EUREKA SPRINGS -- They say all things come to those who wait. Ask Transit Director Lamont Richie.

Richie addressed a large and warm crowd last Thursday at the official grand opening of the Planer Hill Transit Facility, a project several years in the making.

The event also marked the thirtieth anniversary of Eureka Springs' modern trolley system.

"Mr. C.A. Dawson made a donation of $10,000 to the city in December 1976," Richie said. "His only stipulation was the city had to make significant progress toward a public transit system by the middle of 1979 or the money would be given to the Advertising and Promotion Commission."

1978 prototype

The city purchased a prototype rubber-tired trolley in 1978, the first of the current fleet of 12, and the system has grown from there.

Development of the Planer Hill lot has been more complicated.

The site was originally suggested in 1979 but passed over for decades.

Richie approached then-Mayor Kathy Harrison in 2003 to discuss the potential project. Together they made a presentation to the Arkansas State Highway Department and were encouraged to have the property appraised.

Laura and Charley Morrison developed the first conceptual design for the facility, only to see it languish another two years until site owner Jimmy Jones decided he wanted to sell the property to the city.

Richie spent a year working through red tape with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), only to hit another snag.

'Rock and a hard place'

"We were faced with the prospect of not being able to synchronize the pending real estate deal with a federal bureaucracy that had procedures that needed to be followed," Richie said. "We were between the proverbial rock and a hard place."

The timely aid of Sen. Blanche Lincoln, along with her regional community affairs specialist, John Hicks, provided the assistance necessary to get the commitment from the FTA that it would fund the purchase of the Planer Hill property.

Two years later, the lot was open to the public.

Richie thanked a long list of those who helped bring the project to fruition, including Community First Bank, which contributed $25,000 in memory of founder King Gladden.

Mayor Dani Joy and former Mayor Beau Satori together made the occasion official by cutting the cord holding 30 balloons -- 10 each of red, blue, and purple, the trolley route colors -- which drifted away into the sky and brought the dedication to a close.