Impact
WARD / COUNCILMEMBER: Ward 3 / Councilmember Travis Lindley
$ IMPACT:
Title
Approve the implementation of the downtown improvements for the village green area and surrounding streets as shown on the preferred concept plan developed by Pond & Company and upgraded through citizen input as shown on the recommended concept plan dated October 15, 2021.
Ward 3 / Councilmember Travis Lindley
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ISSUE AND BACKGROUND:
In 2019, the city enlisted Pond & Company to prepare a downtown master plan update that became known as Smyrna B.O.L.D. This study included significant public engagement. Pond implemented a multi-faceted approach to obtain citizen engagement, including a dedicated project website, a community open house, stakeholder interviews, youth council focus groups and attendance at community events to raise awareness of the Smyrna B.O.L.D. effort and gather public input. In addition to this public input, a technical advisory committee including several upper-level city staff members was created and this committee met several times during this initial process. The results of the study were presented to the city in 2020. This plan included a redesign of the village green area.
Croy Engineering was asked to take the conceptual plan of the village green area from the Pond study and develop an engineering plan. Subsequently, this conceptual plan developed by Pond was included in the 2022 SPLOST list of projects and highlighted as a key project to be done if the SPLOST passed. The 2022 SPLOST, which included this conceptual plan was overwhelmingly approved by the voters.
On June 21, 2021, the city council voted to move forward with the project. The city formed a downtown redesign task force consisting of council members, citizens, and professionals and reengaged Pond to do a more detailed design of the downtown park space. The city also engaged Croy Engineering to do a traffic study to determine the impact of the traffic network in the area that could result with implementation of the plan. This study concluded that the proposed plan will not adversely impact traffic in the area. Through this process, to get additional public input, Pond conducted additional open houses, and online public input sessions. At the end of this process the committee agreed upon a preferred concept plan that includes improvements to surrounding streets and unanimously recommends this plan to the city. The estimated construction cost of this portion of the project, including the roadway improvements is $5,698,317.
RECOMMENDATION / REQUESTED ACTION: Approve the implementation of the downtown improvements for the village green area and surrounding streets as shown on the preferred concept plan developed by Pond & Company and upgraded through citizen input as shown on the recommended concept plan dated October 15, 2021.