cozmosis

LauraW, The Hampton Inn was approved by the city and has had it's plumbing permit approved by the state, so it seems like a go. Walgreens, which has also had it's plumbing permit approved recently, is planned for the corner of South Odom and Maumelle Blvd. A pallet manufacturer is opening a facility on Carnahan Drive just behind the old Windsor Door plant. Also, word on the street is that plans are still a go for a Holiday Inn Express with nearby restaurant where the old I-40 Restaurant existed at Morgan. Work on the new high school should, in theory, start pretty soon. The original plan was for it to open for the 2010-11 school year. Supposedly, construction happening now on the Carnahan extension will allow for a road to link Carnahan with Champs Blvd. along the high school property. The police and fire departments are trimming the budget on their respective stations to be located at Maumelle Blvd. and Murphy Drive. I believe the bids came in just $400k over. Not bad considering the state of economic affairs in the world today. Hopefully, construction will start before the end of the year. A construction trailer has already been moved onto the site. As far as NLR goes... Rumor says that a Colton's and a Home Depot are planned for around the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Maumelle Blvd (more of Maumelle's tax money going into North Little Rock's coffers). They've come a long way with the new apartment complex located off Paul Eells Drive near Wal-Mart. I can't imagine they're far from being open.

Oh, I'd love to take the train for a real trip (I don't count short trips in the Northeast). In fact, the City of New Orleans often has specials for $50 one way between Memphis & New Orleans. It would be a great way to see the Delta. However, the timeliness issue is important. I enjoy lazy travel from time to time... but I want it to be my decision to take things slow -- not someone else's. Some family of a friend recently took the Texas Eagle down to Dallas. It was supposed to arrive in Malvern around 3 am. It finally showed up at 11 am. I can't even imagine.

The word is that the plumbing permits have been approved for the Hampton Inn near Crystal Hill & Maumelle Blvd. (which, unlike almost everything else at that intersection, will actually be in Maumelle proper). Also, plumbing permit has been approved for the Walgreens on Tract D in front of the new Kroger store, which opens Thursday or Friday.

I'm not sure why they would be at capacity... the Texas Eagle was on time only 1.6% of the time in August and 12.7% in the last 12 months. Sharing rail with freight trains makes Amtrak travel hit and miss at best.

Good question... I just happened to catch someone with a copy. You'd think PCSSD would have them up on their Web site or something. They went before the Planning Commission back in May, I believe. I'd been told about a connection between Champs and Louis Nelson, also... But there is a heavy machinery dealer that is planning to construct a facility at the end of Louis Nelson, so I'm not sure how the two would connect. As for Champs, the word is that Scholastic is going to vacate that building sometime soon. Part of their Maumelle operations will remain in Maumelle and move to the Burkhalter Industrial Park. I don't know if the other part of their operations will be dissolved or relocated to another city or what.

The land across from the middle school is a done deal. I believe it's 80 or 90 acres total for the site. I'm not sure how close they are to breaking ground, but I've seen the plans for the campus and they look pretty good. There is some dirt work going on near the site right now, but I believe it's for a new heavy machinery dealer to be located at the end of Louis Nelson Drive (north of the HS site) and for relocation of some power lights (east of the HS site).

Planning commission rejects upscale Hampton Inn By Bill Lawson \ Staff Writer \ [email protected] Thursday, May 29, 2008 3:57 PM CDT An attempt to build an upscale Hampton Inn across the street from the new Wal-Mart Supercenter on Maumelle Boulevard was defeated at the planning commission meeting Thursday despite pleas from city officials that the city needed the tax revenue. The point of controversy was adding an entrance off Maumelle Boulevard. The hotel chain said it would not build the hotel without that direct entrance. Maumelle real estate agent Lynda Bowers requested the amendment to the Maumelle master street plan to allow the entrance. She told the commission that Hampton Inn would just move up the boulevard a few blocks into North Little Rock, which would allow an entrance. She said the original plans were to locate the hotel on property David Elrod owned and cut trees last fall just past Crystal Hill Road and past the land where several junk cars are stored. That plot was partly in North Little Rock and partly in the county. Here's the link to the full story... http://www.maumellemonitor.com/articles/20..._news/nws04.txt

School Board member Pam Roberts will be one of the guests at the Maumelle Citizens Association meeting April 22 at the Maumelle library. As you probably know, she led the charge to relocate the high school to Maumelle proper. She is supposed to talk about the new school and bring some artist renderings of the building and grounds. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM.

