Kyle Parker has grand plans for the land surrounding the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine at Chaffee Crossing, just not necessarily Seaside plans.
Parker is the CEO of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, which will operate the college in Fort Smith. The college is being built on 20-plus acres of 228 acres donated by the Fort Chaffee Development Authority, which leaves 200 acres for other development.
Parker has hired a first-rate lineup of consultants to devise the best way to build a residential-retail-commercial community. One of the consultants also worked on the Seaside, Florida, development, a renowned planned community that was featured in the 1998 movie “The Truman Show.”
“We hired the one who wrote the book, not the ones who read the book,” Parker said.
The consultant and the casual mention of Seaside by Mercy Clinic Fort Smith Communities President Dr. R. Cole Goodman in his Executive Q&A with Arkansas Business on Jan. 11 caused a mini-rumor to take flight. Parker pointed out that another consultant worked on The Village at Hendrix College in Conway.
Parker said the college has submitted a planning, zoning and development request to Fort Smith, Barling and the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, and he hopes to have final approval by the spring. The actual final master design plan will be based on the approved PZD request, so even Parker doesn’t know what the development will look like.
“It’s a little premature to say we’re doing a Seaside development,” Parker said. He knows what he wants, though. Parker wants a mixture of family housing and apartments, some trails and a park and a lake — a “live, work, play” community.
Parker said the community will not be gated or restricted and will be open to all.
He wants a place where people can interact with each other and walk to the grocery store or down to the park to throw a Frisbee.
Parker said the college resubmitted an earlier PZD after receiving feedback from the three cities or agencies that have jurisdiction. He hopes to meet soon to go over the latest 53-page PZD request in the coming weeks.