Web posted
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Windows group disbands
By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net
Arkansas City business owner Roger Sparks said Friday he had disbanded a group of merchants and commercial property owners that met to consider how to fix boarded up windows downtown.
Sparks, who served as the group's chairman, said he will tell the City Commission at its work session next Monday what happened after the business group had just one private meeting: "We had such polarized positions, it wasn't worth continuing the meetings."
He said he discussed the situation with a local chamber official and they decided "it was not any of our jobs to lose customers and make long-term friends resent each other."
Sparks said that as far as he is concerned, if the windows need to be fixed up, "put the windows where they need to go."
Mayor Mell Kuhn said if the business owners did not present a plan, the city would consider adopting a revised ordinance at its regular meeting next Tuesday. The ordinance would require that downtown building windows be replaced within a year.
"We gave them four to six weeks to come up with a plan, and then we'd consider it," Kuhn said. "If not, we have a plan ready to be adopted."
Kuhn said he believed most people would favor the proposed new ordinance, but even if there is some opposition, "Frankly, I don't care. They need to fix their windows."
Another downtown building owner, Jim Sybrant, said besides an ongoing tension between city officials and downtown property owners, there also has been some tension among different business people.
There are several buildings downtown that have boarded up windows, he said, but some owners are not so keen on fixing their own property while pointing at others'.
"Let's all clean up our act," he said.
Sybrant has acknowledged that many windows need to be replaced in a historical building his family owns. It is on the northwest corner of Summit Street and Washington Avenue. The building's upstairs windows are covered with metal.
But window-replacement is expensive, he said in March. "The city just keeps hammering away at investors. It really bothers me. This law is good-intentioned, but it is vague and unenforceable."
Since the city first considered the ordinance in March, it tabled the plan to give downtown business owners a chance to come up with their own plan. Meanwhile, it revised the original ordinance. The revised version will be considered for adoption at the commission's regular meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.
Downtown business owners had an organizational meeting March 25 to discuss the windows issue. They agreed to meet again, in private, and it was after the private meeting that the group was disbanded, Sparks said.
"Opinions on that issue were so diverse that we thought there wasn't any reason ... to continue," Sparks said.
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