Committees discuss upcoming projects, safety on Kent Drive

Plans for the new two-story public safety center facility – previously approved in June – may be moving forward in the near future after the finance committee's Nov. 6 meeting.

The building itself will be approximately 54,000 square feet and house public safety needs, such as detectives’ offices, a court room and administrative offices, on the first floor and patrol rooms, a firing range and training rooms on the second floor.

“The goal is to get us under one roof again,” said Police Chief Tim Ross. “This, of course, will do that and give us some room to grow in the future.”

The center is going to be built along Bagby Drive in West Homewood. Ward 1 Representative Britt Thames suggested prominent signage for the new facility as well.

“My hope would be the bigger, the brighter, the better,” he said. 

Under the project's current timeline, the initial phases of demolition would begin in early January and construction would begin in late spring 2018. It is budgeted to cost $21 million. Committee members carried the discussion of the new project to the following meeting to allow for review of all of the plan details and renderings.

The finance committee also voted to recommend approval of the new Homewood City Schools construction project to the full city council. The committee also voted to recommend approval of the funding agreement, pending a review.

The new construction project would renovate and add space to the existing school facilities to accommodate for projected growth in the upcoming years. Council President Bruce Limbaugh said he heard many positive comments from residents during a public meeting at Homewood High School.

In total, the renovations and additions are expected to cost $55 million and planned to be completed before the 2019-2020 school year.

In an unrelated school system project, the city has already made alterations to signage along Kent Drive after a young boy was struck by a car along the same road while walking home from school.

Ward 3 Representative Patrick McClusky said during the public safety committee that in recent weeks, the city has enacted three permanent resolutions that designated school zones and placed appropriate signage; added a crosswalk to along the neighborhood road; and stationed a crossing guard along the crosswalk in the mornings and afternoons. McClusky added that he has seen police patrolling the area to monitor for speeding, as well.

“All of those things have happened since meeting … three weeks ago,” he said. Since the addition of the safety measures, he said it seems like “things are moving a little bit better.”

The boy’s grandmother, Linda Gancy, said she was thankful for the improvements the city has made along Kent Drive but would like an additional “school zone” sign to be place along the curve where Grove Street turns into Kent Drive. She also requested that the city add signs to designate the speed limit to 15 miles per hour during school hours.

“Hall [Avenue] has 15 mile per hour signs, Kent [Drive] should have one,” she said.

Gancy stated she was in favor of a traffic study for the area, considering the level of traffic as it is now and projected student growth.

However, Committee members were not in favor of doing the traffic study that was previously mentioned in committee last month, stating that the original study helped optimize the area. McClusky said the original study was done "to exhaustion" and the current setup for carpool is the best option.

Even if the city did want to perform a traffic study, members agreed they should allow the recent changes to take hold before doing so.

Members voted to carry over the issue to allow for more discussion at the next meeting and agreed to look into adding more school zone and 15 mile per hour speed limit signs along Kent Drive.

The finance committee also recommended approval of a selection of other projects on their agenda, including the authorization of the BJCTA contract for services and funding for this fiscal year, pending the inclusion of obtaining quarterly ridership numbers and financial reports from the BJCTA; the installation of additional lighting along Valley Avenue for the upfront cost of $9,457; and the installation of additional lighting along State Farm Parkway for the upfront cost of $71,331. 

Ward 3 Representative Walter Jones said the difference in pricing between the two roads was due to the additional number of lights that would have to be installed along State Farm Parkway compared to Valley Avenue. Both lighting installations were budgeted for under the seven-cent gas tax.

Editor's note: This article was updated at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 7 to clarify the finance committee's decisions regarding appropriate signage and safety measures along Kent Drive.