While the city of Ringgold wants to improve the intersection of Chapman Road and Highway 41 to make it safer for motorists as well as to alleviate flash flooding issues there, according to Mayor Nick Millwood, officials will have to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to do so.
“The GDOT has authorized $350,000 toward the project, and the remaining $280,000 had been agreed on to be split between the county and city governments,” Millwood said. “We were recently informed that the County Commission has pulled their support due to budgeting issues they are currently dealing with. This has put the city in a precarious spot, at the end of this process, to fully fund the $280,000 or lose the $350,000 GDOT has approved.”
Catoosa County Commission Chairman Keith Greene made note of what he said was a GDOT-mandated completion date of June 30 in order for GDOT’s pledged money to remain available for the project, when explaining why the county backed out.
“County road improvement and stormwater funds are completely accounted for in this fiscal year,” he reported. “Furthermore, Catoosa County cannot responsibly fund any large projects until we resolve our multi-million dollar obligation to Erlanger in the wake of the closure of Hutcheson Medical Center.
“In order to meet the GDOT imposed June 30, 2016, deadline, the county proposed the city of Ringgold fund the entire $280,000 in local money required for the Chapman Road improvements. In exchange, Catoosa County will agree to a stormwater project for the city of Ringgold, not to exceed $140,000, in the 2019 SPLOST,” he added. “However, the funding for this project is predicated on voters approving a 2019 SPLOST.”
Millwood said the City Council will continue discussing how to proceed.
In other business:
- * The council denied a request to rezone a property on Guyler Street from R-2 to R-3. This would have allowed the developer to put a duplex on the property, as opposed to a single-family residence for which the lot is zoned. Multiple nearby residents showed up to protest the rezoning.
- * Millwood said he would like to create a Health and Wellness Committee for the city. “In the next month or two, I anticipate completing the committee and submitting it to the council for approval,” he said. “I look forward to completing the Health and Wellness Committee. It will do a lot for the sense of community.”
- * Ringgold is constructing a groundwater well on Poplar Springs Road. “We have been successful in our attempt to install a 10-inch well in order to supply our residents with quality water,” said Millwood. “The new well produces an estimated 1 [million] to 1.5 million gallons a day. Our current city usage is [400,000] to 500,000 gallons a day. The well water will require less chemical treatment than is required to clean the creek water we currently use.” While there will be cost on the front end to lay pipe out to the well site, the money saved in the long run on chemicals as well as the added security of another water source will pay off, he added. “With the growth happening in the city and county, it’s comforting knowing we have this large source of water to draw from to not only maintain our current needs, but to account for growth that will occur,” Millwood said.
Email Katie Ward at kward@timesfreepress.com.