Council approves $86M in capital improvements

City Council on Dec. 12 heard and approved the 2006–2011 capital improvements program, which includes projects costing more than $50,000 and that have a life expectancy of at least six years, such as roads, sewer improvements and major construction projects.

Projects include: streetscapes for the College Station and Heer’s developments; intersection improvements on Sunshine and Cherry streets; developments at several city parks and golf courses; and more than $3 million in Dickerson Park Zoo improvements.

City Manager Tom Finnie said the capital improvement program is a very important plan for planning and coordination between city departments and other groups.

“You don’t, for example, want your sewers to have to be put in after your roads,” Finnie said at the meeting. “This allows everybody to coordinate that, both in the city and also with other agencies like City Utilities, the telephone company, etc., to let them know what our plans are.”

The plan also includes projects that are being continued from previous years. The total cost of all the projects listed, new and continued, is more than half a billion dollars over the six-year period.

Mayor Tom Carlson said the plan emphasizes the economic importance of these major construction projects.

“They give a lot of people a lot of good jobs,” he said.

Crossing closing

Also at the meeting, council voted 6-2 in favor of closing the Broadway Avenue crossing of the BNSF rail line, despite vocal opposition from residents of the nearby Grant Beach and Woodland Heights neighborhoods. The closing likely pushes traffic to Grant Avenue to the east.

BNSF officials said the closing is necessary for maintaining pedestrian safety.

Cheryl Townlian, BNSF spokesperson, said the Broadway crossing averages 80 trains a day, counting trains moving through the crossing and those switching tracks. The city will receive $65,000 from the railroad to help pay for neighborhood improvements.

Eleven residents spoke in opposition of the closing, saying it would force pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists to use more crowded streets to the east and west to get across the track, creating new safety concerns.

“My children are safer walking across Broadway than on Grant (Avenue), any hour, any day,” said Lawanna Jones, area resident.

Joanne Watkins, president of the Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association, said there are also issues at the nearby Grant Avenue viaduct, where much of the new traffic could end up traveling.

“The real safety issue will be if you close down the street, not if you leave it open,” she told council.

Also at the meeting

Council approved a resolution to amend the city’s urban service area, which shows the areas where the city will provide sewer service and road improvements.

City staff had in July proposed extending the boundary east to Highway 125, but after neighboring Rogersville also claimed part of the area, the two municipalities agreed on Farm Road 213 as a boundary.

Any changes to the urban service area must be approved by both City Council and the Greene County Commission. Council will vote on the proposed change at its Jan. 9 meeting.

A proposal also was presented to pay $74,000 from the city’s federal surface transportation program funds for aesthetic improvements to the proposed reconstruction of the Interstate 44 and Highway 65 interchange, which would be the city’s first major flyover.