The downtown Arkadelphia Royal movie theater plan has been denied bond funding with a 3-2 vote against by the Arkadelphia City Board of Directors on Thursday, Feb. 18, at one of their regular meetings.
Originally, the city of Arkadelphia was going to own and run the theater and try to sell bonds to fund its building and startup costs.
In 2009, the board voted 5-2 on a plan to sell bonds to finance the theater renovations, build a firestation and make improvements on the girls’ softball fields at the Youth Sports Complex had commitments for 70 percent of the bonds to be sold.
Some people had concerns over whether or not this was the best way to finance the plan.
Dr. Wesley Kluck, chairperson of the Clark County Strategic Plan and university physician, spoke at the meeting in favor of the issuance of bonds to finance the theater and presented results from a survey he had conducted via e-mail to collect resident and college students’ opinions on different aspects of the Royal theater plans. More than 800 people were surveyed and a little less than half of those were college students.
“Eighty percent said that the theater was one of their main priorities,” Kluck said. “And about two-thirds of those surveyed were in favor of all aspects of the plan including selling bonds to pay for it.”
Some members of the board were still against the measure and board members James Calhoun, Ann Sanders and Brenda Hagerich voted against the measure.
“The people who I talked to who were against it [the theater plans] were more against the city going into debt,” Kluck said. “They thought we should instead use a tax increase.”
Yet, there are no plans for financing the theater through taxes or bonds anymore and Kluck said the Royal theater plan is “basically dead.”
Dr. Casey Motl, assistant professor of history, was present at the board’s meeting and said he was disappointed at the results. One of his main complaints is that the city is not trying to accommodate the college community by providing them with local entertainment.
“College students are taking their dollars out of the community,” Motl said. “And we’re losing that benefit.”
As of now, there are no plans to revive the Royal theater initiative. However, a motion to sell bonds to build the firestation and make improvements to the Youth Sports Complex is scheduled to come before the board soon.
By Leah Garavelli, News / Features Editor
