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Board to consider support for Quapaw Tribe request to place five acres into trust at port
Summary
Board members asked questions about a ceremonial request by the Quapaw Tribe to place five acres at the Little Rock port into trust with the Secretary of the Interior; city staff said the request is not a land sale and that the Little Rock Port Authority and regional Chamber have also offered support.
The Board of Directors discussed a request by the Quapaw Tribe asking the Secretary of the Interior to take roughly five acres at the Little Rock port into trust.
Vice Mayor Wyatt asked for background on the item, including whether the site is already selected and whether money is changing hands. The mayor said there is no monetary transaction and described the request as a ceremonial piece of land submitted under the federal land-into-trust process. The mayor said the Little Rock Port Authority and the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce have passed similar resolutions of support.
Why it matters: Taking land into trust is a federal administrative process under the U.S. Department of the Interior that changes the land’s federal trust status; local support resolutions signal municipal consent or nonobjection but do not themselves complete the federal process.
Board follow-up: Vice Mayor Wyatt asked to see the site on a map; the mayor said the city would try to provide that information but that there may be ceremonial reasons for limited disclosure. The mayor offered to have Director Day show the site to Wyatt directly.
Discussion versus action: The discussion was informational; the transcript records that the board is being asked to support the Tribe’s request but does not show a final vote in this agenda-setting meeting.
Details not provided in transcript: The precise parcel boundary and the Tribe’s formal application to the Department of the Interior were not included in the discussion; the transcript records that there is no financial transaction between the city and the Tribe.
