New option for Virtue, Boyd Station roads improvement presented
As Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen plans for the road improvements to Virtue and Boyd Station roads, Town engineer Darryl Smith proposed a new option for the project during the Board’s meeting Thursday, May 22.
With the new option, Smith asked for approval of a supplement from LDA Engineering for additional design services for the project, which the Board approved unanimously.
Smith said the Board initially approved a professional services agreement with LDA Engineering Inc. for design services for improvements of Virtue Road/Boyd Station Road in April 2023.
“The project involves road improvements to Virtue Road and Boyd Station Road, along with a greenway extension from Evans Road to just south of property owned by Virtue Cumberland Presbyterian Church, tying to a greenway proposed through the Grove at Boyd Station subdivision,” Smith said. “Our original preliminary plan showed the greenway along the western side of Virtue Road.
“Unfortunately, that had some significant impact to properties along the route, requiring retaining walls and a pedestrian bridge, he said. “We looked at different options.
“One option that we like quite a bit is to move the greenway from the west side of the road to the east side and construct it as a timber board walk, about 1,650 feet, from Turkey Creek Road to the Grove subdivision because (the topography) drops off very steep on the eastern side,” Smith said. “Naturally, this is going to have more design involved.
“While this option is more expensive than the original alignment, the additional expense will be partially offset by elimination of the retaining walls and pedestrian bridge,” he said. “LDA Engineering’s request for supplement includes a lump sum fee of $58,000, increasing its fee for Phase 2 of project development (final design) from $288,000 to $346,000. The total fee for project development will increase from $739,000 to $797,000.”
Following Vice Mayor Scott Meyer’s motion to approve, and Alderman David White’s second, Virtue Road resident Steve Williams expressed his pleasure with the option.
“The first thing I want to say is I’m really pleased that Alderman (Drew) Burnette and Darryl Smith jumped in to help us work out the issues in front of our property.
“We had a great meeting.”
About the boardwalk, “It looks like a great opportunity for the Town, and it helps us, as well, on the impact; so I’m really pleased that we’re moving in that direction,” he said.
However, “what I was hoping to do, so the Town didn’t spend a whole lot of extra money, is we need to talk about traffic calming,” Williams said.
“We all know traffic on Virtue Road is bad,” he added. “I think what we need to do, before we start spending on another design process … if we could have some public meetings …”
“Until we talk about traffic calming, I don’t think we’re ready to turn (the designer) loose.”
“At this moment, what we’ve got in front of us is what we have to vote on,” Mayor Ron Williams said. “This would approve the money for what needs to be done. It doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be stamped right this minute. There can be some workshops to discuss what you’re talking about.”
With the topography along Virtue Road, “there’s not an awful lot of room to do things,” Smith said. “I need to make clear that this is federally funded. They may have some heartburn over traffic calming on one of their projects.”
The mayor said on the Union Road project, for which the Town also received federal funds, a developer put in a roundabout.
“So, maybe there’s something that could happen that may not give (federal officials) heartburn,” he added.
While White seconded the motion to approve the supplement, he objected to a boardwalk being built.
“I’m not one bit happy about this at all,” he said. “I’m glad, Steve, we worked something out with you so your property’s not affected, but in order to do that, we affected someone else’s property across the street. I don’t want to affect anybody’s property.”
Steve Williams said the proposed boardwalk would be in the right-of-way.
White still objected, warning teenagers would use it to ride motorized bikes on the boardwalk.
“We couldn’t keep the teenagers out of the pickleball courts (in McFee Park),” he said. “They wanted to get in there. They tore down the gates to get in. What do you think a boardwalk down by the lake’s going to be? There’s going to be kids hanging out on that thing, having a good time, riding bikes … I think we’re wasting a lot of engineering money.”
In other business, the Board voted unanimously to:
• amend its ordinance regarding the municipal court by giving the Town administrator the authority to designate the court clerk, a position initially appointed by the Board.
• amend the 2024-25 budget with the following changes: increasing expenditures from $11,188,302 to $1,332,352 — an increase of $144,050 in the General Fund for vehicle maintenance ($10,000 added) for Parks Department; $35,000 added for legal service due to ongoing litigation; Mixed Drink Tax ($97,000 — this line item is used to remit payment to Knox County for half of the funds collected from the tax) and reclassifying the first aid supplies (2,050 added) for AED equipment for Farragut Museum. Finance director/Town Recorder Allison Myers said funds will be used from the fund balance.
