Attendees to the meeting, which can be seen in its entirety on the City of Hope’s Facebook page along with comments on the meeting by Facebook members, nearly filled the seating capacity of the City Hall’s board meeting room.
Hope Public Schools Superintendent Jonathan Crossley called the complex a “preliminarily exciting venture” to use 12 acres and possibly purchase three acres owned by the city for a facility for baseball, softball and tennis.
While the district currently has an agreement with the city of Hope to maintain and use ballparks at Fair Park, he said “we're looking at long-range planning and the ability to own your own complex and to build on that and also make it secure.”
He said lights would be used seasonally but not often for tennis matches because they would be held during the day.
“That area back there, we would have room, plenty of room for fencing to be able to put additional fencing there,” Crossley said. “Additional fencing obviously comes at an additional cost, but we would factor that in if and when that became a possibility.”
There would be two entrances to the facility, one from 20th Street and the other from Bill Clinton Drive.
Concerning the trees on the site which would have to be cut, Crossley said the trees would likely also be harvested if the site was sold.
Twenty-three letters were sent to residents living near the site to notify them of the chance to speak at Monday’s meeting about their wishes concerning whether the special use permit should be granted. Only five were returned as not being received, Crossley said.
The most mentioned objection raised by residents of the area, some in attendance, some submitting letters and email, was a fear of crimes committed by Hope High School students walking in the area. One speaker, who said he was a neighborhood watch volunteer who lived on Bill Clinton Drive, said “You’re going to have a lot of kids around, and you can’t do to these juveniles what I can do to these meth heads. But I don’t have anything against kids. The problem I have is we just don’t want this thing.” He also raised concerns about diesel trucks coming down the curve at speed not being able to stop in time for buses or for traffic turning in to the complex.
A resident of East 20th Street said he had concerns about parking interfering with ambulances on their way to and from Southwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center but also about people walking near his house.
“I do not want the foot traffic going in my yard,” he said. “Because we already have enough foot traffic coming from the school now through the Strong Addition and into that area. I understand the need for the ballpark and the ball fields, but I would rather use the existing ball fields that we have now. And that way the hospital would be unimpeded. My property would be unimpeded, and that would be the safest for the neighborhood and the hospital.”
Another speaker, living on Bill Clinton Drive, asked Crossley what days the complex was likely to be used for tournaments. Crossley told her these weren’t hosted now, but if they were they would take place on weekends. “Well, there's a church that's right beside that, and nobody has mentioned what does the church think about that? That could be a problem,” the speaker said.
“But you know all about kids just like I do, right?” she continued. “And kids will tell you they're going to do this, and they don't. And you have some that slip off, and then you're going to have unsupervised juveniles that are running crazy, and you're going to get a phone call that says you've got somebody over here. They're climbing over my fence. That's what the people dread. They're afraid of it. No, you can't touch them, you know. Not that I want to string them up, but I mean, you're going to have a problem. And the people over there don't want that problem. They don't. They don't want to confront it. We do not live there anymore. We do still own the property.”
An East 19th Street resident’s email was read. It was also an objection to the special use designation and the building of a multi-sport complex by the Hope School District. “The destruction of natural habitat, the addition of noise traffic, and the added in risk of an increase of crime, are all negative effects that will directly impact our neighborhood. Also our property values will take a direct hit,” her email said.
A letter from another East 19th resident mentioned having suffered two burglaries, one in which a pistol was stolen. “In both instances, the perpetrator was understood to be a student at Hope High School … In neither instance was the subject arrested nor brought to trial. Lack of sufficient evidence for conviction.” The letter also said that when he and his children walked to their respective schools, his children to Hope schools, the students knew the people along the route. But current students, the letter said, would not be known in the neighborhoods they walked through.
Another resident of the same street approached the podium. “I have had Hope High School students who have been skipping class to wander in our neighborhood. I caught on one of my security cameras on my property a student walking behind my property with a machete. Now I'm going to assume that this particular student was carrying a machete in order to cut down some of the woods that are behind my house so he could skip class. However, my concern with this is, once you put something behind there, even though Dr Crossley says that it's going to be locked, it's going to be private, we see all the time kids climbing the fence of the football field and using the football field after hours.”
The speaker who said he was a neighborhood watch volunteer added this to his earlier remarks. “I used to be a juvenile officer for Southwest Arkansas Youth Services and Serious Offenders program, and like he said, crime is what I dealt with and security, and I'll tell you little gang-bangers know how to do stuff. I've dealt with them. So anyway, just letting you guys know this could be a serious problem with that.”
