‘No’ to speed bumps: ‘counts’ thwart Thornton Heights wishes
Though putting up their own signs urging motorists to slow down in their subdivision, Thornton Heights residents will have to find another option — instead of speed humps — to achieve its traffic-calming goals.
“Most of us on the Board and in the audience are very familiar with what’s happened over the past couple months in Thorton Heights,” South Ward Alderman Drew Burnette said, regarding the child who was hit by a car while waiting for a school bus Aug. 8, at the Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting Thursday, Jan. 24. “Since that, it’s really kind of shed a spotlight on speeding that goes on in the neighborhood cut-throughs.
“... These cut-throughs have happened for a very long time,” he added. “Recently, they have been even more, so it’s brought this attention, really, to our front doorsteps. These residents really have taken notice and they’re all over it.”
He urged Board members driving through the Thornton Heights neighborhood to take note of the signs residents placed along the road.
“They’re all over,” Burnette said. “Those residents have really taken up arms and calling for the slow-down of the speeds and reducing the cut-throughs as much as possible.”
Along that vein, the neighborhood entered into the Town’s speed study.
“Unfortunately, at the end of that speed study, with the matrix that we have on file, (the roads) did not meet for those speed humps,” Burnette said. “I know the residents were very frustrated. I was frustrated.”
However, “something I would like to bring to the Board for consideration in the very, very near future is I’d like to see if the Board would be willing to consider revising our existing (traffic-calming) policy that could say neighborhoods that reside inside the (Parental Responsibility Zone) have the ability to vote on if they want traffic-calming measures in their area; again, only if it’s in the PRZ that is very close to the school,” he said.
“Given this area is in the PRZ, given the amount of cut-through traffic that’s going on there, given the speeding that I’ve gotten to see firsthand … I think this (allowing the residents a vote) would be something the residents in Thornton Heights (would want),” Burnette added.
Other business
The Board approved bids and a contract with Hickory Construction to work on the interior of Campbell Station Inn for $683,060 to create offices, a decorated period room and for small gathering rental spaces for the public. The base bid was $492,825. There were five alternate bids: a dumb waiter (small elevator for food), $82,800; a catering area in the basement, $30,366; second-floor cosmetic improvements, $52,783; upstairs bathroom, $24,286; and tuck pointing (repairing deteriorated grout work between bricks), $27 per square foot.
Town engineer Darryl Smith said Hickory was only bid, which was opened Jan. 14.
“As you know, we continue to work toward our mission and our goals,” he said.