I saw this at ArkansasBusiness.Com...

From reading the Argenta blog, it doesn't sound like the neighborhood is fond of this development. From looking at the renderings myself, it doesn't look like it would exactly compliment the historic district. I believe the majority of the building's exterior as planned is going to be dryvit.

Simple question... Would the merger of Little Rock & North Little Rock benefit you?

So, the people of Little Rock support mergers for the right reasons and the people of North Little Rock support them for the wrong reasons? Is that what you're saying. You paint with an awfully broad brush, my man. It's attitudes like yours that make folks like me not want to be a part of a new, larger Little Rock. Again, CAW worked out -- fine by me. Will the police department improve if there is a merger? Will the fire department improve if there is a merger? With Little Rock still vacuum my leaves from the curb in the winter like North Little Rock does now? Sell me on the idea of a merger by telling me how it will directly benefit a guy living on Park Hill. Because from my front yard, I don't think I'll see a lot of benefit from it...

I see what you're saying... but you have to believe that economics and government are completely separate. Just because our local economy works well doesn't mean that a municipal government covering the same area would succeed, too.

I'll be honest, my first inclination was to suggest a few places to put your post. I mean... You don't know me and I don't know you, so I can't imagine how you feel you're capable of explaining to the masses exactly what I believe. But I try to be a rational man, so I'll take a different approach. Let's take a look at your post... You say I want merged services where it benefits me. Why would I not want that? I would think that we all want a government that benefits us in some way. The CAW merger worked out pretty good. I'm happy. Why be against it? (And for the record, I wasn't against it before the merger.) Your posts suggests that I wouldn't support the merger of services that don't benefit me. Again, why would I? If I think a merger would be a detriment to the city I live in and the quality of life that I enjoy, it would be ludicrous for me to support it. Now show me some other separate entities that would benefit from uniting and I'll make decisions on a case-by-case basis. Let's be honest, a Little Rock and North Little Rock merger wouldn't be a merger in any sense of the word. Big brother would swallow up and digest little brother and we'd all be residents of a larger, more unruly Little Rock. I'm sorry, but I don't desire to live in a city of 250,000 that stretches 160+ square miles... and I especially don't want to live there if there is any chance the Little Rock School Board could be in charge of the new city's schools!

My dealings with city government have been much more personable in NLR than LR. Perhaps it's because it's a smaller government... Perhaps it's because there is a different mentality... I don't know why it is different, just that it is. You're right... 100 years ago, they were one city. So does that mean they should be one city now? To use the logic that what was good 100 years ago is good today means that cities like Jacksonville (incorporated 1941), Sherwood (1948) or Maumelle (1985) shouldn't even exist! I understand the argument using the economy of scale... But where do you draw the line? Merge Little Rock and North Little Rock? Merge the whole county? Merge the entire MSA? How big is too big? And would pro-merger supporters know when that is? From reading some of the posts on this board, I don't think so. Believe it or not, some people choose to live in smaller communities for the very reason that they are smaller communities. I didn't move to NLR for that reason, but I choose to stay here because of it.

