Encouraging Business Development

While it is important to protect the residential communities in District One from unwanted commercial encroachment, the city has an important role to play in encouraging appropriate commercial developments along the district's arterial roads and in its business districts.

I was an early and vocal supporter of the Thermal Basin Fire District.  These fire regulations changed the city's longstanding vacant structures code.  The old code exempted downtown property owners from having to meet current safety standards.  The Fire Basin regulations gave building owners two options: bring your building up to modern safety codes or, as an cheaper (yet still costly) alternative, install sprinklers through your building.

When first proposed, the Fire District was highly controversial.  Many building owners complained bitterly, saying the regulations were onerous and unneeded.  And initially these complaints found a receptive audience with a large segment of the public.  Then the vacant Majestic Hotel caught fire and no one could ignore the danger posed by older multi-story buildings lacking any fire safety equipment, especially when the buildings are right next to each other (as is the case in our historic downtown).

Today, these same fire regulations are universally praised and are cited as spurring downtown redevelopment efforts.  As the buildings downtown were improved and made safer, they became more appealing for potential commercial businesses.  The end result is that our downtown commercial corridor is enjoying a vibrant economic renaissance.

Similarly, I was a vocal supporter of the MLK Bypass extension over to the Highway 5/7 junction at Fountain Lake.  Even before voters were asked to support a sales tax to help pay for the extension, I was telling people to write letters to the Executive Director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDoT).  I had been told by ARDoT staff that letters from ordinary citizens carry an out-sized impact with the Department and would focus a spotlight on the project, which had languished for more than a decade.  And when voters were asked to approve a sales tax to finance a portion of the project's costs, I again was a vocal advocate, urging a "yes" vote.

The completed bypass extension offers Hot Spring Village residents (and their $300 million in annual disposable income) easy and convenient access to our city’s retail and commercial centers.  The bypass extension has also divert unwanted traffic away from Historic Park Avenue and our downtown commercial corridor Hot Springs, making each safer.

Tourism is our city’s largest revenue source and we need to work even harder to find and create more jobs for our residents.  One way to accomplish this is to put in place the infrastructure that allows people to telecommute and work from home.  City Hall can play a significant role in expanding highspeed internet throughout our community by encouraging competition and streamlining access to the public right of way which is used to run data cables and fiber lines.

In my own neighborhood, we have worked together to promote appropriate commercial projects that fit with the largely residential character of the Whittington Valley.  These include the construction of the new Roanoke Baptist Church, the opening of a Head Start Early Childhood Education Center in a former church building, expansion of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, expansion of the Valley's Arkansas Alligator Farm, the rehabilitation of an abandoned nursing home into a senior living community, and the planned future relocation of several City departments into a vacant commercial warehouse in the Valley.   By promoting appropriate adaptive reuse of idled commercial structures, the city can ensure District One's economic vitality.

Common Sense Leadership.

Vision and Values You Can Trust.

Vote MARK TOTH

City Director, District One.