Council Reviews Master Sidewalk Plan

Community, Outdoors

DAHLONEGA, Ga.- Jameson Kinley the Planning and Zoning Administrator brought the City Council the Master Sidewalk plan for their review at the work session on Apr. 18.

The council approved the selection of a design firm for the Park Street water and sewer project at a special call meeting that same day. Another item discussed at the work session was resolution 2022-08 a budget amendment to give additional funds to the Chamber of Commerce.

The current layout of Dahlonega sidewalks.

In 2019 the Georgia Mountain Regional Commission GMRC did a park and trail study. The study gave way to the sidewalk plan, its implementation was put on hold due to the COVID shutdowns. Over the last few months the Community Development, Public Works, and Police Department have met and reviewed the plan and the current needs and goals for the city.

The sidewalk plan would change zoning requirements that cause there to be sidewalks to nowhere and ensure the maintenance of those areas that are in need. The overall goal of the project is to make the City of Dahlonega an even more walkable city. Currently, there is no financial impact on the city other than man-hours, however, in the future, it could have a small budget allocation for the project.

The Sidewalk Master Plan with the areas of priority circled.

Kinley is not asking for this to be an action item at the next meeting. The reason for presenting this was to ensure that the staff was on the right path moving forward. To view the plan as presented to the council visit https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-b9e7401334104eb191b70554586a3b63.pdf, the plan begins on page 122.

City Engineer Mark Buchanan informed the council of the companies that have bid on becoming the design firm for the Park Street project. The lowest bidder with the most experience working with the City is Wiedeman and Singleton. The original budget that has been approved for this is $60,000. The bid is for $169,965.

The cost of labor has gone up as the cost of materials has, this is a possible cause for the $109,965 increase in the budget. This project is to replace pipes and water lines and readjust the system on the street. Some of the mains that will be replaced are 90-plus years old.

“I remember having the discussion with the prior council about whether we should even approve the $60,000. Some questioned the magnitude of this job, now we are proceeding because we have the funding to do the job by the grace of God with the ARPA funds assigned to it. It’s just not easy, this is huge,” commented Councilmember Ron Larson.

Due to the new law requiring online booking to collect taxes after an evaluation, there is going to be an additional $60,000 in revenue. Finance Director Allison Martin recommended that $54,000 of that should go to the Chamber for the renovation of the bathrooms. The Tourism Department also has about $80,000 to contribute to the project.

The County has offered to contribute by overseeing the process. The goal is to get the project done as quickly as possible. During the renovations, porta-potties will be set up for visitors’ use.

In the past this was usually a six to eight-week project however due to supply chain issues there is a potential for it to take longer. The council will take action on this in their regular scheduled meeting on May 2 at 6:00 p.m.

 

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