Superintendent Crossley then asked to speak again. At the podium, he said "I just want to advocate in my official and unofficial capacity as a superintendent of Hope school District. We lead the entire state in kids graduating high school with an associate's degree. We have quadrupled the number of kids that we have in our skilled trade program. We are third and second in the entire CoOp region for third- and fourth-grade reading rates … We've seen marked increases in our elementary grades, and we are not a school filled with gang-bangers. And so whether or not that comment was intended to dog whistle that, I just want to be really clear that that's not who we are or what we do.”
“We don't shy away from the fact that we have at least 84 percent [of students eligible for] low, free and reduced lunch on our campus, and 30 percent of our students who are multilingual,” he continued. “We think that that is a strength and not a deficit, and who we are. If you fast forward, by the time this complex will be built, the demographics and the changes that will happen inside of our community will reflect our school district and vice versa, and we believe that long-term investing in our students now will allow us to have a more supported and future participatory democracy for kids who will then be leaders inside of our local community.”
Crossley said he respected the process and those who came forward to offer their views, but “[To] the comments about not knowing our student population. Well, we're not trying to keep them hidden. So if we're neighbors, and we want to know our student population better, come mentor, come be a part of who we are, because the future of our community is walking the hallways right there every single day.”
Another resident on East 19th Street asked what would happen if the area was rezoned and then not used for the multisport facility, what would be placed there. Vice-mayor and Planning and Zoning Commissioner Kiffinea Talley, presiding over the meeting, said the proposal was not to rezone the site. Former City Manager Catherine Cook, a commissioner, said that since the site is zoned for residential use, a housing development could be built there without needing approval from the commission.
The resident asked about the distance from the site a resident or property owner would need live within to receive a letter notifying them of the school district’s proposal and the meeting time and date. This was 400 feet, he was told. He asked to see drawings of the proposed facility. Only a rectangular rendering of the site was shown on the projection screen with the surrounding streets indicated. He also asked to see the list of those who were sent letters. Talley told him Dorsey Askew, City Inspector, after the meeting for this.
He said he objected to the special use permit for the site because of the noise level being likely to rise. He said when trees were cleared between his neighborhood and the football field, the noise level had increased. “I think there's other options, and there's enough room probably to build something behind the stadium right now,” he said.
Crossley said that area was likely too small for the facility the district’s leadership envisions: "It might be large enough for tennis courts, but not for the ballfields." To a question from a commissioner about whether the facility would have enough parking, Crossley said he believed it would if the portion of the site owned by the city is used.
Another East 19th Street resident then came to the podium. “I've only been there about two and a half years, I bought that house because of that neighborhood. I'm from Texarkana, and I've seen what this will do to a neighborhood. I am strongly against it. That's all I have to say,” she said.
A man said he had understood the three acres owned by the city on the site was going to be used for a new fire department, which he would not oppose.
Another man living on East 19th also objected, citing noise and decreased resale value and asked if other places were being considered for the facility.
Crossley said other places had been considered but were out of the district’s price range.
Talley then called the vote, listing three options, granting the request without conditions, granting it with them or denying the request. She noticed one more person wanting to comment, a woman from East 19th.
“We in Strong Addition are opposed to it being that close and mixing in with our neighborhood,” she said. “We don't have many really safe neighborhoods in Hope. Strong Addition is relatively safe. Putting this in opens it up to traffic. It opens it up to walk through. And like you say, they like to skip school and they need a place to go. Guess where there is a nice neighborhood.” She also cited concerns about noise, lights and the increased possibility of car accidents.
Crossley responded. “The conversation about Strong Addition being a desirable neighborhood, I think, is, is a good point. I think I’ve looked at homes inside of that area for purchase myself. I think it's a great area. I also want to remind everyone--not that it needs that much reminding --that it is also considered to be a safe and desirable neighborhood with Hope High School right there. So the idea of expanding programs with Hope High School, to me, does not seem like a detractor. It seems like a continuation of a neighborhood school.”
Commissioner Cook then made a motion to approve the request provided the complex be well-fenced. She said she was doing so because while she appreciated green space, she also placed value in the intent of the landowners, the daughters of long time Hope attorney Al Graves, to see it used for the school district. The motion was seconded and a roll call vote occurred.
Commissioners Talley and Linda Clark abstained because of their status as employees of the Hope School District. Commissioners Cindy Ford, Judy Watson and Mike Smith voted no. Cook and Alan Flowers voted yes.
After the vote and the announcement by Talley that the request had been denied, Crossley asked for anyone who knew of a piece of land within the district’s price range “and a civically-minded owner,” to bring that to his attention. The speaker who had used the term “gang-bangers” beckoned to Crossley and said he did not consider all Hope High School students deserving of the term.