Mercy coming to town

Mercy Medical Center is planning to build in Pea Ridge and hopes to open next year.

Diego Garcia, studio architects with Crafton & Tull, presented a plan to the Pea Ridge Planning Commission during a tech review last week for the building on a lot north of Slack Street, east of Carr Street, west of Townsend Way.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for Pea Ridge," Mayor Jackie Crabtree said later.

"The site was basically approved when Lee Town Crossing went in," Tony Townsend, building official, told planners. "Lighting, streets, that sort of thing -- off Townsend Way... the entire subdivision is shared parking."

The plan shows a canopy over one of the entrances. Planners asked about the size of the canopy and whether it encroached on the setbacks. Garcia said the canopy is 25 feet wide.

"Every church in town has one," Townsend said.

Garcia told planners the building would look just like Mercy building on Arkansas Highway 102 in Centerton.

The front of the building will face Carr Street. It will be sprinkled, Garcia told planners.

Michael Nida with the Pea Ridge Water Department said there are several water meters in the area that will be removed and taken out of service.

"They'll need to be taken all the way back and shut off at the main. We don't want them leaking up under that asphalt," Nida said.

Townsend said he had not yet seen a plan specifying number of exam rooms and restrooms.

"We'll need to see what kind of needs you're going to need for service," Nida said about water service. He said the sewer connection is on the northwest corner of the building and is an existing main that both McDonalds and Subway feed into.

Planners agreed to review the plans at the January Planning Commission meeting.

"I'm excited to have it come in," Dr. Karen Sherman, planner, said.

"We want to be open next year some time," Garcia said.

Crabtree said that when Mercy left Pea Ridge several years ago, Dr. Stephen Goss assured him that he wouldn't forget about Pea Ridge. "He kept his word," Crabtree said. Goss is the president of Mercy's integrated physicians in Northwest Arkansas.

"It just shows that our community is growing and businesses have faith in us that they can invest in our community which all goes back to that whole cycle of people come, businesses come, people come -- it's a teeter totter. We got stuck on the residential side for a while," Crabtree said. "We're trying to work with some economic development folks to see how to advertise ourselves for businesses to look at. We're in the infancy stage right now."