The Eureka Springs Historic District Commission will host a special meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at which it will decide whether buildings adjacent to a historic home on Dairy Hollow Road can be removed to accommodate the expansion of an electric substation.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. at The Auditorium and will involve property at 332 Dairy Hollow, recently purchased by Southwest Electric Power Company. The address includes a home and an exterior garage that sits to the northeast side of the substation, just inches from the electric facilities’ fence. The property was built around 1910, according to Kyle Palmer, the city’s director of planning and community development.
The HDC met on the issue on Wednesday, Aug. 16, with numerous residents who live in the Dairy Hollow area speaking against the project. There had already been a site visit for commissioners to take a look at the property, but a second visit with James Ball, a SWEPCO representative, took place on Monday, Aug. 21, at the property.
It was at that site visit where the garage building drew the attention of city building inspector Jacob Coburn, who indicated he would have to condemn the unattached building even if SWEPCO didn’t remove it because of its deteriorated condition.
“Even if they weren’t going to do anything to this building, I would have condemned this building … this is a really bad condition,” Coburn told those at the site visit. “That would be my opinion.”
Commissioners commented that they wanted to make sure Coburn’s thoughts were known and explained to residents at the upcoming special meeting.
As far as the house on the property — the main concern for most — Ball told commissioners at the Aug. 16 meeting and again at the Aug. 21 site visit that SWEPCO has no plans to tear down the historic home, which features a stone wall along the front. In an attempt to expand the aging substation and better prepare for more electrical needs in the area, Ball said the plan is to demolish the exterior garage and a storage structure behind it.
SWEPCO will build a temporary road where the garage now sits leading to the back of the substation, where the company plans to expand to the north and slightly to the west, Ball said, adding then when construction is complete the area will be lawn-like.
Some of the residents voicing opposition Aug. 16 said they didn’t want any building on the property removed while some expressed concern that the home would eventually be demolished.
Ball said SWEPCO currently rents office space from the city and initial plans are to use the home for SWEPCO to use as needed. The eventual plan is to likely sell the house, Ball said.
“There’s a good chance we’ll probably wind up selling the house because we don’t want the operational expense,” Ball said. “We will maintain it [until then].”
Ball explained that the proximity of the garage structure to the exterior fence of the substation is a safety hazard. In fact, the overall age of the equipment needs to be addressed, he said.
“It’s past its usable life,” Ball said. “It’s getting hard to get equipment and maintain it. If something goes wrong it would be very difficult to fix so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Upgrading and expanding the facility is important, especially with more electrical needs evolving, he said.
HDC members made sure to stress that their only task was the decide whether the garage and storage building can be removed from the property and that the decision to take down trees or expand the substation isn’t part of their purview. In fact, Ball confirmed that SWEPCO is going to expand the substation whether the HDC approves the removal of the buildings or not.
“Oh, we’re still expanding,” Ball said when asked what the plan would be if the removal gets denied by the commission. “It’s just going to take longer.”
RESIDENTS OPPOSE HOUSE REMOVAL
Residents who spoke at the Aug. 16 meeting were opposed to the idea of destroying the home on the property. One letter read at the meeting, from Richard Geary, said he objected to removing the home but not the outlying buildings.
At the time of public comments, residents were unaware of Coburn’s opinion that the garage would likely be condemned regardless of HDC vote.
“We would like to be on the record that we have no objection to the demolition to the outbuildings but we would have strong objections to the demolition to the historic house,” Geary’s letter read. “There aren’t that many left in that area and we don’t want to see it destroyed.”
Others had stronger opinions.
“This is not a request by a homeowner to improve or renovate their property; this is a giant energy corporation attempting to start demolition of the one of the oldest houses on Dairy Hollow Road so they can expand the electric substation,” said Rhonda Dixson, who said she lives across the street from the property. “This valley is not a safe space for people to be around an electrical substation and why it was ever built here is a good question. Why it is allowed to keep expanding is a question for us right now.”
Jeff Danos, director of the Eureka Springs Historical Museum, said his home on Pivot Rock Road backs up to the power lines that lead to the substation.
“My first thought when hearing about SWEPCO’s desire to expand their existing substation in Dairy Hollow was: Why?” Danos said. “Our population hasn’t grown. … So, is there really a need?
Danos went on to share his thoughts on why the substation was built in that location in the first place.
“The sad truth is that building that station there so many years ago was a social injustice,” he said. “It allowed an industrial power substation to be placed in one of the poorer residential neighborhoods in town. … Maybe some people saw that as urban blight. … My bet is they didn’t have the resources to fight it. It certainly wasn’t built on Spring Street.”
Removing the garage building on the property would only lead to a negative effect on the house that sits next door, Danos said.
“With the SWEPCO project being proposed, the only barrier between that little yellow cottage and the massive industrial power substation next door … what they’re asking for is to remove that barrier,” Danos said. “…I dont know who’s going to want to live in that little house.”
Some residents who live in the area said they didn’t receive notice of the Aug. 16 meeting. Palmer explained that those who live within 200 feet of the property get notices in the mail. Jessica FitzPatrick, head of school of Clear Spring School, which is just down the road from the property, said she didn’t have an opinion because of a lack of information.
“I’d just like to comment that I was unaware and didn’t receive public notice of what’s happening here,” FitzPatrick said. “… I feel like if we’re going to make a decision as a school, we would like to know that information being that there are kids in that neighborhood. We walk past there all the time and we do have interest in what happens in Dairy Hollow.
“I’m just speaking on behalf of the school and that we would have liked more information just to be included in decisions that are made in Dairy Hollow.”
