|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Grigsby ‘island’ planting plan announced
Heather Mays - Thu, Oct, 29, 2009
Grigsby Chapel Road’s controversial traffic calming islands finally will be landscaped with a low-maintenance ground cover and two types of “street trees,” Farragut’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen announced, Thursday, Oct. 8.
“It’s going to have a different look than, say, what you see on Parkside Drive,” Town Engineer Darryl Smith said.
The islands will have no grass, just ground cover, including creeping lily turf and verbena.
“It will be mulched at first, then they’ll come back in and plug in the ground cover,” Smith said.
The trees are sweet bay magnolias and willow oaks. To care for the landscaping, each of the islands will be irrigated.
“The idea is that the ground cover will stay low, [and] the trees will be trimmed high enough that visibility is not compromised,” Smith said.
Alderman Bob Markli worried that the magnolias, set to be planted on the ends of each of the islands, would be so dense as to decrease visibility.
“Visibility is a large concern. … I know that magnolias are a very dense tree,” Markli said.
Audience member Brigham Thomas presented Markli with a printout from the Department of Agriculture, classifying the trees as about eight feet tall with a spread of 15 to 20 feet.
However, Smith said while Public Works may have to trim the trees to allow visibility as the trees grow, once they are mature they would not be tall enough to cause an issue.
“We are aware the public works crews may have to do some trimming with the sweet bay magnolia,” Community Development Director Ruth Hawk said.
“What we were looking for was a smaller-trunked tree. While the other tree is a wonderful street tree, there were concerns about the size of the trunk.
“That’s why the sweet bay magnolias are at the ends, the noses, of the islands and then the oaks are in the middle,” she added.
“I really don’t think there’s going to be an issue with visibility,” Smith said.
Interim Town Administrator Gary Palmer reminded the Board the contract had already been let, and had been vetted by Town committees. He said changing the trees now that the contract was about to be awarded would be a setback.
“I’m deeply concerned with this, and at this point, I don’t really — I hate to say I don’t care — but the issue isn’t really about whether it is convenient to the process or not,” Markli said.
“What is [important] is the safety and the visibility. But it sounds like everyone’s done a good job with this and that this is a good choice. I guess that’s all the questions I have,” he added.
Alderman Jeff Elliott recommended the bid be awarded to low bidder Linginfelter Landscaping, Inc., for $43,385, a motion seconded by Vice Mayor Dot LaMarche.
The motion was unanimously approved, although Markli first discussed awarding the bid to the second-to-lowest bidder because that business was based in Farragut town limits.
That was eventually dropped when other aldermen said they weren’t immediately comfortable approving a bid that was not the lowest in the group.
Elliott asked Knox County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Ben Harkins how many wrecks on GCR in the last year could be attributed to the islands.
Harkins said only one accident had been reported as being due to an island. He also said between 10,000 and 14,000 cars traveled Grigsby Chapel every day.
“For most people in this area, they’re really a non-issue,” Harkins said.
Elliott asked Harkins if he thought the islands were accomplishing their purpose, namely slowing traffic and preventing passing in the turn lane.
“I talked to a resident out there the first week of school, who didn’t like the islands out there, and the two reasons they didn’t like them out there was because they slowed traffic down and people weren’t able to use the turn lane as an acceleration lane,” Harkins said.
“I tried to explain to this resident that was a good thing, but they didn’t agree with me,” he added.
|
|
|
