New U.S. Corps easement line likely to move Marshals Museum footprint

What initially appeared to be a setback for the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith could turn out to only be a bump in the road after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers notified the museum that land donated for the site of the museum contains Corps easements and would require a different location of the multi-million dollar building.

According to museum President and CEO Jim Dunn, the easements — which he said were first discovered and reported to the museum's board of directors in March 2014 — are likely to push the museum further back from the banks of the Arkansas River than originally planned, but its line of sight with the Arkansas River both north and south of the planned museum location are still as envisioned by the museum's board and designers even after the Corps marked its easements along property donated by Fort Smith businessman Benny Westphal. (Westphal is an investor in The City Wire.)

And despite reports by other media, Dunn said the Corps' easements does not mean it owns any of the land in question. Instead, he said it simply gives the Corps of Engineers the ability to repair and stabilize banks of the Arkansas River should it receive damage due to flooding.

When initially notified Friday (Nov. 14) that the Corps had marked the land, Dunn said he was concerned it could impact the location of the planned museum on the 15.9 acres donated along the river.

"If you imagine a museum here, it has a view both up the river and down the river and across the river," he said. "In the location where I thought the easement line was going to be, the view of the river in some places disappeared completely which was a substantial impairment as to the aesthetics."

Dunn initially believed the staking of the easement would take place 300 feet from the banks of the river, which would have resulted in the changes with the view of the river he mentioned. But he said the staking he saw at the site Tuesday (Nov. 18) was not quite 300 feet from the bank. But he said additional work would need to be completed before he knew for sure where the building location would be allowed based on the easement lines from the Corps.

"We still are awaiting our engineer and our architects to come down and take a look at the easement so they can advise us whether or not we'll have to review the design of the building. I don't think so, but that's not my call. And see what their impression is about the aesthetics."

The engineer and architects will make a report to the museum board on possible relocation of the planned site further away from the river banks at its Dec. 9 meeting.

Tuesday's visit to the site included a constituent services representative from U.S. Sen. John Boozman's office, who has been reporting weekly updates on the museum's progress to the senator. Dunn told Boozman's office and the media that even though the location of the building may be set back further than anticipated once the final Corps of Engineers easements are officially known and documented by engineers and architects and included in the papers necessary to deed the land from Westphal to the museum, it would not prevent the museum from making use of the easement land that would still be in its ownership. The land, Dunn said, could be used for a variety of purposes outside of housing the building itself.

"Yes, we retain the ability to construct infrastructure on the easement which would include parking lots, landscaping. You know that the five tribes of Oklahoma are going to erect a monument on the ground. I'm 99% sure that will be a permitted use. (There will be a) wide range of use, but what we can't do is put a permanent structure on there that would impair the ability of the Corps to do the bank repairs if that were to happen."

Reached for comment, Boozman said he would work with the museum and the Corps to make sure any potential problems resulting from the easement were addressed soon.

“The U.S. Marshals Service played an important role in shaping Fort Smith. Citizens rightfully want to recognize that. I’ve been helping the community realize its goal of being home to the Marshals Museum and making sure we overcome any hurdles that may arise," he said. "That’s why we encouraged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review its easement and are bringing interested parties to the table to table to discuss any potential issues."

Caroline Rabbitt, communications director for U.S. Sen.-Elect Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he would join Boozman in addressing the issues in order to keep the Marshals Museum on schedule.

"Tom and his staff are aware of the situation in Fort Smith and plans to work with Senator Boozman, the Corps, and all involved parties to help find a resolution as quickly as possible," she said.

Claire Burghoff, communications director for U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, said he would also be involved to resolve any issues the marked easements may pose for the museum's planned construction.

"Congressman Womack has been engaged on the issue as much as he has been able, and he will continue to foster discussion and communication between the Marshals Museum and the Army Corps of Engineers."

Dunn said he is unaware of whether the easement discovery and possible work by engineers and architects needed to relocate the planned museum building further back from the river banks would delay the opening of the museum from its possible opening date of 2017.

The planned $53 million museum's construction is a three-phase project, starting first with site work before moving to building construction and finally design and installation of exhibits to be housed at the museum celebrating the United States' oldest law enforcement agency.

The additional work tied to the easements, Dunn said, could increase the cost of the museum, though he said it is still unknown what costs if any could be associated with the resulting work from the easement discovery by the Corps.