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HOLIDAY ISLAND TRAVEL CLUB ANNOUNCES 2019 TRIPS

 

 

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GOLF OPERATIONS UPDATE - 7/6/18

 

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Jon Prange - Golf Superintendent

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upcoming events:

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Funding up to $25,000 for the above Plan to Reopen Stateline Drive was approved by the Commissioners at the HISID May Regular Meeting.

 

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Hawk Drive and Stateline Drive Landslide Updates

 

Dear Property Owners:

 

This letter is to keep you informed concerning the road closures on Stateline Drive and Hawk Drive. I’m sure everyone by now knows that a portion of Stateline Drive from the 4-Way Stop at Holiday Island Drive to Wild Turkey Drive has been closed to traffic for nearly a month, and Hawk Drive has been closed for a year. We know that road closures are distressing and disrupt your daily routines.  Please know we are doing everything we can as quickly as possible.

 

Our primary goal during the initial response to the Stateline Drive landslide was to relieve the tremendous amount of pressure that the waterlogged material was placing on the road. After we were reasonably sure that we had averted a total road failure, we attempted to keep Stateline Drive open to traffic but quickly determined that our efforts were futile. We also determined that continuing to remove material just for the sake of keeping the road open would likely make the situation worse.

 

As of right now, our engineers are advising us that the hillside is still unstable with the potential of sliding again. The slide appears to be small at the road; however, the unstable area uphill is much larger. We should receive the preliminary geotechnical observations later this week along with their recommendations. We are keeping our fingers crossed it will be good news; but, until the engineers have completed their assessments, we have no idea how long the remediation will take. It is very unlikely that Stateline Drive will take as long as Hawk Drive did to repair; but until we learn exactly what we are dealing with, we just simply don’t know.  We will keep you advised as we know more, but in the meantime, we suggest you make plans to adjust your routine and travel habits for avoiding this section of road with the understanding it will be closed for a while.

 

We have received some questions and criticisms concerning the length of time that both Stateline Drive and Hawk Drive have been closed.  It is understandable people become frustrated because they believe that “nothing is happening to fix the situation” or “things are moving too slowly”. To the casual observer, it appears there are long periods of inactivity because there is not any heavy construction equipment moving dirt. Moving dirt is one of the last steps in the process.

 

Hawk Drive is nearly complete, but why did it take a year to complete? That’s a good question and deserves an answer.  I would like to provide you with some insight on the process we had to go through to reopen Hawk Drive.  The Hawk Drive landslide occurred on April 26, 2017. We immediately started working with our engineer and received the report of probable project costs on May 5, 2017, which totaled $356,000.00. This was a sizable sticker shock to the Board. The Board declared a local emergency and directed me to begin seeking funding opportunities to help with the repair costs for not only Hawk Drive but damage all over Holiday Island caused during the April 26^th through May 1^st, 2017 storm events. The County declared Carroll County a disaster area and requested the Governor to also declare an emergency; this would allow the President of the United States to make a Federal declaration and authorize FEMA to provide financial assistance. Just to get from the County, through the State, to the President of the United States took over a month. On June 15, 2017, President Trump declared the area as a major disaster which allowed FEMA to begin providing federal disaster recovery assistance. In the meantime, we applied for and received a $30,000 grant from the Western Arkansas Planning & Development District. More than 3 months after the Hawk Drive landslide, on August 2, 2017 FEMA arrived in Holiday Island to begin the application process under a new FEMA program called the Public Assistance Alternative Procedures Pilot Program. In September, HISID met with FEMA’s engineer onsite to begin preparing scope of work documents. The scope of work was completed and submitted to FEMA on September 15, 2017. In October, HISID again met with FEMA Engineers to complete preliminary drawings and calculations on the slide area to determine FEMA cost estimates to restore the road to “pre-disaster conditions”. The new cost estimates based on the revised scope of work was $173,157. This new estimate was significantly lower than the original $356,000. This was largely because our engineer was designing for a lasting solution while the FEMA estimates were based on the required “returning the area to its pre-disaster condition”.  Because this area of Hawk Drive had slid in the exact same place just a few years earlier, it was determined that special mitigation that was above and beyond the usual restoring it to its pre-disaster design and condition was needed. This additional reinforcement to the slide area was estimated to cost an additional $57,402, bringing the total cost to $230,559. To qualify for the special mitigation, we had to provide engineering to support the special mitigation and the additional costs. We received our final approval for the special mitigation on November 11, 2017. While all this was going on, we had to compile and submit necessary documents to the State of Arkansas and Federal government to comply with environmental protection and historical preservation laws.  By the end of November, we still had not received our final project approval; however, with having the special mitigation approved, we felt it was safe to advertise for Requests for Proposals (RFP). After advertising the project for the required 30 days, the District awarded the contract for construction on December 21, 2017 for $141,001.00. On December 27, 2017, we received our final approval from FEMA.  In January 2018, we issued the letter to proceed to the contractor. When our engineer was reviewing the construction plans with the contractor, they determined that using different material than what was originally specified would produce a better result with very little additional cost. This was a great idea but the change would need to be approved by FEMA.  In February, everything was finalized and gave the contractor 90-days to “move dirt” and complete the project.

 

I hope the project timeline was enlightening to you and provides a better understanding of the process. I know it doesn’t relieve the hardship on you of roads being closed, but there are some really good reasons for it. First is safety, landslides are very dangerous. If someone who believes they “know it all”, tries to tell you how it should be fixed without even stepping into the woods or knowing what the subsurface conditions are, I would seriously question their opinion. We employ engineers to ensure it is done correctly and safely. It also takes time to evaluate our options. A good solution to a problem is not always the best solution for all situations, another reason for employing engineers. And finally is the money. If you rush into these kinds of situations, you will likely spend much more and probably not have the best results. In the Hawk Drive example, if we would have just jumped in, the original plan would have cost you, the property owner, $356,000. By working through the process described above, the project will be less than half of that at $141,000. Because of the FEMA grant, our 25% portion will only be $35,250. I know we will still get criticized but if the question is spending $356,000 or $35,250 to get the job done, I think we made the correct decisions on Hawk Drive.      

 

Please make plans to adjust your driving routes to avoid the closed section of Stateline Drive. We suggest utilizing Eagle Drive between Holiday Island Drive and Stateline Drive as an alternate route. This detour adds about ½ mile and only 2 minutes to your commute.

 

Please feel free to contact me with any questions at 479-253-9700 or districtmgr@holidayisland.us.

 

Lawrence Blood, District Manager 

 

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BOBCAT TRAIL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE - 3/22/18

 

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BOBCAT TRAIL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE - 2/1/18

 

 

 

 

       95 Table Rock Drive / Holiday Island, Arkansas 72631

       479-270-6495 / Term Expires: December 2020