By Anthony Childress

FAYETTEVILLE -- A give-and-take scenario that could attract thousands of new workers to a potential business park -- but could also adversely affect existing wetland -- offers difficult choices to a task force that is studying how to develop the land.

Furthermore, the task force, appointed by Mayor Dan Coody, faces an Oct. 1 deadline for recommending what to do with 289 acres owned by the city.

Known as the proposed Wilson Springs Business Park, the city purchased the land in 1990 for $1.27 million.

Since then, various plans have been on the drawing board for developing the site, including using it as a research and technology park.

The Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce championed that idea, which received a major boost years ago when Southwestern Bell was required to install a $610,000 fiber-optics line on site.

Jeff Collins, chairman of the task force and a member of its subcommittee on economic development, touted the economic benefits of building a campus-style business park and listed three scenarios.

If a business park were constructed using 146 acres, it could produce anywhere from 4,600 to 12,200 new jobs, boosting annual income from a range of $173 million to $462 million, he said.

A 127-acre business park would affect a half-acre section of wetland, he said, and, in economic terms, could mean 4,000 to 10,600 new jobs and potential annual income between $149 million and $399 million.

A third option, with no impact on the wetland there, would span 103 acres and possibly mean 3,400 to 9,000 jobs and annual income of $127 million to $337 million, according to "crude" projections by Collins.

Under all three proposals, sales tax revenue could rise up to $3 million.

"The great thing about Fayetteville is everybody has an opinion," Collins said at last week's public forum on Wilson Springs. "We're cutting both ways by looking at things like jobs, tax revenues and what lost revenue might be if no development takes place."

McClelland Consulting Engineers was tapped to examine development options ranging from ones that have zero impact on the wetland to a small level of impact.

So far, Coody has leaned toward using about 100 acres for protecting wetland and 146 acres around it for a business park.

Environmental interests oppose any proposal that would disturb the 85 acres of wetland (deemed as such by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) or the natural stream stemming from Wilson Springs. They are especially concerned the Arkansas darter's fate.

The darter is a rare fish that is now a candidate for inclusion on the Endangered Species List. In addition, the Henslow sparrow and Ozark burrowing crayfish have been mentioned as species needing protection, according to environmentalists serving on the task force.