City Of Milton: Council Advances Measure To Extend Sidewalks, Paths Along Mayfield Road

Press release from the City of Milton:

03/08/2022 9:10 AM

The City Council on Monday night advanced a measure to extend sidewalk and add multi-use paths along Mayfield Road north to the Alpharetta line.

Public Works Director Sara Leaders explained the current plans for this project, which grew out of the Milton Community Trail Prioritization Plan that the Council approved in August of 2020. (You can view that Plan here: https://www.cityofmiltonga.us/home/showdocument?id=3505&t=637417206075630000.) Among other things, the work aims to connect all users – including those in wheelchairs, bicycles, and even potentially PTVs (like golf carts) – between downtown Crabapple and Freemanville Road.

Leaders went in-depth on three different segments of the route, namely:

• Adding a new sidewalk along the road by the new lake park, in addition to the existing multi-use trail. This would be needed because the slope of the current trail is too steep to be American with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant.
• Near the intersection of Bascomb Farm Drive and Baldwin Drive, creating another wheelchair-safe sidewalk along the road along with a multi-use connection on each side of a specimen tree that the City Arborist deemed worth saving. The City also plans to add a signalized pedestrian crossing with raised islands, a crosswalk, and lighting.  
• Putting in a multi-use path that meets ADA standards from that aforementioned crosswalk all the way to Freemanville Road.

The City still needs to complete the remaining 10 percent of its design plans for this project, finalize construction bid documents, and acquire easements for three parcels to move forward. On Monday night, Council members – after questions about the previous lake park as well as lighting – voted unanimously to approve a task order to address many of these remaining steps. These are needed before the project goes out to bid and construction can begin, which is anticipated for this coming fall.

Earlier in the meeting, the Council approved a Consent Agenda that included agreements for:

• The purchase, layout, and installation of furniture in the renovated clubhouse-turned-community and recreation center at the former Milton County Club
• Addressing water damage repairs from a recent leak at Fire Station 44
• Emergency repairs of a sinkhole on Providence Oaks Street
• The City of Milton to temporarily, and exclusively, rent a baseball field outside Birmingham United Methodist Church
• The construction of a rebuilt Fire Station 42 off Thompson Road

The latter has been in the works since last year, when the previous station was demolished to make room for a bigger, better version that suited Milton. An initial round of bids came back appreciably more expensive than originally budgeted – in large part due to unexpected rising costs for building supplies during the pandemic – so City staff found significant savings that didn’t detract from the needs and character of the original design. That led up to a new round of bids, and the monumental step forward on Monday.

The Milton Fire-Rescue Department, as well as Police and other City staff, are among the beneficiaries of $25,000 in recent grants that Human Resources Director Sam Trager highlighted on Monday night.

Trager began his presentation by referencing a $5,000 wellness grant from Cigna, Milton’s health and dental insurance provider, that was used to provide angioscreens to 44 City employees. He then hit on a pair of $10,000 grants from the Georgia Municipal Association, which works with Milton and 536 other cities in the state.

One of those grants went toward the purchase of 80 Nomex hoods to protect firefighters from cancer-causing contaminants and two types of equipment used to decontaminate the Fire Department’s personal protective equipment (PPE). The other $10,000 “safety” grant was directed to the Police Department, including for storage equipment for officers’ firearms and fees related to the national accreditation from CALEA, a highly respected outside group that determined the MPD’s compliance with nearly 200 law enforcement standards. (You can read more about that CALEA reaccreditation here: https://www.cityofmiltonga.us/Home/Components/News/News/927/1351/.)

GMA’s Michael McPherson addressed the Council briefly before posing for a picture with Trager, Mayor Peyton Jamison and Council members with a ceremonial $20,000 check.

“I know we’ve been partners for a long, long time, and GMA has done a lot of good for us,” Mayor Jamison said.

The Council also voted Monday to join other cities (as well as counties) in opposing two near identical bills that, if passed, would preempt municipalities’ ability to regulate land use for the development and construction of corporate subdivisions for rental-only purposes.

As Deputy City Manager Stacey Inglis said, the City of Milton’s primary concern isn’t related to whether rental-only subdivisions are appropriate for Milton but rather how these bills could remove “local oversight of the zoning and land-use decisions and putting that control in the hands of the developers.”

City Attorney Ken Jarrard said these bills would create a “one-size-fits-all” approach instead of “home-rule control” in which the citizens and leaders of local jurisdictions, like Milton, can decide what makes the most sense for their communities.

The Council unanimously approved that and a very different resolution – the latter relating to updating a now 10-year-old Livable Centers Initiative for the Highway 9, Windward, and State Route 400 area.

Public Works Director Sara Leaders explained that a Livable Center Initiatives, or LCI, is a “small-area plan to create more vibrant, walkable places with various mobility options” with better access to jobs and services.” Milton, along with Alpharetta, were part of such a plan adopted in 2012.

The resolution authorizes the City’s application to the Atlanta Regional Commission for $200,000 grant funds to go toward an update for the same general area. Some $20,000 more may be provided by the North Fulton Community Improvement District (CID), along with $15,000 each from Milton and Alpharetta.

If it moves forward, the updated LCI study would likely address branding in that area, a new market study for what fits best in that area, trail and path connection suggestions, and a 5-year implementation plan. As Leaders noted, projects that are part of that implementation plan could be eligible for additional grant funds.

The City Council will next convene the evening of March 14 in a Work Session at which presentations will be made and the Mayor and Council members can offer direction, though no votes will be taken.

This press release was produced by the City of Milton. The views expressed here are the author’s own.