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Minutes of the Master Street Plan Committee meeting on August 28, 2014
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Members present: Mike Cameron, Ann Garner, Paul Hoelscher, Eugene Holloway, Ben Owens (chair), Bill Smith, Councilman John Street, Garry Tate
Members absent: Jim Abel, Josh Brown, Marvin Day and Robin Nix, Sr.
Councilman Street motioned, seconded by Ms. Garner, to approve the minutes from August 14, 2014. All voted aye.
Discussion was held concerning the Little Rock Master Street Plan. Mr. Paul Hoelscher motioned, seconded by Mr. Tate, to use the Little Rock Master Street Plan’s format. All voted aye. Mr. Smith clarified that staff will take the notes the committee has given and adapt that to the Little Rock Master Street Plan’s format and bring it back to the committee. City Engineer agreed, explaining they’ve been working with the other document, but this format lends itself better with the final plan. They just want to change the 8-page document to this format for the final report. The report will be brought to the committee for approval. It was questioned how long it will take to use the new format. Mr. Light stated it’ll probably take about three weeks to get it done.
Discussion was then held regarding the Functional Classification Map. It was explained City Water & Light just upgraded their utilities in the area around Magnolia, but didn’t move any of the lines. So, if anything is done around Magnolia then money will have to be spent to move those lines. A committee member explained he spoke to some citizens in Sage Meadows and North Jonesboro and he came up with an idea to connect Hwy 49 north of the fairgrounds to North Church Street. He noted about 60% of the property is undeveloped with 35% already having right-of-ways on existing roads. He explained the idea he had was to go down Philadelphia Road off Hwy 141 north 1 mile to Rainwater Lake and then to Sage Meadows. There is an area south of Sage Meadows that is undeveloped that connects with County Road 702. County Road 702 comes out at the red light on Hwy 49. It’s a total of 6-1/2 miles with 3-1/8 has existing road right-of-way. It also gives them an opportunity to connect Old Paragould Highway, Patrick Street and Harmony Road. Mr. Cameron questioned whether this would fall in line with the study the Highway Department did a few years ago concerning a northern bypass. Mr. Light stated he would have to look at his map to figure out if it falls in one of those corridors. It was explained there would be a lot of opposition if they do improvements in developed areas, as well as increased cost due to utilities. Further discussion was held concerning the proposed connection.
Mr. Harold Carter asked if the proposed connection is all inside the city limits. It was answered no, about two miles is barely outside of the city limits. It was added the proposal was shown to residents in that area and they liked it. This proposal could spur some more developments in those areas, including North Jonesboro. Ms. Garner agreed that changes need to be made in order for people to get from one side of town to the other easier.
Mr. Light stated they need to figure out the northern bypass route that is being proposed and be specific about the roads that will be used. He noted that doesn’t mean there aren’t streets in the city that need to be improved. The northern route may help people move quicker, but interior roads are still needed so people can get from Point A to Point B in the city.
Mr. Cameron made a motion to amend the Master Street Plan to reflect the changes that have been discussed. Mr. Light explained it is up to the committee to determine the specifics of the northern bypass. If the current proposal is the way the committee wants to go, then they’ll start reserving right-of-way in those areas for the future road. Mr. Cameron then asked if the proposed connection could be put on the map so the committee members could see it on the map. It was added there are some changes they would like to be made to the map in the southern part of town. Mr. Cameron asked that those changes also be added to them map for review.
Mr. Cameron reiterated his motion to amend the Master Street Plan to reflect the changes that have been discussed in order for the committee to study the changes. He added the committee will also discuss the possibility of a northern bypass. All voted aye.
Ms. Garner asked if the city is blocked in having north/south connections between Highland/Nettleton to Washington/Matthews. Mr. Light explained the existing Master Street Plan shows a future major arterial, but there’s been talk of making Patrick Street an arterial. It’s really up to the committee as to what should be done. He agreed that people getting through downtown from north to south needs to be addressed. Mr. Smith added if the downtown issue isn’t addressed, then they will be replicating the difficulty of every planning group since the 1960’s. Mr. Cameron agreed, but stated that he thinks they should look at changes one at a time instead of all at once. He explained he doesn’t have any preference over the order of when things are addressed, but the issues should be looked at one at a time. Mr. Smith expressed concern over the amount of work it may take to fix the problem in downtown Jonesboro.
A committee member stated he thinks the north corridor is the most pressing issue because of Paragould. If the committee doesn’t get a good start and a good plan, then things will get worse over the next five to ten years.
A committee member suggested the committee that will be addressing the redevelopment of the Wolverine property downtown should look at Patrick Street becoming an arterial road. Mr. Light explained Patrick is listed as a collector in the Master Street Plan right now with 80 feet of right-of-way preserved. But, the plan could be changed to show that in the long-term future Patrick be changed to an arterial. He added he doesn’t see Patrick becoming an arterial in the short-term future, so he has a problem asking people to give the city right-of-way that will put a house far from the road just so the city can widen Patrick in 50 years.
Mr. Light provided the committee with the Proposed Master Street Plan for the committee to review and comment on. He asked that more than one suggested change be brought to each meeting for review or else the committee will be meeting for a while.
With no further business, the committee adjourned.