FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — On Friday, Nov. 10, the city of Fayetteville opened a new parking deck on the corner of Dickson Street and West Avenue. The parking deck will add hundreds of new parking spots to the area. It was built to accommodate spots from the surface lot on West Avenue as construction crews get ready to build the new Civic Plaza.
It’s the next phase of the cultural arts corridor project to begin a plan that includes a green space, a Civic Plaza, and a hotel.
Greg House, a partial owner of the land the deck was built on, says the deck will best utilize the land around it.
“The Park is one of the greatest assets that will come as a result of building the deck. I mean it's not necessarily the best use of prime land to have surface parking it's much better to use it for other more static and useful things for the downtown like a park or entertainment or buildings a combination of all that to many. A deck is a much more utilitarian way to store cars,” said House.
We did hear some concerns, however, from the employees who work on Dickson Street. They didn’t want their names specified, but they told 5NEWS that their main concern was that they would have to pay more just to go to work. They are also concerned about the rise of homelessness and drug-related crimes.
Among some of the changes according to the city, are two hours of free parking between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. and increased rates in core on-street areas and parking decks to be consistent with current demand.
For example, street parking on and surrounding Dickson will increase from $1 an hour on the weekend evenings, to $1.50.
The city says the surface lot is scheduled to close on Monday, Nov. 13, the same day the construction for the Civic Plaza begins.
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