I've lived in Little Rock before... I live in North Little Rock now... I see no reason to merge the two. There is a distinct difference in how North Little Rock handles business than that of our southern neighbors. Why would I want to bring LR's headaches into my world? With that said, are there benefits to consolidating some services? Sure. I think Central Arkansas Water is a prime example of that. And I do believe that certain local agencies would benefit from strong interlocal agreements to streamline business between cities. However, I would stop way short of a merger. You can talk about the economy of size, but bigger isn't always better and I don't see any benefit from a governmental operations standpoint. There is a large contingent of merger-supporters -- including many on Urban Planet -- who want to merge so the Little Rock city limit sign says "Population 250,000" instead of whatever it says now. They think that adding North Little Rock's 60,000 people will magically increase the appeal of Little Rock on the national scale -- even though the people, businesses and attractions will stay the same -- and, just maybe, we'll be able to get a Nordstrom's or something.

Not that I'm aware. Room for growth was the reason the city purchased the rest of the building City Hall is in a few years back. With the extra space that purchase afforded them, as well as the new public works building under construction and new police & fire headquarters being planned, I can't fathom a use for such a large building by the city. Additionally, retail growth is much needed in Maumelle proper, so I can't see the city doing something that would block that growth.

The word on the street is that Walgreen's is finally coming to Maumelle. Well, actually, the word has jumped from the street and onto this week's planning commission agenda. They want to place their store at the corner of Maumelle Blvd. and South Odom Blvd. That's the Tract D property where Kroger is currently under construction.

My interpretation of the Times' post was that "pulling a permit" means acquiring a plumbing permit... not withdrawing it. If they'd withdrawn their permit, then Apple's absence from the list wouldn't be news.

The police station is a replacement. The fire station is additional. The Murphy/Union property will see construction of the police station and the fire department headquarters station. The current facility at Millwood Circle will remain open to house the Maumelle District Court and what will become Fire Station #2. When sufficient funds become available in the future, the district court will relocate to the Murphy/Union property and a second fire station will be built on the city's southside. At that time, the city will most likely close the existing building and sell the property.

Maumelle wouldn't let Wal-Mart build in the city limits? Says who? To my knowledge, Wal-Mart never made a proposal to construct a store within the city limits. Therefore, the city of Maumelle never had the chance to say yes or no. In conversations about development, it's real easy to say "Maumelle wouldn't allow this" or "North Little Rock allowed that" when, in truth, it's has very little to do with city government and a great deal to do with developers. When the Wal-Mart deal was being planned, there were only two real sites suitable for a store that were inside the city -- the Tract D property where Kroger is building and land near Exit 142 on I-40. If Wal-Mart couldn't negotiate the terms with those landowners, it's not necessarily the City of Maumelle's fault. I know for a fact Maumelle wants -- no, makes that needs -- the sales tax revenue that Wal-Mart and the surrounding development would have provided. It is correct that access to Maumelle Blvd. within the city limits is limited. However, the Kroger development will create another right on/right off access street onto the boulevard between Audubon Drive and South Odom Blvd. so access to the site won't be a problem. When completely, motorists will be able to access it from all four sides -- the boulevard, Odom, Club Manor and Audubon. As far as the City of Maumelle not wanting Wal-Mart because of traffic... Again, I don't know of any time where Maumelle got the chance to approve or deny Wal-Mart either way.

I may be wrong, but I don't think the city forced anything. The McCain Wal-Mart is proof that North Little Rock isn't interested in higher standards and this Wal-Mart is *not* inside Maumelle, so they have no jurisdiction in the matter. I give credit to the members of the Maumelle Citizens Association who proactively met with folks with Wal-Mart (and Kroger) to try to improve these stores as much as possible.

My point was not the actual material, but that they went the extra mile when prodded. The East McCain store is proof of what Wal-Mart is willing to get by with if they're allowed to.

Has anyone been to the new Wal-Mart? I stopped in Sunday night and, well, I was underwhelmed. It's a nice enough store... and I guess I shouldn't have expected much from a Wal-Mart. Yet, after the involvement of the Maumelle Citizens Association, I guess I'd come to expect marble floors and gold chandeliers. :-D I do think the exterior building materials are top notch... I haven't see that much stone on a box store in these parts -- ever.

When the original plat for the Wal-Mart development was released, it showed a Home Depot store. I've since heard rumors alternating between Home Depot and Lowe's. I haven't heard anything remotely official since.