During its only meeting of March on Thursday night, the East Ridge City Council adopted a proposal from an engineering firm to beautify Exit I on Interstate 75.
The council approved phase I of the project proposed by ASA Engineering for civil engineering, landscape architectural design, construction documents and bid services in the amount of $240,000.
The project calls for, among other things, landscaping the interchange with trees, a pond for irrigation and several pieces of art.
Ultimately, the beautification project is estimated to cost $3 million. That figure will include construction and about $100,000 a year in landscape maintenance.
The council approved on first reading new architectural design standards and guidelines for construction of commercial property in the city. Chief Building Official Kenny Custer, who has been working on the ordinance for more than a year, said the goal of the new rules is to ensure high quality buildings and enhance the city’s appearance.
The new rules govern materials, construction design and to a limited degree aesthetics of new construction in East Ridge. Custer said it is his belief that the new rules will not be a hindrance to new development and is not “over-reaching.” He said that several new developments have been completed in the city prior to the adoption of the new standards and those projects exceeded the standards which have been proposed.
Custer said the whole idea of the architectural standards is to “really enhance the city moving forward.”
The Council approved a $1 million incentive package to developer Suhash Patel, who is building a 6,500 square-foot strip mall at the corner of Truman Avenue and Ringgold Road. The city will pay Patel $50,000 per year for the next 20 years, said City Manager Scott Miller.
Patel’s new retail center will be the home of a new Marco’s Pizza and a Highway 55 Burgers. In addition it will have three retail businesses. The new project should be completed by the middle of the year.
Miller explained to the council that the city will recoup its $1 million investment by collecting state increment sales tax, local sales taxes and property taxes in the amount of about $4 million over the next 20 years.
The incentive proposal will now return to the city’s Industrial Development Board for final approval of a development agreement, officials said.
The council passed a resolution hiring the accounting firm of Henderson, Hutcherson and McCullough for auditing services. The firm is being retained for $26,900 a year.
The board passed a resolution authorizing the city to apply for a Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office non-matching grant for $250,000. East Ridge Police Chief J.R. Reed said the money would be used to hire two new officers along with vehicles and equipment to establish a “traffic division” within the department.
During the “Communications from Citizens” portion of the meeting, the council heard from a wheel-chair bound woman who criticized the city for not having any transportation for handicapped citizens. Joyce Herzog said that she and her husband, Tom, also wheel-chair bound, moved to the area in 2001 and to Easterbrook in East Ridge in 2011. She called City Hall last week to inquire about options the city or other government agency in the area may provide for the handicapped. She was told by a city staffer that they did not know of any such program.
Herzog told the council that 80 percent of the people on her street were elderly. “What is being done to plan for the future?” she asked. “I’m not asking just for me but for my neighbors.”
Mayor Brent Lambert told Herzog that city officials are meeting with CARTA officials on March 30 to discuss future service to the city.
“We would like to hear from the public about what services are needed,” he said.
