Council Tables Aspen Ridge renewal. Will new owner take responsibility?

The City Council of Fayetteville, Arkansas, unanimously voted to table an ordinance extending the expiration date of R-PZD 04-13-7 (Aspen Ridge) to June 29, 2008.

The nearly 30-acre site is apparently for sale and the only publicly acknowedged bid has come from Hank Broyles of Fayetteville, who was one of the original owners but who said on Aug. 24, 2007, that his minority share was bought by his partner, Hal Forsyth after the two disagreed on details of the plan.

Big questions the council would like to have resolved before authorizing further work on the site include "Who will take responsibility for the current condition of the site and what changes in the plan are likely to be requested by a new owner or owners?"


Hal Forsyth
obviously is responsible until he sells his interest.
If Hank Broyles buys the property, he buys back the responsibility for the damage that he took on by advocating the acceptance of the proposal in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In fact, as the point man to the community he really never lost responsibility.

During the Aug. 24 walking tour of the site with neighbors and city officials, Broyles said "Absolutely not!" when asked about paying people who previously worked on the property. Apparently, that will be a matter for the courts, not a good situation for anyone involved, it would seem.

The photo above shows the flow of water downstream from the Eleventh Street bridge about 200 feet down the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River from the southeast corner of Aspen Ridge. A significant amount of the discoloration of that historically clear stream is coming from unvegetated areas of the Aspen Ridge project. The photo was made DURING the council meeting last night (Tuesday Sept. 4, 2007). A heavy rain began just as the meeting began and the nearly dry stream became a torrent in only minutes.

Granted, that water would not be clear if Aspen Ridge erosion were not occurring. A construction site immediately northwest of the Town Branch on Sixth Street also is eroding into the stream. Other polluting construction sites in recent months have included the new home of the president of the University of Arkansas, a new campus building north of Maple Street and just south of Cleveland Street and the new Sigma Nu Fraternity house east of Stadium Drive.

Campus buildings have nearly all been built without addressing stormwater problems. The only detention or retention pond on campus is on the western arm of the Town Branch south of Baum Stadium at the George Cole baseball field. City planners have seldom been included the campus projects and state regulators such as ADEQ appear to have a hands-off policy.

The
Town Branch Neighborhood
in 2003 began urging Hank Broyles to consider the existing overflow of the Town Branch in planning his Aspen Ridge project.

Broyles and Forsyth repeatedly appeared to be taking existing problems into account and had new plans drawn for the project at least three times by various entities, but the final city-approved version didn't match the expectations.

Will a new owner have a better plan and stick to it?