City leases lodge to Watershed Alliance

SPRINGDALE — The Beaver Watershed Alliance has new office space after being approved to lease a cityowned lodge.

The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to lease Rabbits Foot Lodge to the Watershed Alliance.

“I think it’s a great fit,” said Mayor Doug Sprouse during a council discussion on the lease.

The rental fee on the contract is $1,000 a month, Sprouse said.

“We (are not) trying to make a killing, but to recoup our cost,” Sprouse said.

The city and the alliance have been discussing the lease for the past few months, said Melissa Reeves, public relations director for the city.

The lease will be monthto-month, Reeves said.

The alliance will use the 3,109-square-foot lodge as their office space. The alliance, which has existed since 2012, is currently at the Center

for Nonprofits at the JTL Shop, 614 E. Emma Ave., and has four full-time employees and three part-time employees, said John Pennington, alliance executive director.

The lodge, which Reeves described as a beautiful, multistoried wood cabin in JB Hunt Park, was a private home before the city purchased it in April 2014. It was once the home of Arkansas senator J. William Fulbright.

“It was part of a 43-acre land purchase,” Reeves said. “The house was basically located in the middle of JB Hunt Park. By purchasing that land (it was located on), it connected Springdale and JB Hunt Park.”

The lodge has been used since its purchase for retreats by nonprofit groups, Reeves said.

“But we haven’t entered into any lease agreements for its use since we purchased it,” she said.

Pennington said the lodge is close to the Razorback Greenway and natural areas, and the alliance will allow schools and the Illinois River Watershed Partnership to use the facility.

Beaver Lake is the regional water supply, and that water supply access was largely made possible by Springdale, Pennington said.

“Our organization is the organization that oversees the strategy to protect the water supply,” Pennington said.

File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANTHONY REYES The Rabbits Foot Lodge off Silent Grove Road in Springdale. The city-owned property, formerly the home of Sen. J. William Fulbright, will be leased to the Beaver Watershed Alliance for use as office space.