Members of the El Dorado Kiwanis Club heard Wednesday details about and a preliminary strategy for implementing a citywide historic preservation plan.
Kiwanis Club members were joined in a Zoom meeting by Elizabeth Eggleston, executive director of the El Dorado Historic District Commission, who initiated the project, and Douglas Kaarre, of The Lakota Group, an Illinois-based urban planning and design firm who drafted the plan.
EHDC Commissioner Sara Coffman also attended the meeting.
Kaarre presented an overview of the meaty plan, which provides guidance and direction on how the city can identify and prioritize historic preservation issues and projects.
The plan was completed in July after more than a year of preparation.
Eggleston introduced Kaarre and followed up his presentation with ideas that bend toward implementation of the plan and she received feedback from the Kiwanis Club.
She told Kiwanis members that under the advisement of the State Historic Preservation Office, which is part of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the EHDC pursued a federal grant to devise a comprehensive historic preservation plan for the El Dorado.
El Dorado is one of approximately 20 Certified Local Government communities in the state. CLGs partner with the state and federal government to preserve local, historic resources.
In 2019, the city was awarded $42,000 — which was, at the time, the largest CLG grant to be awarded in Arkansas — to cover the cost of the preservation plan and other operational expenses for the EHDC.
The grant was funneled through the AHPP and was complemented by a $10,000 match from the El Dorado Works tax, which is earmarked for economic development, municipal infrastructure and quality-of-life projects.
Eggleston and Kaarre told Kiwanis members Wednesday that the early stages of the planning process included site visits and driving/windshield tours of the city for Lakota team members.
The planning stages included events to solicit public feedback, including an open house that was held last fall in the auditorium of the South Arkansas Community College library.
“We’ve really enjoyed working in this community,” Kaarre said, adding that The Lakota Group was impressed with efforts that have already been completed and those that are under way to preserve the city’s history and heritage.
Some of the key milestones of those efforts were the creation of the EHDC in 1984 (the group became more active in the early 2000s); the establishment of Main Street El Dorado in 1988; the addition of the El Dorado Commercial Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003; and the opening of the Murphy Arts District in 2017.
The preservation plan includes four goals: recognizing historic resources, revitalizing El Dorado, engaging the community and managing the preservation program.
Lakota recommended 37 action items to help reach those goals.
Kaarre hit some of the highlights, saying that some of the key action items for El Dorado are to:
• Identify and prioritize historic properties and neighborhoods to nominate for placement on the National Register.
• Survey and inventory mid-20th century properties, African American neighborhoods and educational and municipal facilities for which to adapt re-use plans.
• Establish incentives for housing repairs and rehabilitation, create a community housing development organization that includes rehab projects and create a handbook for owners of historic homes.
• Create standing or ad-hoc committees to help implement some of the action items.
“The biggest will be an education committee,” Kaarre said.
• Engage the younger generation to carry on preservation projects in the future.
The EHDC previously discussed the need to develop an awareness and education campaign that would include an outreach program for local schools.
Prioritizing projects
Kaarre explained that for high-priority projects, one to three years should be the targeted date of completion.
He said the city should also focus on heritage tourism. Eggleston and W.L. Cook, president of the Kiwanis Club, agreed, with Eggleston saying that research has shown that heritage tourists typically “stay longer and spend more money.”
Cook added that heritage tourists are also likely to revisit a site several times.
Kaarre noted that a couple of the MAD entertainment venues are located in a historic commercial property and plans for expansion call for more venues to be added to historic properties.
“So that’s a great tourism draw,” he said.
Eggleston outlined the next steps toward implementing the preservation plan, telling Kiwanis members that the city has received an even larger CLG grant of $49,049, breaking the record of the amount of the 2019 grant.
Of the amount, $42,500 is to be used to begin surveying the Mellor Park residential area and Forest Lawn/Eastridge subdivision for eligibility for a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.
The areas are just north of the Mahony and Murphy-Hill residential historic districts.
Eggleston said the Mellor Park area includes five distinct subdivisions that will be a part of the survey, as well as a small section of the McKinney subdivision and some “un-platted” areas.
She said the EHDC is eyeing the Retta Brown neighborhood next, noting that a former elementary school building of the same name lies at the center of the neighborhood.
The El Dorado School District is still using the building for its Gifted and Talented Program.
Also high on the priority list is context research for the city’s African American neighborhoods, including St. Louis, Rock Island, Fordsville, Fairview and others.
Cook asked if there are plans to add Barton Library to the NRHP.
Cook said he has been in discussions with the library for several years about the matter but the effort has not gained much traction, with officials saying the property does not qualify for nomination to the register.
Eggleston said an architectural survey of the area was completed a few years ago and the work included Barton Library, the TAC House, Memorial Stadium, the Boys and Girls Club of El Dorado, South Arkansas Arts Center and the El Dorado Municipal Auditorium.
Some of the properties, such as the stadium and the auditorium, were not eligible for nomination because of renovations that have been done in recent years.
Kaarre said there has been some confusion regarding the eligibility of Barton Library, explaining that state historic preservation officials said they had requested some revisions to the nomination report.
“There definitely needs to be some follow-up on that,” he said.
Eggleston said she will forward the survey to the library, noting that the TAC House also qualified for nomination to the National Register.
She also said that while some of the properties were not eligible for the NRHP, they qualified for nomination to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places.
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Kiwanis Club hears preservation plan, offers feedback - El Dorado News-Times
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