Choctaw Nation to include Fort Smith as destination city, downtown planning meeting postponed to January

The Choctaw Nation will now represent Fort Smith, Ark., as a top tourist destination in its multi-tribal promotional materials, 64.6 Downtown Executive Director John McIntosh revealed at Tuesday’s (Nov. 15) meeting of the Central Business Improvement District.

“It was very important for us to be added to their list,” McIntosh said. “They print 75,000 brochures a year to send out to the tribes, and this will no doubt be a good partnership with Choctaw Nation in the future.”

The move was predicated by 64.6’s Unexpected murals project, which features various works of art, including one massive project that was sponsored by the Choctaw Nation to close out this year’s festival.

Five 1,100-pound arrows were hoisted into deeply drilled holes on the corner of Grand Avenue and N. 10th Street. Designed as the third official work within the city of Fort Smith by renowned U.K. artist Dean Stockton (aka D*FACE), the arrows are considered a “companion” to his previous “War Paint” mural in the Park at West End. McIntosh said representatives from the Choctaw Nation recently paid the arrows a visit to see how their sponsored installation turned out.

“They were really overwhelmed with the amount of public art we had in downtown Fort Smith and were so pleased to see the arrows,” he said. “Some of the inspiration for the arrows came from the Choctaw Nation, and to see it in real life and put your hands on those arrows, you could see it really meant something to them emotionally.”

The Fort Smith Parks and Recreation Department assisted with the installation. Department head Doug Reinert joked that the arrows have caused the traffic pattern to change “a little bit.”

“Before we never had so many people parking and walking across the street,” he said. “My family’s one of them. There’s just a lot of stopping, going over there, touching them, taking pictures with them — a lot of activity.”

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, 64.6 Downtown/PropelFS representative Talicia Richardson said a planned meeting for the end of November concerning a master plan for downtown Fort Smith would be postponed until January 2017 with the presentation of a rough draft to the CBID and city directors by the end of that month.

Gateway Planning, the urban planning and design firm behind Rogers, Ark.’s, downtown redevelopment, is currently synthesizing ideas from the Future Fort Smith comprehensive plan passed by the Fort Smith Board of Directors in December 2014 with suggestions collected from public comments over the last several months. A final draft is expected by the spring of 2017.

VARIANCE REQUESTS
Lastly, CBID commissioners approved three variance requests from downtown businesses, the first being from Doubletree Hotel to okay a sizing change on the newly renovated Doubletree by Hilton; the second from Edward D. Jones to cover exterior walls in stucco; and the third for a balcony addition to the future Tate’s Blues and Boogie Bar and Restaurant by Core Brewing.

Commissioners also asked for design tweaks on a request from Rolando’s to cut an exterior wall for the fitting of mechanical equipment. The request would help Rolando’s avoid a $27,000 expense in moving two vents to the building’s rooftop. Commissioner Phil White requested architects design screening and resubmit at or before the CBID’s Dec. 20 meeting.