FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Lewis Park is a 27.5 acre park near the heart of Fayetteville in Ward 2. It is mostly comprised of six full size soccer fields.
Ward 2 is undergoing a building boom. There is a lot of infill, brown lot, and green lot development with a combination of apartment complexes and single family houses. Without Lewis there will be a dearth of park land on that side of town and no ability to add new park land.
Additionally, the six soccer fields at Lewis represent 60% of the public soccer fields in Fayetteville. The new regional park, Mt. Kessler currently has three fields and Walker Park has one field. Both Walker and Mt. Kessler suffer from lack of parking.
In 2017, the Division of Agriculture at University of Arkansas asked $4.1 million for the entire 27.5 acres. About $150000 per acre. In 2020, the city and Fayetteville Public School District worked out an agreement to split the land and the purchase costs.
If Lewis is lost, or diminished, more land will have to be purchased to replace the lost fields. That land will have a cost, plus what ever it takes to build the new park. If Lewis is saved, the only cost would be the improvements as it is currently a park and already has bathrooms, concession stand, soccer fields, and parking lots. As a point of interest, the first phase of Mt. Kessler cost over $10.5 million and is projected to be more than $28 million at completion. The cost savings of keeping Lewis a park could be immense.
Originally, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture decided that they would take back the land after the lease/exchange with the city was over in 2018.
When the University of Arkansas wanted to use its own land for its own purposes, we were saddened that the public would lose Lewis, but understood — it was the university’s after all. When the land was for sale, we wanted to make sure it remained a park and isn’t developed.
Now we are again facing a development, of a different kind, the Fayetteville Aquatic Recreation Center. This project is on the 2026 March 3 Bond as Question #8, $61.9 MILLION.
The city hired Water Technology, Inc. for $151,591 to perform a feasibility study for a new aquatics facility. The preferred site from that study was Lewis Park and Soccer Complex. Spending before the Bond Vote of $272,523 for construction management and architectural plans have been for Lewis Park.
There were those in the city that did want to purchase the land that Lewis is on. Unfortunately, the budget was not there right as $3.75 million just went to help finish the first phase of Mt. Kessler. If the university had let the city know it was going to sell the land, instead of repossess it as it originally said, then perhaps the city could have purchased Lewis.
The split of the property that was negotiated in 2020 between FPSD and City of Fayetteville was that the city retained the infrastructure of the concession stand/bathrooms and parking lot on the West side along N Lewis Ave, and the woods to the South between W Hefley and W Mt Comfort Rd, and the two fields on the West Side; the School District would purchase the two center and two East fields and the parking at the South end near W Mt. Comfort Rd.
We are advocating for a reworking of this agreement to allow for the entire facility to be added to the City of Fayetteville Parks land, for improvements to the field surfaces, bathrooms, addition of playgrounds, pavilions, and picnic tables, to create more a welcoming COMMUNITY PARK that remains as our vital enduring green space.
Write your council person and Mayor Molly Rawn.
Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/SaveLewisPark/. We will use that to organize our efforts and keep up-to-date news and information there.