Click on the video player above to watch last night’s meeting
FORT SMITH – Free parking will be back in downtown Fort Smith for the upcoming holiday shopping season. The City’s Board of Directors approved a measure that will waive the fees typically collected by parking meters between December 1st and January 5th.
The measure came with a hearty endorsement from business owners, one of which spoke on the matter to the board.
“I am in total favor of turning off the parking meter.” Resident Melissa Woodall told the board Tuesday night. “It worked well last year. I run a downtown business. We do not have a metered spot. We have street parking and a parking lot, but we still benefit.”
Woodall told the board she would like to see the parking meters turned off all the time, but knew it wasn’t possible.
“For now, December is a good start.” Woodall said.
City Director George Catsivis asked the board to extend the free parking through January 5th.
“I think it will start the New Year off right and put a good taste in their mouth.” Catsivis said.
The board voted 6-0 in favor of the measure, with one board member abstaining.
Capital Improvement Projects
As reported earlier this week on InsideFortSmith.Com, the board took up a five year plan on local capital improvement projects. The laundry list of items is funded by a 1/8th cent sales tax that was passed by voters in 2012.
Some of the highlights of the project include items like a new splash pad at Creekmore Park, a dog park, the Martin Luther King skate park, and a $500,000 investment in the Parrot Island Water Park.
“I think the thing that is most important out of this capital improvement plan is all those questions I get all the time of ‘what are you doing to fix this.” Ward 3 Director Mike Lorenz told the board. “This says, ‘Here is your plan, this is what we are doing, and here is what the tax money is being spent on for these projects.'”
Other Business
- The board also voted to give the city’s blessing for the Muse Lounge & Nightclub to apply for a 2 AM liquor license with the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
- The board voted 7-0 to pass a rezoning measure to allow for construction of the new Fuentes Plaza at the corner of Massard and McClure.