Impact
WARD: 3
COMMITTEE: Vision Committee
$ IMPACT: None
Title
Approval to allow road closures for the Smyrna Open Streets event on October 14, 2018 from 1PM - 7PM. Road closures include portions of Powder Springs St. SE, Hughes St. SE, Belmont Pl. SE, Belmont Blvd. SE, and Ward St. SE.
Body
ISSUE:
Resident groups are organizing an Open Streets initiative called “Smyrna Open Streets” to encourage residents to get out and be active and to engage with other members of their community. The initiative seeks to temporarily transform public spaces and roadways normally reserved for cars into recreational community spaces for everyone, free from automobiles.
The date and time of the event is Sunday, October 14, from 2 PM - 6 PM. Setup and breakdown of barricades and any cones will take place in the hour preceding and following the event.
The roadway area to be blocked off includes Powder Springs St. SE from the entrance of the overflow parking area between PD headquarters and the Community Center until it intersects with Village Green Cir SE and continues down Powder Springs St SE until Hughes St., the entire length of Hughes St. SE between Powder Springs St SE and Fleming St., Belmont Pl SE between Fleming St. and Belmont Blvd SE, Belmont Blvd SE between Belmont Village Dr. and Ward St SE, and Ward ST SE from Powder Springs St SE until the end of the Ward Park property.
Recycling trucks will be stationed as blockades at the intersections of Ward St SE and Powder Springs St SE and at Ward St SE at the northern line of the Ward Park property. Barricades will be stationed at the intersections of Belmont Blvd SE and Belmont Village Dr., north of the Belmont Blvd-Belmont Pl roundabout, Belmont Pl SE and Fleming St, Hughes St SE and Hill St SE, Hughes St SE and Brown Cir SE, Hughes St SE and Powder Springs St SE, Hamby St SE and Powder Springs St SE, Village Green Cir SE west of the Library parking lot entrance, and Powder Springs St SE next to the Arboretum just west of the entrance to the overflow parking between SPD headquarters and the Community Center.
There is an attached map illustrating which roads will be closed, barricade locations, and where on-duty public safety employees will be posted.
All area parking lots in Smyrna Market Village, the Community Center, the Library, and City Hall will remain accessible to cars.
The route impacts about 25 residential driveways. All residences will receive a flyer/letter informing them of the planned closures at least two weeks in advance of the event. Notice will also be posted in the form of signage in advance of the event. Residences on Hughes St SE, which represent the majority of the impacted residences, will have the ability throughout the duration of the event to exit the area via three exit points with the assistance of Smyrna Police Department officers that will be stationed appropriately along the route. Impacted residences on Powder Springs St will have two exit points and those on Fleming St. will be able to exit to Atlanta Rd.
The Smyrna Police Department and Smyrna Fire Department were involved in the creation of this route and have no concerns regarding their ability to secure the roadways or to provide adequate staffing for the event. There will be five uniformed members of the Smyrna Police Department along the route to manage traffic and assist anyone that needs to access or depart from an impacted residence along the route. The Smyrna Fire Department will have an engine on site and three uniformed members of SFD. Public Works will provide two recycling trucks to serve as blockades on either end of the closures on Ward St. Two members of Public Works staff will also help with the dropping off and picking up of the required barricades. This will require an estimated 30 total hours of overtime from SPD and 8 total hours of overtime from Public Works. Residents are seeking community sponsors to help offset the associated costs.
BACKGROUND:
Resident volunteers from the Community Health Advisory Council and the Smyrna United Task Force on diversity and inclusion have partnered to lead the organizing of this event. These groups are also collaborating with the local Indie Arts Alliance, Bike Smyrna, and others. Keep Smyrna Beautiful, the Smyrna Library, and Smyrna Parks and Recreation have also been involved and offered ideas to support the activities, such as outdoor games for all ages. KSB will also help provide added recycling receptacles and work with volunteers to manage it.
An “Open Streets” event is identified in Smyrna’s Strategic Vision Plan under Action Item 1.3.3 - “Continue to be open to adapting successful events from Atlanta to a new suburban setting.” It mentions specifically the Atlanta Streets Alive event that was also created from the Open Streets model and calls to “create a distinctly Smyrna-branded Streets Alive day.”
Residents are also coordinating with local businesses to offer some free activities such as outdoor yoga and dance sessions to showcase their services and give back to the community. Eventually, there will be opportunities for sponsorships of this event as other communities have done.
The Cobb-Douglas Public Health Department is going to partner with residents to support the event and Georgia Commute Options is going to help advertise it to their audience around the metro. The city’s bike share vendor, Zagster, is going to ensure the downtown station is full in advance of the event and create a unique discount code for those days to allow people to bike for several hours for free and encourage people to try out the system in a comfortable environment.
RECOMMENDATION/REQUESTED ACTION: Staff recommends approval.