Sidewalks, pedestrian bridge discussed as city projects
Over the past 25 years or so, the scope of Mountain Brook’s sidewalks have increased significantly. During the council meeting on April 24 members heard from Sain Associate’s Jennifer Brown to help determine their next course of action.
After reviewing the roads of the city through what Brown called a “windshield survey,” or by driving through the neighborhoods and observing the roads, she presented a list of 21 high-priority road segments, 21 medium-priority road segments and 19 low-priority road segments.
She and Alicia Bailey, also with Sain Associates, determined the segments’ ranking by looking at the details of the adjacent roadway, such as width, type of shoulder, location of steep driveways, and the potential ease of installation of the sidewalks. In general, those segments that are designated as higher priority would be more easy to install and more beneficial to the community and those that are more difficult would be more difficult to install and utilized less by residents. They also took into account segments that were highly requested by the community and rated them accordingly.
While this is a proposed outline for potential sidewalk projects in the future, Brown estimated that it would take about 20 years to complete the sidewalk segments.
The Shades Creek pedestrian bridge was also discussed at the council meeting, during which Andrew Phillips with Schoel Engineering spoke about moving the bridge approximately 300 feet downstream from its original planned location.
By doing so, the bridge would be less intrusive to Jemison Park, but due to the existing topography, construction would increase to an estimated $192,000, Phillips said. The new plan calls for a wooden ramp on the parkway side of the bridge to account for one side of the bank being elevated as well as a sidewalk extension.
After looking at the bridge further, plans are set to be revisited in the upcoming weeks by City Council.
Also at city council on April 24, council members:
- Approved the minutes from the meeting on April 10.
- Heard a project update regarding the roundabout projects on Cahaba Road from Alicia Bailey with Sain Associates. After a meeting with stakeholders, many voiced support of having two roundabouts, with one being smaller than the other. A public involvement meeting will be held on June 20 at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens from 4 to 8 p.m. in an open house format for residents to ask questions and provide input.
- Denied the Right-of-Way encroachment for an existing wall at 600 Euclid Ave.
- Created a fiscal year 2018 budget schedule.
- Reappointed Bradley J. Sklar to the Board of Education to serve without compensation with the term of office to end May 31, 2022.
- Authorized the city’s participation in the 2017 “Back-to-School” Sales Tax Holiday, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on July 21, 2017 and ending at midnight on July 23, 2017.
- Approved a resolution recommending to the State of Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control board the issuance of a 140 special events retail license to Red Mountain Restaurant Group, LLC operating as La Paz Cinco de Mayo for their May 5 outdoor patio event to be held in the parking lot located at 99 Euclid Ave.
- Awarded the bid for the purchase of a sports field groomer for the Parks and Recreation Board.
- Approved an ordinance prohibiting parking along the west side of Wilderness Road between Kennesaw Drive and Fair Oaks Drive between the hours of 7:30 to 8 a.m. and from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
The next council meeting will take place on May 8 at 7 p.m.