HomeMy WebLinkAboutattached letter to Dodds emailJanuary 11, 2006
Dear Members of the Planning Commission,
We have the deepest respect for Childrens' Hospital's wonderful service to our city and
State, and are proud it is here. Because of this deep respect, we are hesitant to raise
concerns about the unintended negative side effects of the hospital's growth. However,
we fear that in its' focus on life-saving work, the hospital too often forgets its' impact on
neighbors. For neighbors, the complex is the elephant next door. When it moves, the
neighborhood is trampled. After decades of building, the neighborhood is now separated
from the hospital by seas of parking, chain link fences and prison -style lighting. The
hospital has turned into a militarily defensible compound, surrounded by nothing. Until
the hospital, neighbors and City develop much more detailed plans to protect the
neighborhood from further destruction for hospital uses, we ask that the hospital's
requested zoning and land use changes be denied. We need a different model.
The hospital demonstrates little respect either for the historical integrity of the place it
occupies, or for the residential quality of the neighborhood it consumes and abuts. Its'
needless destruction of historic Emmanuel Church is sadly typical of its approach.
Although the fragile adjacent neighborhood south of Daisy Bates is finally showing signs
of re -investment, predictably, the hospital demilitarized zone remains terribly depressed.
The hospital seems fully unaware of how it destroys its own environment. By ignoring
public aesthetics outside of its immediate core campus, and by unpredictable and
opportunistic purchases of property all around it, it fosters and solidifies a DMZ circle of
slums. Bad planning and a blank check from the City have left a sad residue of ugliness
and blight on the hospital perimeter. We can and should do better.
The hospital does nothing to encourage building of nearby staff housing or the viability
of any commercial areas within walking distance. Instead, it destroys often perfectly good
homes all around it, leaving asphalt behind. With better planning, the transition between
town and scrubs could be a worthy meeting place between a fine historic neighborhood
and a great institution of healing. Now it is just a scarred wasteland of dis-investment
and lost opportunity. Attached, please find some ideas for how to make a transition to
foster our quality of life and neighborhood.
We invite you all to come take a walking tour of the Hospital's perimeter. We will meet
at the National Park Service Headquarters in the old Magnolia Gas Station at the corner
of Park and Daisy Bates on Sunday afternoon January 15 at 3:00 for a tour, and would be
delighted if you join us. Thank you for your interest and time.
Yours truly,
Neighbors of Childrens' Hospital and Other Concerned Little Rock Citizens
Name Address Phone e-mail
Ten Ideas for a Kinder ACH/Neighborhood Transition
1. Build parking decks instead of razing block after block of historic properties.
2. Replace concentration camp parking lot lighting with gentler illumination.
3. Where parking lots abut residential uses, replace perimeter chain link fencing with
wooden privacy fencing, set back 3 feet from the lot line.
4. Plant shrubs and trees by the fencing, to create visually attractive screen.
5. Remove the outer ring of parking around the day care center on 12th Street and
replace it with shrubs and trees.
6. Convert the stretch of 12th Street between the Hospital and Woodrow from four
to two lanes of traffic, remove part of the asphalt and install trees, and put in
parallel parking in what remains.
7. Define transition zoning on Daisy Bates and along MLK to provide for dense
housing and commercial uses, with no parking visible from the streets. Specify
building materials and styles for all new construction, which are consistent with
the Central High Historic District.
8. Develop incentive program and funding mechanisms to encourage development
of affordable staff housing in transition zoned areas.
9. Extend green space planning of ACH Campus to the perimeter of the campus,
rather than only the heart.
10. Secure commitment from ACH to stop acquiring neighborhood properties, and
instead to build more densely on the many parcels which it already has. In
exchange, revise zoning as needed to permit higher rise and denser uses, including
multi story parking decks (away from transition areas) to ensure adequate space
for ACH future expansion needs.