1 week Ago
Pedestrian improvements for two sections of the town of Amherst, at and just around the town traffic circle on Main Street and portions of Second Street, are gaining traction with the Virginia Department of Transportation. Town Manager Sara McGuffin reported at Amherst Town Council’s Oct. 9 meeting of recently meeting with VDOT officials on concerns from the town and implementing portions of a walkability study the agency performed several years ago in conjunction with the Central Virginia Planning District Commission.
While the town enacted a first phase, VDOT denied subsequent projects due to inability to meet current American with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards for pedestrian improvements, according to McGuffin. Survey crews from VDOT recently brought forward options particularly focused on the town traffic circle and pedestrian crossings on Second Street, McGuffin wrote in an Oct. 4 memo to council.
Those crews have spent significant time looking at those two areas and identifying what improvements can be made with ADA guidelines, McGuffin wrote. VDOT officials met with McGuffin and Mayor Dwayne Tuggle in May, she said. At the traffic circle, VDOT has offered conceptual plans with a goal of moving forward to a design proposal, McGuffin said.
The preliminary design proposal would include a sidewalk in front of CVS on South Main Street, an improvement at the Quik-E food store and a sidewalk at The Filling Station store. Both stores and gas stations are located at the circle. An improvement in front of the Scott property, a long white building that houses real estate offices at the southeast corner of the circle, also is planned, McGuffin said.
“On Second Street, three possible locations have been identified for crosswalks,” McGuffin wrote. “Additional sidewalks would also be planned to better join the two sides of the street and make safer accommodation for crossing from the sidewalk on one side of the street to the sidewalk on the other.” A crosswalk study at Washington and Second streets also is recommended, McGuffin’s memo states.
“The design process will include public participation and will lead to the ability of the Town to apply for Smart Scale funding for these improvements,” McGuffin wrote. Smart Scale, a grant process VDOT holds for localities throughout the state that consider scoring criteria does not have a local match for applications. McGuffin wrote the designs planned should score well on the application process and Smart Scale is the most advantageous funding source for the town.
“VDOT has encouraged the Town to make this decision quickly so that the work can be completed in time for the next round of Smart Scale applications and funding,” McGuffin wrote. “All of this work requires significant public participation and interaction, which will occur at each point in the project, by staff as well as consultants.” Council voted unanimously on Oct.
9 to move forward with VDOT’s proposal that would line the town up for a Smart Scale application. McGuffin told council a crosswalk on Second Street across from Amherst Presbyterian Church would lose a few parking spaces. “The challenge on Second Street is any time you talk about making improvements .
.. you are talking about losing parking spaces,” McGuffin said.
VDOT estimates the improvements planned in both areas are estimated at $3 million, she said. “They do feel like this would be a very favorably reviewed application,” McGuffin said of Smart Scale. Tuggle told council VDOT’s offer is beneficial to the town.
“All the design work is going to be free,” Tuggle said. “It’s not going to cost the taxpayers, anybody, a dime. We just have to stand back and enjoy the benefits.
” In a separate matter at the Oct. 9 meeting, council voted 2-3 to send a zoning amendment to the Town of Amherst Planning Commission that would give businesses relief from a paving requirement for areas of 8,000 square feet or less. The motion failed with councilors Mike Driskill and Ken Watts in favor and councilors Janice Wheaton, Sharon Turner and Andra Higginbotham opposed.
Council previously voted in May on a 3-2 vote to deny a zoning amendment allowing surface treating for businesses as an option in town parking requirements. Wheaton, Turner and Watts voted to deny it while Driskill and Higginbotham voted in favor. Steve Martin, a town business owner, and his wife have on multiple occasions publicly criticized town regulations on paving requirements they feel are too costly and burdensome for local businesses.
The paving requirement has cost him thousands of dollars, he has complained to the council. During council’s discussion in May, the commission recommended code language that would have added surface treating for parking spaces and driveways for land uses apart from single-family homes, duplexes and accessory structures. Driveways were defined in the proposed amendment as access between the road and the required parking spaces and must be 22 feet in width.
McGuffin at the May meeting said town staff and the commission spent a lot of time on the proposed amendment, which she called a compromise, adding surface treating for commercial property is “a very limited area” and she could only think of a few sites it would apply to. “The surfacing requirement in commercial areas is narrowly defined,” McGuffin said at the May meeting. Driskill said during council’s discussion in May the surface treating measure is an aid to small businesses and a relief from asphalt paving that is no issue for major chains in costs.
Watts said at the time he felt the code language was too broad and needed more work. However, he brought the item back for reconsideration on Oct. 9 — town rules allow for councilors on the prevailing side of a vote to do so — because he feels some of the town’s zoning regulations need more review and a concern the town is getting a bad reputation for being unfriendly to businesses.
Driskill, a liaison member to the commission, said he has looked into the average size of parking lots in the town for businesses. “Anything above 8,000 square feet would need to be paved. If it is smaller than 8,000 square feet, it could be surface treated,” Driskill said of the new code change he would like to take the commission to take up.
Wheaton said at the May discussion she doesn’t want the town to “lower our standards” as far as paving requirements for commercial properties. Higginbotham said his opposition to the new code proposal is based mainly on timing and he would like it to come back in the near future for a “reasonable” outcome that works for everyone. “I definitely think we need to tweak this, but I don’t think now is a good time,” he said.
“I think we should do it at a later time.”.
