Central Arkansas Water’s board of commissioners has agreed to shoulder the cost of installing a new water main 16 inches in diameter at the Port of Little Rock while splitting up the total expense over more than one calendar year so as not to exceed a cap on industrial development spending.
In a unanimous voice vote at a meeting Thursday, water commissioners approved a motion to spend up to 1% of the utility’s 2023 annual revenue on the work.
Installing the approximately 6,580 linear feet of water pipe is expected to cost a little more than $1 million, according to board documents and Central Arkansas Water Chief Executive Officer Tad Bohannon.
The planned north-south water main is designed to support an eventual “supersite” at the port. Port officials have worked to move an aviation navigation beacon in the area; once relocated, it will free up new acreage for what officials hope could become a major manufacturing site.
(Officials often refer to the aviation installation as a “VOR cone,” referring to the VHF Omni Directional Radio Range network.)
The water utility’s board in April approved the purchase of more than $600,000 worth of 16-inch-diameter pipe for a water main extension at the port to convey water to a site for an ammunition manufacturer, but also to support the future “supersite.”
Bohannon told board members Thursday that the pipe has been purchased and delivered. The Port Authority will be paying for the pipe, he said.
According to the consolidation agreement between Little Rock and North Little Rock that created Central Arkansas Water, the water utility can contribute up to 1% of its revenue for industrial development activity annually.
Bohannon said the utility’s revenue is about $78 million, meaning the utility could contribute up to $780,000.
Jay Chesshir, the president and chief executive officer of Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, recalled for board members the efforts to clear the way for continued development to the south in the area of the port by securing authorization to have the aviation navigation beacon relocated out of the port to a site in North Little Rock.
Based on existing or anticipated agreements, officials are eyeing a “supersite” of approximately 1,060 acres, Chesshir said.
The ammunition manufacturer, Fiocchi, is not expected to be a high-volume water user, but it did not make sense to ask the water utility to install a 4-inch-diameter main only to come back two years later and ask for the installation of a 16-inch-diameter main, Chesshir said.
Although marketing efforts tied to the site are underway, it’s unlikely that anything significant will happen until the beacon is turned off in September 2024, according to Chesshir.
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