FMPC ready to act on roads
During FMPC’s meeting Thursday, Oct. 16, six residents, such as Evans Road resident Daniel Head, asked questions. Head, who lives on the south side of Evans Road, heard a neighbor on the north side, hired an attorney and had the Town agree to move it to the south side, where Head resides.
“Is that true?” Head asked.
“I can address that,” Mayor Ron Williams replied. “That’s not a fact. There are no designs.”
Additionally, Evans Road resident Greg Wiberley said last week he engaged Town staff to have a workshop with all the residents on Evans Road, “explain everything to them, have more than three-minute discussion on what’s going on.
“So I ask, with that process in place, what is the hurry tonight to pass this particular appendix?” he asked.
He then requested that FMPC postpone action until after the planned meeting with the residents.
“I mean, there’s plenty of time,” Wiberley said. “We’ll be meeting in the next few weeks.
“If there’s no project planned, if it’s years away, what harm is there, a few more weeks to satisfy Daniel (Head) and me and the other residents on Evans Road on Allen Kirby and Herron roads that what you’re proposing is reasonable,” he added. “Talk to us. Explain it to us.”
“Personally, I can’t, in good conscience, put off this decision,” Planning Commissioner Louise Povlin said. “The existing standards of 12-foot lanes and travel lanes of 40-per-mile design speed with 5 feet of curb and gutter, one asphalt trail on one side and 5-foot sidewalk on the other is absolutely unnecessary on the collector streets being considered.
“This (resolution) is something I’ve been working on,” she then related how it came about starting with the improvement project on Union Road, which was changed from the Town’s requirement of 12-foot lanes to 11-foot lanes.
“Our experience with Union Road was eye opening,” she said. “We no longer needed to design our roads in a one-size-fits-all manner.
“This amendment to the subdivision regulations that we are considering tonight is the result of a very long process,” Povlin said.
Planning Commission Noah Myers added the proposed amendment is designed to lessen the impact on neighborhood roads, and Community Development director Mark Shipley said the resolution is a guide for future developments, and no projects currently are being planned.
While Planning Commission Shannon Preston suggested removing Evans Road’s cross section from the resolution, Mayor Ron Williams said, “I don’t recommend it.”
Despite Wiberley’s objection, however, FMPC unanimously approved it.
