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Mountain Brook City Council to fund Leadership Mountain Brook video

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By Keith McCoy

Students in Mountain Brook High School’s Leadership Mountain Brook program were awarded grant money Monday from the Mountain Brook City Council to create a video promoting the city’s quality of life, and city road maps with one-stop information for potential and new residents.

The high-school students presented their proposals at the March 9 council meeting.

Councilors unanimously voted to contribute $1,000 toward the estimated $2,000 cost of producing the video, and another $1,000 toward the nearly $6,000 cost of producing and printing the first 1,000 maps. The city also will assist with mapping information.

The students also seek funding from the city Chamber of Commerce for the promotional video and map. The Ray & Poyner real estate firm has expressed interest in sponsoring the map, which would cover most of the production price tag.

The professionally-produced video, which will focus on the city’s villages, schools, parks, recreation opportunities and its neighborhoods also can be used to recruit businesses, the students said.

The maps, which would be sold through the Chamber of Commerce, also would include city landmarks, amenities, government contact information, school districts and boundaries for ZIP codes, the city of Mountain Brook and those of surrounding municipalities.

“We’ll get a lot of mileage out of that,” said Virginia Smith, the council president.

The student program, in its ninth year, is a partnership among the school, the city and the Chamber of Commerce.

The council on March 9 also approved the street paving list for 2020, which is part of a citywide effort to repair deteriorating roads. Listed streets are:

In other business the council:

* Told Brookwood Road residents the city would look into a state grant to build sidewalks there, but warned it may be awhile before the estimated $500,000 project can be done with existing money.

Representing about a dozen residents at the council work session, Mariellan Morris said the neighborhood has spent years seeking a sidewalk up to the city limit to enhance safety for the dozens of children and grandchildren who play there and residents along a street notorious for speeders and high-volume traffic.

“We’ve always believed in letting the process take place,” Morris told the council and city officials at the March 9 work session. “But we no longer feel safe.”

A sidewalk for Brookwood Road was included in the 2017 city master plan, but was bumped down on the priority list because of its logistical and financial challenges.

Due to the need for retaining walls and the 2,700-foot length of the proposed sidewalk, material alone would cost $270,000 according to a rough estimate by the city public works department. Labor costs would double the price tag.

Getting to the Brookwood Road sidewalk under the Master Plan priority list is likely to take considerable time. City officials said they would explore seeking a grant from the state Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP), but may need to wait until prior TAP grants expire.

* The council authorized contracts advancing projects to build sidewalks on Dunbarton Road, make repairs to Smyer Road, improve traffic flow on Dexter Avenue at Vine Street and to plant willow oak and jasmine on the traffic island on Ridgeview Drive West.

* Honored Dr. Adam Robertson for his 20 years of volunteer service as medical director for the Mountain Brook Fire Department. 

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