Tucker’s Mayor and City Council met Monday night at the City Hall Annex for their first of two scheduled October Council meetings. While there were no major land use votes taken, Council held a pair of public hearings and received updates on several important topics.
The public hearings focused on two City-initiated rezoning cases. The first would change the zoning of 2825 Mountain Industrial Boulevard. The property, which is currently a Georgia Power substation, would change from a Medium Density Residential-2 (MR-2) zoning to a Local Commercial (C-1) zoning.
Second, Council held a first read on a City-initiated rezoning at 2291 Wender Drive, a largely undeveloped property at the back of the Winding Woods neighborhood. The rezoning would take the property from Small Lot Residential (RSM) to Residential Medium Lot-85 (R-85).
There is no proposed change in use and no proposed development of either property, the rezonings would merely be following the recommendations of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Both rezoning cases will be back before Council for public hearings and anticipated votes at their meeting on October 22.
City Engineer Ken Hildebrandt provided Council with an update on the City’s SPLOST-funded resurfacing projects, as well as the Intersection Safety Analysis conducted for the City. With crews finishing up the resurfacing of Idlewood Road between Sarr Parkway and E. Ponce de Leon Avenue, 14 of Tucker’s worst-conditioned streets have now been resurfaced with SPLOST money. Nine more City streets are scheduled for resurfacing before the end of the year.
Hildebrandt also briefed Council on the City’s plans to address complaints about the traffic conditions at the intersection of Fellowship Road and Lawrenceville Highway. Following a SPLOST-funded resurfacing, the City will reverse one lane of Fellowship northbound to create an additional southbound lane. This will help traffic to move more smoothly by creating dedicated left and right turn lanes, as well as a straight lane to carry traffic across Fellowship toward Idlewood Road.
Council then voted to authorize City staff to apply to GDOT to make Mountain Industrial Boulevard a state route and Hugh Howell Road a local route. The designation would open Mountain Industrial to additional grant money and potentially increase the beautification and traffic flow throughout that corridor. It would also aim to reduce congestion and pass-through traffic on the Smoke Rise portion of Hugh Howell Road.
The next Council meeting is scheduled for Monday October 22 at 7 p.m. at the City Hall Annex (4228 First Avenue).
