PDF: An open letter to Signal Mountain Mayor Bill Lusk and Town Manager Honna Rogers
After years of lobbying from private citizens, the Signal Mountain Town Council on Monday approved a controversial sidewalk spanning one mile from the Signal Mountain Library to the Old Town neighborhood along James Boulevard.
Construction will begin this summer and should last about three months, officials said.
"We've seen joggers running by our house, moms pushing baby strollers, you name it," said Joe Dumas, a James Boulevard resident. "It will be a very welcome development when it happens."
The sunny tone at Monday's meeting stood in stark contrast to previous sidewalk debates.
Two months ago, about 50 Signal Mountain Golf and Country Club members protested the sidewalk at a public hearing.
They said they felt the proposed sidewalk would threaten trees that form a natural barrier to pedestrians, but then a woman showed off a bucket of golf balls she had plucked from her yard across from the golf course. Statements by both sides led to arguing and snickering as residents spoke.
Club President Doug Fisher then offered an open letter to town officials that endorsed a slightly amended plan.
Heeding the club's wishes, the council will build the sidewalk closer to the street. The town plans to remove only 20 percent of the trees, but Signal Mountain Mayor Bill Lusk downplayed extreme versions of the proposal.
"There was never a plan or suggestion that we'd take all of them down," he said after the meeting.
In the open letter, Mr. Fisher said he remains "concerned with the safety of pedestrian traffic in the area of the proposed walkway."
"We are concerned that people can get hit with golf balls -- they travel fast," said club Vice President George Paturalski, who maintained that seclusion was not an issue in the club's efforts to keep the trees.
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