FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — At Tuesday night's city council meeting, the Fayetteville City Council voted to vacate a tree preservation easement for the property where Fayetteville High School plans to build a parking garage.
The move allows the district to remove six trees that are over 100 years old in fair or poor condition. The one in good condition will not be cut down.
"This is a tough decision, and I think we all feel it. None of us like the idea of taking these trees down, but at the end of the day, we're happy for our kids and for our families that the council did vote to approve our request," said Fayetteville Superintendent Dr. John Mulford.
In the proposal, this easement will be replaced with a new easement that's three times the size and will be at a different location.
"Part of the proposal was to replace the existing easement that was about two thirds of an acre with alternate easement that's over two acres, so more than triple the size. It includes several significant trees, 63 trees total. And then part of that, we're going to plant an additional 50 or so trees to replace the canopy that's coming down," Mulford said.
The superintendent adds that the district will be "working with urban forestry to determine the location and the types of those trees to make sure that what goes in is what's best for that part of town and the City of Fayetteville overall."
The high school has faced parking issues for years and a parking garage was one way to combat it. There are 850 parking spaces currently available on the Fayetteville High School campus: 300 for faculty and 550 for students.
"With those 2600 students on campus, we only have 550 student parking spaces, so the demand for parking far exceeds our available parking spaces," Mulford said. "And so that creates a lot of hardships on families and students especially when you think about like students involved in extracurriculars, that you know they can't take the bus home afterwards."
The discussion lasted almost three hours on this item with the room split.
After hours of conversation and public comment, the council voted 5-3, with council members Sarah Moore, Bob Stafford, and Teresa Turk voting against.
"I just want to stand up for anybody that doesn't have a voice, and the trees don't have a voice," said Mary Lightheart, who spoke against vacating the easement. "I was hysterical last time. It breaks my heart, because we will never grow 100-year-old trees again. They're irreplaceable."
Mulford said the district's next steps for the garage are working with their architect on design and they'll have to go through the city for an approval process. They are hopeful to break ground in the Spring and have the spaces available for the 2026-2027 school year.
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