Chaffee Authority touts success of dog food plant, wetlands and Elvis

guest commentary by Ivy Owen

Editor’s note: Ivy Owen is executive director of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority. A recent report on 2008 FCRA activities can be found here.

Dec. 17, 2009 marked my one year anniversary as the executive director for the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority. The past year has been filled with surprises, successes and lessons that position us to be ready for the challenges and opportunities in 2009.

There were many success stories during 2008 including the announcements from Umarex, USA and PRADCO Outdoor Products of their expansions at Chaffee Crossing.  These expansions will result in 285 jobs with a total capital investment of $27 Million. In addition, MARS Petcare is adding the finishing touches to their new LEEDS Certified manufacturing facility. The new MARS facility will manufacture the CESAR Gourmet brand of dog food. MARS plans its opening during the late spring of 2009 and will create 250 new jobs and have a total capital outlay of $80 Million.

So, on the industrial development side of our report card, we are getting high marks. In addition, the grand opening of the Chaffee Museum District with three unique museums added a new and different flavor to the Chaffee Crossing landscape – a tourism and commercial district that draws visitors from worldwide. The three museums are the Chaffee Barbershop (The Elvis Barbershop) Museum, the Enchanted Doll House Museum and the Vietnam Veterans Museum.

Each one of these facilities brings something different to Chaffee Crossing from the actual location where the King of Rock and Roll received his first GI haircut to the display of over 5,000 antique and hard to find dolls in the Enchanted Doll House Museum. Last but certainly not least is the Vietnam Veterans Museum displaying meaningful memorabilia from that dreadful conflict.  

These three museums opened on August 22 and have attracted crowds in numbers far exceeding expectations.

Chaffee Crossing was fortunate to be named the site for the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall that was displayed during the weekend of Oct. 17. The wall attracted over 6,000 visitors during its three day visit and we look forward to hosting the Wall next year and years to come.

A couple of surprises surfaced during the year that could result in substantial cash for Chaffee Crossing. Those are the Wetlands Mitigation Bank and the deposits of valuable clay used in lining landfills mostly in the north. It has been determined that Chaffee Crossing could yield tons of the special clay resulting in needed cash for infrastructure improvements. The Wetlands Mitigation Bank will also generate cash for Chaffee improvements during 2009.

Working with the River Valley Master Gardeners group, Chaffee Crossing is providing the setting for the “Learning Fields at Chaffee Crossing” — a botanical exhibit of native plantings and illustrative examples of how different plants interact in natural settings. The partnership with the Master Gardeners further demonstrates our desire for the preservation and promotion of Arkansas’s natural resources.

The vision for Chaffee Crossing is to become a model, high demand mixed use community — one where people will live, work, play and call home. Currently, there are more than 300 homes under construction at Chaffee Crossing with sales exceeding expectations. 

The Janet Huckabee Nature Center continues to attract visitors worldwide. The Nature Center promotes Chaffee Crossing’s development theme of “Clean and Green” with the preservation of our natural resources and the promotion of activities that promote that theme.

In keeping with the newest ideas of the New Urbanist planning concept, our Board has approved a contract to re-evaluate our land reuse plan to determine its accuracy and applicability to the new development concepts being used at Chaffee Crossing.

The staff and Board of Trustees appreciates the support of the City of Fort Smith, Barling and Sebastian County in our efforts to develop a model community here in western Arkansas. We are sure that in 2009 there will be new and exciting projects for Chaffee Crossing and we look forward to being able to report our achievements in this space.