James Gray with the Atlanta transportation engineering and planning firm GCA Inc. presented a plan to Albany City Commissioners during their work session Tuesday that calls for an extension of Westover Boulevard to Ledo Road just west of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on the Lee County side of Ledo. The project, as proposed by Gray, would cost an estimated $9.7 million in “today’s dollars,” but Gray noted that the city would be responsible for only a 10-to-20 percent matching portion of the cost.
“The two most logical locations for an alternate corridor that would draw traffic off Nottingham are extensions of Archwood Drive and Westover Boulevard, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation model of the region,” Gray told commissioners. “An evaluation shows that the Westover connector would draw more traffic from Nottingham and would be the more effective choice.”
Engineer Ritchie Marbury with the local EMC Engineering Services firm told commissioners his study indicated bridges should be placed on the Liberty Expressway to allow for the extension from Westover to Ledo.
“It’s impractical to talk about going over the Liberty Expressway,” Marbury said. “Our plan is for the Liberty Expressway to go over Westover via bridges. The estimated cost breakdown includes around $300,000 for road work, $400,000 for traffic signals and $9 million for bridges.”
Mayor Willie Adams cautioned that the transportation boondoggle that currently plagues the state might be reason to dampen enthusiasm.
“I have a political question: With all the turmoil in transportation in the state right now, how can we expect to get the $9 million for this project from DOT?” Adams asked. “Our gateway projects that were only around $300,000 have already been taken off the table.”
“We hope a lot of that is cleared up by the time we’re ready to move forward with this project,” Marbury said. “Since this is such a distressed area, I think the DOT will agree that this is a worthwhile project. When the money is available, I think they’ll move forward with it.”
Commissioner Tommie Postell warned that the planners should make sure Lee County, which shares Ledo with Dougherty as a border thoroughfare, is on board for the extension.
“This doesn’t need to be one of those ‘I heard’ or ‘so-and-so said;’ we need to make sure Lee County is on board from the beginning of this project,” Postell said.
Commissioner Bob Langstaff suggested that City Attorney Nathan Davis draw up a joint resolution between the two counties in which they would share the local matching funds and present the proposal to the state as a “unified regional project.”
“That’s the kind of stuff they like to see, plus I think it would show them we’re serious about this project,” Langstaff said.
Representatives of the Chehaw Park Authority, Economic Development Commission and Convention and Visitors Bureau gave quarterly updates to commissioners during the extended work session.
Authority board chair Mark Pickett told the commission the authority had put together a $4 million development plan that would include more animal exhibits, an amphitheater, a new entry to the park, an expanded train ride and waterfront camping. He also noted that a group headed by Jim Fowler was close to reaching an agreement with Chehaw to bring a “safari-type” expedition ride to the park that would be a private-public project.
Authority Vice Chair Mildred Johnson told commissioners attendance at the wild animal park had grown from 63,000 in 2004 to 119,373 in 2007 and that the park’s economic impact in the community over that time had surpassed $10 million.
Postell, who is the commission’s representative on the Chehaw board, said, “We have independent thinkers on this board, and that’s why we’ve had such tremendous progress. There are a lot of groups with a hand out asking for money, and there are going to be more, but I think it’s imperative that we continue to support the park.”
Park CEO Doug Porter had asked the commission to renew its $1 million financial contribution to the park for another five years.
The CVB’s Lisa Riddle told the commission that five events the group had helped sponsor so far in 2008 had had an estimated $3.8 million economic impact on the city. She also noted that the online publication marathonguide.com had rated Albany’s two-year old Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon as the second-best qualifying race for the prestigious Boston Marathon.
Commissioners tabled a vote on approval of a multimodal project grant so that Downtown Manager Don Buie could voice concerns about the proposed location of the project’s bus terminal and approved a bus replacement grant application. They also voted to accept a right-of-way deed for the shopping center across from the Wynnsong Theatres on Nottingham and OK’d an alley closing on North Monroe Street.
Vantage Builders’ request for a resolution of support from the commission for a DCA loan application on its planned Landings at Southlake project was tabled after Postell and Adams expressed concern that the resolution might hurt efforts by the Liberty Group, which is the development group for the East Albany University Gardens project, to acquire a similar loan.
“I just want to make sure we don’t clash with a development project that we’ve already sponsored,” Postell said.
The commission voted to approve a request to modify an amortization schedule for the Nativity Village development project.