Sitting in front of a placard illustrating the proposed 17,000-square feet community center, Mayor Nathan See listened to several people who dropped by Friday for a Round Table discussion at Coffee with the Mayor.
See said he plans to host the event on the first Friday of each month.
The community center will have pickle ball courts, exercise areas, rooms to rent for community events.
Plans to hire a Parks and Recreation director will assist in running the center as that person will run the program, schedule times for various events and oversee the recreation programs in the city. See said he has already had discussions with various youth sports programs to bring them under the oversight of the city when the time is right.
"That's going to be the next generation's place to go," See said of the 45 acres northeast of town on East Pickens Road (Arkansas Highway 72) where he hopes to build ball fields.
"There are other pieces of property we're working on," he said. "We're working on a plan for connectivity. We want to make sure there's a reason for green space and how to get there."
See said he hopes construction will begin this year on the all-inclusive playground park slated for the Carr Street Park. He also plans a championship Frisbee and disc golf course on property he's considering.
"We want to create our own greenway within the city to keep bikes off the city streets," he said.
A trail from Greer Street into Pea Ridge is already planned.
"We're trying to fill those gaps right now and that funding for that will be helped by TAP funding or the carbon reduction plan."
Plans are already underway for sidewalks along North Davis Street and McCulloch.
"Those are really vital for schools," he said. "We want to interconnect the inner part of the city first then grow legs and go out from there."
The plans for the sidewalks and trails area already at 60%, he said, and are paid for by bonds.
Greer Street will be improved and create a connector from Arkansas Highway 72 to Lee Town Road, taking some of the traffic off North Curtis Avenue and North Davis Street.
"You learn from the Big Four on green space," See said, explaining that officials with Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville are now trying to "shoehorn in" green space. "That's why we did the ULI summit -- to help us come up with open green space, for our community as it grows."
He said the city does not need any more housing along Hwy. 72 abutting they highway.
"That's a missed opportunity for tax-based services coming in. We have to preserve that for us to support the things we need to be doing."