Public safety committee approves $3.25 million to remove downtown Jonesboro building, forwards measure to full council

The Jonesboro Public Safety Committee voted unanimously to approve Resolution 25005, authorizing the city to enter into an agreement with a construction manager and to allocate $3,250,000 for demolition work at 100 West Washington Avenue. The committee approved the measure and voted to forward it to the full City Council for immediate consideration.

Mayor (not specified) told the committee the property is privately owned and that the requested funds would be used only to remove the building and reopen Main Street, not to transfer ownership to the city. “To clarify, this property and the building are not city owned. The council's vote tonight on the 3,250,000 request does not make this property city owned,” the mayor said, and provided a timeline of prior actions taken by the city.

The mayor summarized the timeline presented to the committee: an Oct. 18 pre-condemnation notice after engineers recommended condemnation; a Nov. 3 emergency declaration authorizing professional services; a Nov. 19 Public Safety Committee approval to forward pre-condemnation notice; a Dec. 17 City Council condemnation resolution approved unanimously; and a 30-day correction period that ended Jan. 16. “This timeline shows that all actions adhered to the notices and waiting periods required by the city and state codes,” the mayor said.

The resolution directs the city to enter a construction-management agreement with Nabholz Construction (listed in the resolution as the construction manager) to hire and oversee demolition contractors on the city’s behalf. Adam Seider, a Nabholz representative, told the committee the company would act as construction manager and would not perform the actual demolition work itself. “Nabholz is not the one actually demolishing the building. They’re the construction manager that will hire the demolition company on the city's behalf,” Seider said.

Seider said the project remains contingent on a decision by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) about whether a wet demolition may proceed or whether an initial asbestos abatement step will be required. “If they do ask us to abate the building first, and then demolish, it adds about $650,000 to the cost and it adds about 3 and a half months,” Seider said. He added that ADEQ inspections and testing would be part of the process if ADEQ chooses to be on-site.

Members of the public raised questions about air-quality monitoring and expected street closures. Matt Silas, a downtown business owner, asked whether air-quality monitoring would be performed by an independent third party or by the contractor; Seider said day-to-day monitoring is part of the demolition contractor’s responsibilities and ADEQ could inspect and test as it chooses. Chef John Myers asked how many streets in addition to Main Street would be closed during the work; the mayor said the city will publish a detailed, updated street-closure plan if the project moves forward and that emergency and hospital routes would be preserved.

Committee Chair Brian Emerson called for the vote after public comment; the committee approved the motion and agreed that the item would be “walked on” for the full council meeting later that night. The motion carried with a unanimous committee vote.

Background provided to the committee stated the city does not perform partial improvements to private structures and must either remove a condemned building or take no action. City staff said stabilization was studied but engineers were not confident that stabilization alone would allow Main Street to reopen safely.

The committee’s action authorizes city staff to move forward with a construction-management contract and spend up to $3,250,000 toward demolition and associated work, subject to ADEQ determinations and final council approval. The full City Council will receive the resolution for consideration later the same day.