The city of Fayetteville, Arkansas and the University of Arkansas built Lewis Park as an exchange of services in 1993. Fayetteville got to lease 27.5 acres by providing fire service to the university. The 25 year lease was supposed to end in June of 2018. In anticipation of the university taking back the Lewis property, the city made the new Mt. Kessler Regional Park on the south side of town. Unfortunately, Mt. Kessler Regional Park was not able to replace the loss of park access on the the west side of town.
I started and led the movement with multiple shareholders including; state lawmakers, university trustees, elected city officials, public school system administrators, and citizens to save the park from being closed. In total, we were able to secure $3.5 million in public funding through multiple sources, including successful passage of a bond issue with 69% voting yes, to save the park permanently.
