FORT SMITH (KFSM)– A new park will soon located in downtown Fort Smith. On Tuesday (March 15) city directors gave final approval to the 51-acre park to be built along Riverfront Drive (7-0).
The outlines for the park include several soccer fields, a playground, and a walking trail.
The park would be built on 51 acres near the Arkansas River, and will be one the largest parks in the area.
The park will be constructed in stages with the first focus on completing the soccer fields.
Crews will start on the first two soccer fields this summer.
“Soccer is a growing sport in the city of Fort Smith, and actually nationwide, and so the use of the soccer field, we don’t have enough of them, and so we’re trying to alleviate some of that user pressure,” Parks and Recreation director Doug Reinart said.
The entire project is estimated to cost about $35 million, but that includes the recreation center that most likely won’t be built for at least 10 years. Without that, the park is estimated to cost $7 million.
Fort Smith city directors also voted on rezoning property on 5500 Massard to allow the owner to build mini storage units, but people that live near the area aren’t too happy.
The directors already voted previously to allow the rezoning, but at Tuesday’s meeting a few people voiced their concerns about the storage bringing more traffic and crime to the area and cheapening the look of the neighborhoods.
The directors put it up for a re-vote, but the outcome was the same (5-2).
