$6 mil in FY ’18 projects planned
Roads, parks, Campbell Station Inn restoration and greenways topped the list of Capital Investment Projects Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen discussed while planning the Town’s 2017-2018 budget.
Board members gathered for a workshop before the Board meeting Thursday, March 23, to review projects already funded and those still to be budgeted in the future.
For 2018, there is $6 million in projects, according to a five-year CIP plan presented to Board members.
“The way we budget for this is we budget in the fiscal year we are entering into — the FY 2018 year — the actual dollars we are going to spend in that year,” Town administrator David Smoak said. “But in years two through five, we are forecasting and trying to make sure we have a balanced budget to go out that way, but many times those projects change year to year. They may go up and down in value and some may be pushed out later because another project takes its place.”
One of the expenses the Town budgets is purchasing property for right of ways and easements and costs related to those acquisitions. Gary Palmer, assistant Town manager, said the Town budgets $500,000 a year for that expense.
The Kingston Pike Greenway, which includes 1,820 feet along the front of Willow Creek Greenway. Palmer said it is a project with Tennessee Department of Transportation, which is an 80 percent/20 percent split with TDOT. The Town’s portion of the cost would be $220,000.
Other projects include pedestrian connectors, such as minor sidewalk and greenway connectors, which comes to $100,000 a year; a north/south pedestrian connector at the Campbell Station Road and Kingston Pike Culvert, in which a greenway path would run under the culvert, which is budgeted for $300,000; parking lot and access road improvements between Village Green and Campbell Station Inn, $450,000; American Disabilities Act improvements to Anchor Park’s restrooms, $25,000 in 2018 and $300,000 in 2019; mandated improvements to roads and sidewalks, $50,000 in 2018 and $50,000 in 2019.
The Town also is looking at improvements to parks, such as the McFee Park expansion.
“We have put in $350,000 for design and engineering for 2018 and $3 million for construction in 2019,” Sue Stuhl, Farragut Parks and Leisure Services director, said. Then in 2021, another $350,000 was budgeted for design and engineering of the next phase and $3 million was budgeted for 2022 for construction.
Vice Mayor Ron Pinchok asked why 2020 was skipped, and Stuhl said the project got pushed out.
“I think we should move it back the way we had it,” Pinchok said.
“It’s totally up to you when we could do the construction and design for the next phase,” Stuhl said.
However, Alderman Louise Povlin said she thought the Campbell Station Inn project should be more of a priority.
“I would like to see a park,” Povlin said. “I think it’s nice to see that corner completed. I think it’s important we have that kind of activity there.”
The Town also is looking at a more immediate need for 2018 — replacing the McFee playground surface, which Stuhl anticipated would cost $75,000.
On another note, the Town is looking at its share of the cost on the Watt Road/Kingston Pike intersection improvements, forwhich the staff has budgeted $50,000 in 2018. Union Road improvements are budgeted for $500,000 in 2018 and $3.5 million in 2019; Evans Road improvements are budgeted at $250,000 in 2018, $450,000 in 2019 and $1.8 million in 2020; traffic signal improvements are budgeted at $165,000 in 2018, $75,000 in 2019 and $2.7 million in 2020.
Along with projects in the budget, the Board also must decide the priority of possible projects not yet in the budget.
Those include Virtue Road improvements from Boyd Station to Kingston Pike, $16,300,000; Boyd Station improvements at the underpass to Virtue Road, $3.9 million; Campbell Station Road improvements from Outlet Drive to Ridgeland Subdivision, $5.5 million; Everett Road from Split Rail Farm to the Town boundary, $4 million; Union Road between Smith and Everett Roads, $2.7 million; Boring Road improvements, $2.7 million.
The unbudgeted projects also include several potential pedestrian connectors.
