City, County push prospect of Ben Geren water park

story by Aric Mitchell
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City of Fort Smith directors and Sebastian County quorum court members voiced their favor of a $7.4 million aquatics facility at Ben Geren that would include an intricate system of water slides and lazy river.

“I’m tired of playing second fiddle to Alma,” joked quorum court member Shaun Weidman, referring to the Alma Aquatic Park.

Sebastian County Judge David Hudson added that the larger of two options under consideration was something that “Alma doesn’t wish to see happen.”

For two years the Fort Smith Board of Directors and Sebastian County Quorum Court have discussed the construction and operation of a new aquatics facility at Ben Geren Park. Questions of size, cost, length of construction, opening date, who will pay, and where the money will come from, have persisted. At Tuesday night’s joint meeting, two of these questions were answered outright.

The meeting follows another joint meeting held in September 2009, which introduced two plans for consideration. The smaller option would be closer to the size of Alma’s park and would cost approximately $4.75 million to implement. Both facilities would fail to generate cash flow, Hudson said, but would be an excellent marketing tool for the area.

The larger facility would come closer to breaking even with projected annual operating costs of $822,772 and a projected annual revenue of $709,300. The loss of $113,472 with the larger facility would be less than the $125,213 net loss the smaller park projected.

“I’m all about the expanded facility,” said City Director Kevin Settle. “The bigger the better. Our citizens are asking for it. It would go a long way, with the other planned additions to Ben Geren, in making it a one stop shop for the weekend. People coming here for softball tournaments will also have a place where they can take their smaller kids to have fun, and really make a full day of it. It’s the right thing to do.”

With the size and cost of the inter-local project agreed upon, the remaining questions are: 1) Who will build it?; 2) When will it open?; 3) Who will pay for it?; and 4) Where will the money come from?

Answers aren’t likely to come any time soon. Hudson told city directors that the quorum court would have to “re-prioritize” their general and sales tax accounts as there are currently “too many earmarks” and “not enough funds.”

Until the quorum court can reach a decision, the project will not move forward, so that means no contractor and no opening date. The City of Fort Smith plans to raise its share through additional bond issuances related to the existing sales tax. For all of the planned cooperative projects with the county, the city estimates its share to be around $5.5 million. (Included in the tally are two new softball fields at Ben Geren Park and a $250,000 contribution for additional softball fields at Chaffee Crossing.)

For operating costs, City Administrator Ray Gosack suggested a 50/50 split between city and county would maintain any new facilities that came about as a result of the aquatics park.

“Both entities should have a share in the operating costs and the loss as well,” Gosack said.

But with the quorum court undertaking a large systems update in their IT department, playing catch-up with the Sebastian County Jails, which have experienced staffing and funding issues, and a potentially costly project in renovations for the Greenwood Emergency Medical Services facility, there will be obstacles.

“It’s something that I believe can be done,” Hudson said. “But this is not a revenue generator for us, and we have to sit down and take a look at the projects that we have and see where we stand.”

The county will use 25% of the sales tax monies generated through 2014 as well as the existing funds in their general account if they choose to move forward with the project.