PLEASE CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT.
Adella Gray of the Fayettevile City Council and Ron Petrie, the city engineer, talk about the creosote railroad ties lying on the side of the railroad covering the mouth of the old tunnel that in the past allowed the now-defunct east/west railroad from Oklahoma to go under the existing north/south railroad with both running side by side up to Dickson Street. A portion of the old east/west railroad bed is now the trail between Tanglewood Branch and the new Fayetteville Library. The portion across Aspen Ridge was supposed to become a connecting trail.
Not only are the creosote ties still blocking the mouth of the tunnel but also the bed of the railroad across Aspen Ridge has been removed along with the magnificent trees and native plants growing along it. The now-treeless trail is nothing but a muddy path meandering across the property.
The railroad dumped the ties over the mouth of the tunnel. EPA should already have ordered that cleaned up. Creosote lumber is considered a toxic substance.
Petrie said that the railroad has said it would not remove the ties and that the city's taxpayers will have to pay to have all the debris cleared out of the old tunnel before the trail can connect across the trestle (on which Gray and Petrie are standing), through the tunnel and on down the old rail bed to connect with Indian Trail, a city street that parallels Sixth Street.
Petrie said that the trail, if completed before construction, might not survive the construction. That would be true, UNLESS THE CITY ROPES IT OFF and forbIds the workers from getting near it with machinery.
The city failed to take ownership of the 0.86-acre timbered parcel dedicated as parkland on so-called Phase II of Aspen Ridgs and the topsoil was removed and dirt piled up on the silt fence running along the north edge of World Peace Wetland Prairie.
Actually, the silt fence should have separated the new park from all construction activities and the park's soil should have been left intact. The new park, like World Peace Wetland Prairie, had rich, absorbent topsoil.
The result of failing to maintain the silt fence along the north edge of WPWP was an algae bloom in the central flow of water in the city nature park. That algae bloom resulted after rain washed some of the new topsoil off the seeded area next to the railroad.
The prepacked seed system used on cleared ground contains chemical fertilizer as well as seeds selected for fast growth. Obviously, the new growth doesn't absorb all the fertilizer, something the magnificent soil in the nature area cannot benefit from.
Hank Broyles mentioned Prestige as another company bidding on the Aspen Ridge project. There are many companies on the Internet with that name. It would be interesting to find out what plan that group might have before they buy it.
The Northwest Arkansas Sustainability Center at http://www.nwasc.org/primer_packet.pdf
offers a very different set of attitudes than those displayed by many local developers.
Northwest Arkansas Sustainability Center
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