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April 21 - 27, 2016 » Page 16A
Brookhaven approves bicycle, pedestrian and trail plan
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
The Brookhaven City Council approved
April 12 the city’s first bicycle, pedestrian and
trail plan.
The plan was passed unanimously by
council members. According to the city,
the goal of the plan is to “develop a list of
implementable policies and transportation
projects aimed at accommodating all active
transportation users through a combination of
technical analysis, best practices in planning,
and engagement with the community.”
In April 2015, the city awarded a contract
to Pond and Company worth more than
$96,000 to develop a trail plan that will
integrate pedestrian, bicycle and multipurpose
trail facilities throughout the city.
The plan includes, 20.4 miles of new
sharrows (shared-lane marking), 6.9 miles of
new bicycle lanes or cycle tracks, 31.3 miles
of new sidewalks and 38.7 miles of new multi
use trails.
According to the plan, all projects were
identified as being either short-term (possible
to implement in the next five to 10 years), mid
term (possible to implement in the next 10-20
years), or long-term (likely to implement in
20-plus years). Future changes in community
preferences and specific requests for
individual projects will likely require ongoing
alteration, according to the city.
According to the plan, the costs of each
phase (in 2015 dollars) is $9.2 million in the
short-term phase, $25.2 million in the mid
term phase and $32.0 million in the long-term
phase.
Before passing the plan, the city council
amended it to include the formation of
committees to help the city implement the
plan. The city will also ask Pond to change
the sidewalks from 5 feet to 7 feet wide in the
plan.
“I really see the value of trails; multi-used
trails, including in Peachtree Creek Greenway,
but other ones throughout our city,” Mayor
John Ernst said before the vote. “I know they
are labeled as long-term projects but I think
those are going to be the ones that are most
appreciated by the citizens. Going forward I
hope that we use our discretion in grants and
other stuff to implement a multi-use trail policy
as quick as we can.”
The Brookhaven City Council approved the city’s first
bicycle, pedestrian and trail plan.
North senior center to be completed in six months
DeKalb County plans to seek legal action against a contractor that could not finish construction on the North DeKalb Senior
Center. Photos by Andrew Cauthen
by Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
It has been plagued with
problems that delayed its
completion but now construction
on the North DeKalb Senior Center
in Chamblee is expected to be
completed in September.
The DeKalb County Board of
Commissioners voted April 12 to
increase the contract amount by
up to $1.62 million and extend until
Dec. 31,2017.
Construction on the center,
located at 3393 Malone Drive, was
halted Feb. 19, 2015, by DeKalb
County officials and the county’s
Board of Commissioners voted to
terminate the contract with Talbot
Construction Inc. The facility
originally was scheduled to open in
August 2014.
“We had a vendor that could
not perform,” said Zach Williams,
the county’s chief operating officer.
“We had a number of unforeseen
conditions in the soil. There was...
some cost that went into simply
paying to remediate and prepare
the site for development. In many
ways that was funding that you
just didn’t see in the above ground
construction.”
County officials said there
were groundwater issues and
multiple subcontractor issues. An
environmental site inspection failed
to turn up that there were large
concrete pillars buried beneath the
surface that had to be removed.
Williams said the county worked
with that contractor for a couple of
years “trying to get them to a point
where we could be able to get this
facility built.”
“At the end of the day, after
working with the contractor
vigorously, we determined that we
just could not complete with this
contractor,” Williams said.
Asurety Construction Services
of Conyers, which completed the
work at the South DeKalb Senior
Center, was hired to complete the
work at the north center.
A review by Asurety of “what
was the shell of the north senior
center” determined that there was
“a lot of damage of the facility and
work that just had to be done just
because of how the facility was
left,” Williams said.
“It was not secured in a way
that we would have liked,” Williams
said.
County officials plan to pursue
“litigation ...relative to the previous
contractor and the work that was or
was not performed,” Williams said.
Once completed, the senior
center will be a 15,000-square-
foot facility with amenities
including community meeting
rooms, a computer lab, a fitness
area and more. Additionally, the
center will include classrooms to
accommodate the various activities
requested by the community and a
dining hall seating approximately
120.