Council hears residents' concerns about traffic, data antennae

At the city council meeting on Feb. 13, Mountain Brook residents spoke with council members about their concerns regarding traffic along Kennesaw Drive. The road, which is close to Cherokee Bend Elementary and is heavily traveled, has become a concern for residents due to the speed of drivers on the road and the proximity to the elementary school.

“We’ve all observed not just a speeding problem but a distracted driving problem surrounding carpool,” said resident Oscar Price. He noted that there is a downhill angle to the road in question which could add to the speed of the cars and the school zone surrounding Cherokee Bend seems to be smaller than similar schools.

Councilman Billy Pritchard said this concern was discussed in the fall as well, but “since that time, the situation has appeared to deteriorate.” Recently, Police Chief Ted Cook measured the speed of 13,451 vehicles driving in the area in question, and of those vehicles, he found 590 of them were 10 miles per hour or more over the speed limit for the road. 

“We've tried to, you know, appeal to neighborliness … little signs that say, ‘Drive like your kids live here,’ well their kids do live here,” said resident Andrew Pearson. “This doesn’t seem to have gotten any better.” His wife, Lauren Pearson, said there are parts of Kennesaw Drive that do not have a sidewalk option for pedestrians, to which Price added that there are a “fair number of children who walk.”

Richard Caudle with Skipper Consulting noted that it may not only be the speed of traffic that is causing a problem, but the amount of it. To help remedy the issue and find a solution, the council approved a contract with Skipper Consulting to perform a traffic study.

Residents were also concerned with the placement of support structures for small cell data and communications antenna within the villages. The antennae are designed to be placed at the top of utility poles. 

Andy Rotenstreich, a representative Crown Castle, a cell and mobile telephone service company, said that there were to be 40 new small cell towers installed throughout Mountain Brook, 10 of which are locations where they are unable to use pre-existing poles. Of the final five new poles that are still to be approved, residents have expressed concern with the ones that are planned to be placed at 2 Rockwell Lane and 3024 Cherokee Road. 

Bruce Dunbar, who lives along Cherokee Road, said even though he does want better cell coverage, if a pole was installed on Cherokee Road it would “stick out like a sore thumb.” Another resident expressed similar concerns with the proposed new pole that was suggested for  Rockwell Lane. The council held their decision for those two areas until they have been looked at further, but approved the resolution authorizing the placement of the antennae at 3239 Country Club Road, 3249 East Briarcliff Road and 190 Green Valley Road.

In addition, city council members heard again from Jeff Brewer with Goodwin Mills and Cawood about the status of the Community Field Project. Under the proposal for this project, the Mountain Brook Junior High football field would be replaced, as well as the irrigation system, which Pritchard said is about 25 years old. 

The estimated cost for the proposed renovations done to the field is about $142,000, which includes the removal of the existing surface material, the addition of sand into the soil and laser grade of the field to promote drainage, the planting of new sod and the installation of a new irrigation system. Under these proposed renovations, the field would be completed by the end of July.

The project also looks at the Mountain Brook High School baseball field. According to the proposal, after construction on the original area, artificial turf would be installed throughout the field, which is estimated to cost just over $900,000. Because the field would be turf, this would allow the Mountain Brook Athletics fall football program to use the field as a practice area, which would not conflict with the high school’s spring baseball program and would limit wear and tear of other community fields. If following the proposed plan, construction on the baseball field would be completed by the end of August.

Also during the city council meeting on Feb. 13, members:

• Approved the minutes for the meeting on Jan. 23.
• Reviewed the annual financial audit as presented by Carr Riggs & Ingram.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the installation and ongoing rental of a fire hydrant near the intersection of Rock Creek Trail and Rock Creek Drive and the intersection of Rock Creek Drive and Sims Circle.
• Approved a resolution ratifying the appointment of Safford Building Company, LLC as purchasing agent of the city of Mountain Brook, Alabama effective Nov. 28, 2016 with respect to their construction of the joint fire and police training building.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the execution of a building consulting services agreement with Brasfield & Gorrie with respect to the ongoing moisture abatement, window replacement and other building repairs project.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the renewal of the city’s workers compensation insurance plan through Millennium Risk Managers for the period Feb. 1, 2017 though Feb. 1, 2018.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the execution of the First Amendment to Lease Agreement between the city and New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC with respect to the wireless communications facilities located at 3021 Mountain Brook Parkway. 
• Approved a resolution authorizing the execution energy expense management statements of work with Ingenuity to verify accuracy of utility billings.
• Approved a resolution declaring certain Library personal property surplus and authorizing its sale at public internet auction.

The next council meeting will take place on Feb. 27.