City officials are considering an offer from the Sloan family in which the city would buy 33 acres from the family’s B&G Land Co. for $500,000. The company would donate another 33 acres, and John and Lee Ann Sloan would provide another 76 acres to the city in the form of a no-cost lease.

Brian Richardson, Mayor Harold Copenhaver’s chief administrative officer, said the land is hard not to consider.

“It’s my personal belief this property is one of the most beautiful in Jonesboro,” Richardson said. And sometime you’ve just got to do what you can to help protect that property, so not only my children can enjoy it, but your children and your children’s children.”

The land at 3255 Strawfloor Drive is primarily scenic woods, but also includes a large disc golf course that hosts a national professional tournament.

Some events have attracted hundreds, if not thousands to the country setting. But to get there, Jim Lyons, who represents both the RidgePointe and Sloan Lake Estates property owners associations, the participants drive and even park along their streets.

In the case of RidgePointe Boulevard, there are five golf cart crossings along the golf course, said Randy Woodruff, a member of the POA board. A round of golf means crossing the street nine times, he said.

“Golf carts and traffic don’t go hand in hand too well, especially with a lot of pedestrians in the street,” Woodruff said.

Attorney Jim Lyons, on behalf of the property owners, warned the Sloans and city officials in a letter last year that he would file a lawsuit to stop the transaction. In the letter, dated Nov. 12, which The Sun obtained from one property owner, Lyons said, “we understand that several people who intended to purchase land in Sloan Lake Estates have now made a decision not to do so based upon the potential of this park coming in near to Sloan Lake subdivision.”

Lyons also warned that the proposal to use $360,000 from the Jonesboro Arkansas Residential Housing and Medical Facilities Board to make the purchase could be illegal.

However, the ordinance that established the facilities board contained a clause that surplus funds could be directed to the city’s general fund.

The board was originally established in 1978, under the authority of a 1975 state law, to provide low interest loans to homebuyers during a time of double digit interest rates.

Lyons said homeowners don’t oppose the park, or even the Jonesboro Open disc golf event.

“If it was one day, I think everybody would say, OK, we can live with it for one day,” Lyons told The Sun Friday. “But when you’re going to have several of these, then that’s when they start saying, wait a second.”

Daniel Lee, one of the organizers of Disc Side of Heaven, which operates the disc golf course, acknowledged neighbors’ fear of the unknown. But he said private development of the land is also an unknown to consider.

“I just want to make sure that you all understand that if it’s not a disc golf course, what would it be,” Lee said. “There’s a lot of unknowns, but the disc golf course, at least you kind of know that. But if that’s developed, then I think it introduces a lot more unknowns than disc golf.”

Richie Crawford a resident of Sloan Lake Estates, countered that he doesn’t believe the land can be developed on a large scale.

While city officials said there were no specific plans for the development of the potential new park, the Sloans offered a list of deed restrictions to preserve the property in its natural state:

Maintain a 100-foot vegetative buffer around the exterior of the property.

Property will remain predominantly greenspace.

Require that all parking lot lighting be restricted to a maximum height of 14 feet in parking lot and access roads. All lighting will be low scale and directed downward, recessed or shielded so that the light source is not visible from residential development in the area or from a public viewpoint.

Any overflow parking built will be designated to have a natural grass cover.

No mass grading of the property.

No radio, cellular, or transmission towers will be allowed on the property.

All utilities shall be underground.

Any plant material placed on the property will be indigenous species.

All drainage will be designated and built using low impact development methods.

No recreational motorized off-road vehicles with the exception of electric assist bicycles and (Americans with Disability Act) compliant assist vehicles.

No temporary or permanent housing will be constructed or placed on the property.

Property will not be used for fenced or contained housing of domestic, exotic or wild animals.

City Council member Chris Moore criticized the process Copenhaver’s office has used in considering the donation, saying, “There’s been no big public outcry to accept this donation,” and noting the city will be responsible for maintaining the land. “And our needs are many and our revenues are finite.”

Speaking in favor of the land deal, Beverly Parker of the Keep Jonesboro Beautiful Commission said, “It really concerns me that we’re losing our tree canopy at an alarming rate, and I think it’s marvelous that Mr. Sloan is providing an area to be managed into perpetuity and it may be the last stand standing of hardwood forest.”

Both John Sloan and Kitty Sloan said 19 shareholders in B&G Land Co. were in agreement to try to preserve the land in honor of their grandmother, Beatrice Sloan.

Pam Alexander, a long-time supporter of developing more parks, said the people of RidgePointe deserve more answers, but that “we can figure this out.”

David Daniel, a RidgePointe resident and former coach and athletic director at Jonesboro High School, concurred.

“The Jonesboro Open, to me, is the most unique event that we have in Jonesboro since we held the national AAU tournament at ASU in the late ‘80s,” Daniels said. “… If we were sitting in northwest Arkansas, I don’t think this would that big an issue. I think there would be people pouring their hearts into it, trying to make it what it can be.”

Anyone who would like to express an opinion regarding the proposed transaction is invited to contact the city government. By email, correspondence may be made in the following ways:

City officials have not announced a timeline for making a decision.