Arkansas State University signs leases for disaster preparedness sites

Arkansas State University’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously Friday to enter into separate land-lease agreements to build disaster preparedness test sites. One is a 183-acre plot owned by the city of Imboden, and the other is a 180-acre swath owned by the Walnut Ridge Airport. ASU President Chuck Welch told Talk Business & Politics this is the initial step towards creating a unique disaster preparedness facility.

“This has the potential to be a big deal for the system and for the region,” Welch said. “It’s really exciting … there are less than 10 sites like this nationwide.”

The vision is to build a facility where different elements within a disaster response team – firefighters, police, first responders, paramedics, etc. – can work a disaster scenario with each other. What they hope to do is create zones, such as a tornado zone, where there will be actual rubble and other obstacles that resemble the damage caused by a tornado.

Other proposed zones might include a flood zone that replicates flooded areas, an earthquake zone, a hazardous materials spill zone, and others. Each will present real life obstacles that responders will have to overcome. The project will allow students to bridge the gap between academia and real life disasters.

How much it will cost is uncertain, Welch said. The scope of the project will be determined by the money raised. To build a classroom/research facility and the disaster zones will cost millions of dollars and will be paid for through federal grants, foundation grants, and hopefully other entities that might want to partner in the venture. The first step was to secure the land.

The lease agreement at the Imboden site will have a term of 50 years, is rent-free for the first five years, and ASU will then pay $10,000 per year. ASU will pay $12,500 per year for 50 years at the Walnut Ridge site, and the city will pay it the first two years on behalf of the university. The amount will be raised every five years by 3% or the cumulative average annual change in the Consumer Price Index if it is higher. The sites can be improved in any way to make the project feasible. If funding isn’t procured, the leases become non-binding. ASU will also have site lease renewal options.

Different agencies can work together in these scenarios and develop more efficient response methods. ASU would benefit because it already has a robust disaster preparedness program and students could use the facilities for training and other purposes, Welch said. It would be a regional facility, meaning emergency responders from across Arkansas or other states could use the facility to train. For instance, a town that constantly floods in Tennessee might send its police, firefighters, first responders, dispatch, and others for a coordinated session.

If the facility can be built, it would allow ASU to possibly expand its disaster preparedness program and it would also give ASU professors a treasure trove of data and other research material to examine and decipher.

Future steps will include grant proposals to fund for architectural designs and to form committees for each of the proposed zones. These committees will be filled with experts in that particular area of study, such as fire sciences, to come up with the best obstacles.

Many different details of this proposal, including how or if these first responder groups will have to pay to use the facilities, have not been worked out yet. A timetable hasn’t been established, either. This project could be a national trendsetter established by ASU, Welch said.

“It’s (the leases) one box we had to check-off before we could move forward,” Welch said.

In other board business, the system’s concealed gun control policies were modified to conform with recently passed state laws. To carry a concealed gun on campus, an individual must have a conceal carry permit and has to complete a mandatory eight-hour training course. The course is under design by the Arkansas State Police and will be administered by the ASP. Due to the time it will take to develop the course and the time it takes to complete the training, it’s unlikely anyone will carry concealed weapons on the campus until early 2018, Welch said.