By Nathan Prewett
For the Tribune
CENTER POINT – The Center Point City Council met early on Thursday night to hear a presentation on the first draft of long term plans for upgrades and improvements to the city. The plans range from marketing the city to potential buyers of property to improvements for infrastructure such as streetlights and transportation.
photo by Bethany Adams
Lindsay Puckett, a project manager from the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, outlined the recommendations, suggesting “refreshing” community activities, as well as marketing and branding.
Other recommendations included addressing the issue of street lights in need of repairs and building a library in the city. She also said that the plans suggest building new sidewalks and implementing measures for speeding.
The next steps in the long-term plans will be to present them to the Planning and Zoning Commission for endorsement after they are reviewed by Mayor Henderson and then present the final drafts in a public meeting.
The Center Point City Council agreed on April 27 to vote on the plans.
Pre-Council followed the presentation, with the regular meeting at 7 p.m.
During public comments, resident Billy Hagood asked the council about the amount of traffic money that has been collected. Councilman Roger Barlow said that the collection amounts to approximately $97,000. Hagood then suggested that the council use the money for repairing a light in the parking lot along with other lights nearby.
The council heard from several speakers during the meeting, including a representative from CXT Concrete Buildings about using precast concrete from the company for future building projects.
Afterwards the council heard from Keith Strickland of Goodwyn, Mills and Caewood, who gave an update on work being done on Polly Reed Rd in Center Point. The project was first started in 2009 and is ongoing in improving the lanes on the road.
Strickland said that a focus of the project is road safety on Polly Reed, particularly with wide ditches on the sides of the road. The project will install a “very large” culvert drain system in the ditches to be later capped and covered before installing a pedestrian facility as an eight-foot-wide sidewalk on top.
The project will also resurface the road as well as implement utility relocation, including a Jefferson County sewer line that runs underneath the south portion of Polly Reed, several Alabama Power poles, a Trussville gas line and Birmingham Water facilities.
The project is being funded by an 80/20 grant in which 80 percent of the costs from construction will be paid by the Federal Government while 20 percent is paid by the city. It has recently secured environmental clearance for right of way acquisition. Following will be the relocation of the utilities. He said that the project will be ready for bid by the end of the year.
Strickland requested a supplement to the project. This was the second requested since 2014 which was granted then. Strickland said that this will be last one to be requested. The council voted unanimously to approve the supplement.
Public Safety Department Director Antonio Weatherly gave a report to the council on incidents reported to the department. Weatherly stressed the problem of drivers not coming to a full stop at stop signs throughout the city, as well as cars blocking pedestrian crossing markings while stopped.
Mayor Henderson announced that the papers for a grant for a storm shelter behind the Center Point Fire Station has gone through and will probably be finalized in September. He said that the Fire Department has mentioned adding an extra module to the shelter that will allow department members to operate in case the station is damaged.
The mayor said that he and Weatherly met with several apartment managers on Polly Reed RD to talk about cooperating with the city in cases of crimes being committed in their complexes. Mayor Henderson said that he will meet with other managers to discuss the same issue.
The next city council meeting will be held on March 23 with pre-council at 6:45 p.m. and regular meeting at 7 p.m.
2 Comments
Christy Rainwater
Please tell me they are planning to put sidewalks along the street where the apartments are located in Centerpoint on Polly Reed Road! I’ve been wondering for years why they’ve never had them there. People are always walking. There is even a trail you can see from the road as you pass by.
Kevin Small
Do the improvements including actually fighting crime or just more revenue generation in the name of public safety?
Who cares if you get shot, the city just made another $100 off a guy who rolled through a stop sign.