Council approves school zone signs for Wilderness Road
For the first City Council meeting of 2019, on Jan. 14, Richard Caudle of Skipper Consulting revisited a discussion that was started in December: crosswalk lights for Cherokee Bend Elementary.
Caudle previously said the car pickup lines for the school have shifted to wait on Wilderness Road instead of Kennesaw Drive, making it difficult to see the crosswalks when cars are lined up along the edge of the road. Wilderness Road also does not currently have a school zone speed limit or a school zone sign.
A number of suggestions were discussed, but ultimately the council asked Caudle to study the area more. He came back with one main recommendation for the site: install two school zone signs on Wilderness Road — the standard yellow sign with children walking — with five blinking LED lights on the outer edges.
The lights will be solar-powered and equipped with two solar panels and two battery packs. Caudle said the extra power is at the recommendation of manufacturer due to the shade that area experiences. The lights will also be programmable, and will be set to flash Monday through Friday, August through May from 7:30 to 8 a.m. and from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., which coincides with the no cell phone use time designations.
The final cost for the two signs is $2,898.76, which is significantly lower than the originally proposed numbers. Caudle said the cost was reduced because Mountain Brook Public Works will be able to install them in-house.
Council approved the new signs, as well as conditional use for a property management office in the second phase of Lane Parke.
The office will be inhabited by developer John Evans and is set to be just to the north of the Ray & Poyner space. Evans said at the meeting that his space will be about 2,300 square feet and will include a car garage that is about 225 square feet. The garage, he said, will be parking for himself so he doesn’t take up extra parking spaces.
This office space, which the council specifically designated as property management space so any future tenants would have to come before council for approval before operating, will have Lane Parke Road frontage and eliminate a cut-through that was previously proposed. Evans also said it will have the same look to it that Kinnucan’s has and will help provide additional hardscape to conceal the back of the retail spaces behind the office.
GIS Manager Hunter Simmons said this will not be as hard on parking as a commercial space would be, and councilman Phil Black said removing the option for the cut-through will be better since that is the area where the roundabouts will eventually go.
Also during the meeting, council members:
- Approved the minutes of the Dec.10 regular meeting.
- Appointed Patrick Higginbotham to the Board of Zoning Adjustment to serve without compensation with his term to end Dec. 31, 2021.
- Authorized the execution of an agreement between the city and All in Mountain Brook with respect to community education and awareness programs within the city’s school system.
- Awarded the sole bid for the purchase of two 2019 Chevrolet Silverado trucks to Donohoo Chevrolet LLC.
- Authorized the budgeted purchase of a Rosenbauer custom fire pumper from Bonaventure Fire Equipment.
- Authorized the purchase of the Tango Tango push-to-talk mobile phone subscription service/application for emergency communication at $2,844 annually, the cost of which will be paid from the Emergency Communications District (E911) funds.
- Authorized the purchase of a 2019 Eagle Ranger SCBA Fill Station Trailer, which is a mobile air-refill unit for firefighter’s self-contained breathing apparatuses, for use by the fire department from NAFCO.
- Authorized the execution of an agreement between the city and Friends of Jemison Park with respect to landscape design and improvements in the vicinity of the pedestrian bridge, conditional upon the proposed improvements meeting FEMA regulations.
The next City Council meeting will be Jan. 28.