Officials eye arts corridor street plan

City should receive estimates on improvements next month

FAYETTEVILLE — City officials want to build a cohesive pathway for cars and pedestrians along West Avenue between South and Dickson streets, but costs will limit the extent of that work, council members heard Tuesday.

The city should get cost estimates on proposed street improvements in association with the cultural arts corridor next month, Sustainability Director Peter Nierengarten said.

The City Council’s Transportation Committee, made up of four members, got an

overview Tuesday of proposed changes to West Avenue. The work was included in the $31.5 million bond issue voters approved in April to build a cultural arts corridor downtown.

The first phase of the arts corridor project will focus on the Fay Jones woods west of the library, the Razorback

Greenway and West Avenue. The planned civic space replacing the parking lot in front of the Walton Arts Center and a new parking deck downtown will be a separate phase.

West Avenue, along with the greenway, will serve as the corridor connecting the pieces along the stretch, from the library to Dickson Street, Nierengarten said. To do that as proposed, the city will generally need to acquire five feet of utility easement on the west side of West Avenue and five feet on the east side.

Committee members saw the same renderings shown to property owners along the street during an August meeting at the library. The plans vary depending on the section of the street, but the idea is to have general cohesion, Nierengarten said.

The goal is to have continuous sidewalks on both sides, with enough room for pedestrians, Nierengarten said. Either parking spaces or trees would separate people from car traffic, he said. The planters and permeable pavement in parking spaces would help catch runoff. More street lighting would go on the east side.

The committee also saw drawings making room for two buildings cutting into the east side between Center and Meadow streets. That section has no sidewalk and a large retaining wall with a slope abutting the parking lot at Hillcrest Towers.

Cutting into the slope and moving the wall back could allow room for one- or two-story buildings, Nierengarten said. People could get to the first floor of a building from the sidewalk, and the second story could have a doorway facing east from the Hillcrest parking lot, he said.

The Housing Authority owns Hillcrest Towers and toured the site Monday to consider the proposal. The authority’s board hasn’t made any decisions yet.

Alli Quinlan with Flintlock Architecture & Landscape, who’s working as part of the project team, said there seemed to be consensus among property owners for right of way or utility easement acquisition. She asked committee members for guidance if any of the property owners couldn’t be negotiated with. The design could be changed, or the City Council would have to seek condemnation for the five feet of right of way needed for the design as proposed.

Chairman Matthew Petty said he could support condemnation if that’s what it took and the amount paid to a property owner wasn’t too expensive. However, that money might also be better used to extend the improvements farther south, past South Street, he said.

Resident Alan Ostner told the committee West Avenue is likely to change with fewer residential and more commercial spaces. Many of the properties are vacant or getting rezoned, and the street could become “Dickson-light,” he said.

The vision of the West Avenue improvements should match the trajectory of development there, Ostner said.

The proposed plans will go to the city’s Active Transportation Advisory Committee and come back to the Transportation Committee next month. City staff should have cost estimates then, which will give the committee a better idea on what’s feasible, City Engineer Chris Brown said.

Construction of the West Avenue, Razorback Greenway and Fay Jones woods pieces of the arts corridor are scheduled to begin in April or May.