Pedestrian-cyclists votes, despite property rights talk, unanimous by Town Board
With Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen intending to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety, with a property rights issue presented by a citizen challenging the method of that improvement in one case, this highlighted Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s agenda last week.
A pair of unanimous 5-0 votes by the Board on two road-related safety matters resulted during this Thursday, July 25, meeting in Farragut Community Center.
First 5-0 vote
Second reading of an ordinance to amend Farragut Municipal Code, to provide additional considerations for district and bicyclists, was the first to pass 5-0.
Greg Wiberly, a Farragut resident living along Evans Road, expressed concern that property rights voices were not being considered in this matter. Towns, such as Farragut, use eminent domain to obtain residents’ front-yard property for such pedestrian and cyclist considerations without getting enough input from private property owners, he said.
“The one glaring omission (in this ordinance) is the private property owners who are now being affected by property takeovers that are currently being instigated by the Town,” Wiberly said. “So if one of the purposes of the traffic impact study is to identify and propose modifications to existing infrastructure, specifically by adding sidewalks or greenways or bike paths that might involve the acquisition of private property, I think it imperative that the study include those impacts so that the Town can make a more complete and justifiable decision.
“As a by-product of this would be that of a more neutral party, a so-called qualified engineer, (who) would be making assessments independent of the Town,” he added, “and consequently with less of an agenda than the Town is now perceived to have. Also, private property owners would have a better opportunity to understand the implications that the modifications might have on them personally.”
Tom Hale, Town attorney, responded. “… This ordinance is designed to have an expert tell us the impact of a particular project on traffic and on pedestrians and people that use the ways of travel,” he said. “… I don’t know that a traffic engineer would ever feel qualified to talk about the overall impacts of a project on private property.
“Every project that we do has an impact on private property, has impact on the whole Town,” Hale added. “That’s part of what this Board’s duty is, is to consider all those things. …”
“Some this is the first step in recognizing that we need to be planning for all — if we have all these sidewalks, we need to be planning for our pedestrians,” Mayor Ron Williams said about his approval of the ordinance. “We need to be planning for the bicyclists out there.
“I sit on (Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization) Board, and some of the discussions have been recently along the lines of what you’re talking about because what has happened in the past is our roads have been designed to carry volume with no regard to pedestrians or bicyclists,” Williams added. “That is changing. You’re seeing the state of Tennessee and others that are starting to look at the safety of our pedestrians and our bicyclists, and they are talking about it more and more every (TPO) meeting we have.”
Crossing improvements
BOMA also approved, by a 5-0 vote, to hire construction crews for Anchor Park pedestrian crossing improvements on and along Turkey Creek Road.
Improvements would include enhanced signage and markings, addition of flashing warning beacons and relocation of one of the crossing locations. Proposed improvements are shown to increase pedestrian safety by alerting oncoming motorists when a pedestrian enters the crosswalk, the presentation stated.
Contract completion date is on or before March 1, 2025. Progression Electric LLC was the only bidder ($262,093.95).
Vice Mayor Louise Povlin said a resident living along Turkey Creek Road “sent me an e-mail a couple years ago. She was at a party with her friends and they were talking about how it’s not safe to walk across Turkey Creek. She said, ‘what can we do about that?’
Meeting with them to “walk the property (so) you can tell me what you’re seeing … this is what came out of that,” Povlin added. “… People drive way too fast on (the road). So this is an opportunity falling in line with what we just did with traffic and traffic impact study, making this safer. …
“By moving it further east, we can connect it into an existing sidewalk and make that safer.”
