the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
A recent tourism master plan developed by the Convention and Visitors Bureau with the firm Jones Lang LaSalle described “a need to reinvent the Ottenheimer Market Hall as the anchor destination for the River Market District.”
The plan suggested that the visitors bureau explore “alternative operating models, including partnering with local brands as well as regional and national entrepreneurs in reimagining and reactivating the space.”
Utility panel OKs contract change
Members of the Little Rock Water Reclamation Commission at a meeting Wednesday approved a resolution to change how the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority handles cooperative contracts.
The resolution gives the utility more flexibility on cooperative purchasing compared to a 2014 resolution, which was repealed as part of their vote on Wednesday.
“The 2014 resolution was very narrow in scope,” the utility’s Procurement Administrator Amber Yates told commissioners. “For example, it only allowed us to purchase off of certain cooperatives, not taking into account that they merge, evolve, change names.”
Officials felt it was “cumbersome and inefficient administratively” to have to bring forward a new resolution every time to account for those changes, Yates said.
The new measure names specific cooperatives but allows the utility under certain conditions to rely on other cooperatives, even if they are not listed, according to slides shown to commissioners.
It also adds public works and construction services to the scope of allowable purchases using cooperatives; under the earlier resolution, the utility could only purchase goods and services.
The latest resolution makes no change to a provision that says purchases over the chief executive officer’s spending authority must go to the commission for approval.
Utility makes plan for tornado debris
Officials at the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority had hoped the utility would be able to rely on a contractor the city of Little Rock has engaged to facilitate debris removal following the March 31 tornado via a memorandum of understanding.
However, utility officials now expect to have to procure their own contractor, members of the Little Rock Water Reclamation Commission were told during a meeting on Wednesday.
Sewer lines remain covered by debris off Sunset Drive in the area of Rebsamen Park as well as the Jimerson Creek area north of Cantrell Road and North Mississippi Street, according to Harold Hounwanou, director of collection system maintenance for the Water Reclamation Authority.
Hounwanou estimated that about 4,500-6,000 cubic yards of debris still need to be removed.
The city’s contractor quoted the utility $88.72 per cubic yard, higher than the $18 or $19 per cubic yard charged to the city, Hounwanou said, which he attributed to the access challenges within the areas where the debris remains.
Emergency management authorities have recommended that the utility procure its own contractor, he said.
Following a request for proposals, officials expect to bring forward a measure authorizing a debris removal contractor during the commission’s August meeting, if not earlier, Hounwanou said.