| OCR Text |
Show Revised plan for Boimtifbl IDA debated. By GARY R. BLODGETT BOUNTIFUL A revised plan for development of the downtown area was met with opposition of the Bountiful City Council especially especial-ly from two new council members attending their first meeting. The council debated the single item for nearly three hours before finally deciding to table a vote until tonight's council meeting. Primarily, the issue for debate was the traffic design for downtown down-town Bountiful between 500 South and 400 North along both sides of Main Street and the landscaping concept for the three-block area between 200 South and 100 North vs. landscaping the entire nine-block nine-block area. Newly elected council members Barbara Holt and Bob Gramoll said they were hearing the proposal for downtown renovation, landscaping landscap-ing and street design for the first time and said they were not prepared pre-pared to vote. Both told the council that they would give extensive study to the proposal during the next few days and would be ready to cast their r 1 vote at Wednesday (tonight's) meeting. "I see what appear to be flaws and inconsistencies in the proposal and would like to walk the area and determine in my own mind what this (proposal) means to me," said Councilman Gramoll. "I'm also concerned about the differences the city proposes to helping merchants within the three-block area of downtown Bountiful compared to the six blocks from 100 to 400 North and from 200 to 500 South. In fact, I feel there is some discrimination on the city's part when you look at the separate areas being considered for improvements." Mayor Dean S. Stahle explained to the new council members that the downtown concept between 100 North and 200 South had already been approved by the council, but that the blocks outside this area were still under study. "This can't be so," shot back Councilman Gramoll. "You don't have my approval of anything yet. I haven't voted on anything." The mayor explained that the conceptual approval was made by the prior council a few months ago. "All we're looking for now is approval of the remaining six blocks so that we can move ahead on the project and keep within the proposed time schedule," said the mayor. "But we also wanted you two to know what has transpired to this time." He noted that the downtown project being acted upon has been under study for several months, and has included architect drawings draw-ings of the proposed improvements. improve-ments. There have been some modifications modifica-tions to the original downtown site as well as landscaping proposals for the entire project which are still under consideration. Proposed changes would include: in-clude: Discontinuation of the traffic light at Center Street and Main because be-cause it does not meet state and national Traffic Safety Standards; proposed left turn collector 'anes for both directions on Main Street at 200 South and 200 North; and city-financed landscaping rind water wa-ter system for businesses in the six- block area outside the downtown area. Mayor Stahle said he is also proposing to keep 100 South as an "open street," and not be closed to one-way traffic as was earlier proposed. prop-osed. One of the biggest concerns facing fac-ing the council is through traffic on Main Street. City Engineer Jack Balling told the council that the proposal will narrow the width of Main Street in the three-block area from about 60 feet to 40 feet, and would include 45-degree angle parking. "This is going to drive some motorists up a wall," said Mr. Balling. Ball-ing. "It's difficult to drive along a street 60 feet wide and then have the street narrow to 40 feet with a divider in the middle and cars backing back-ing from 45-degree angle parking." Main Street within the three-block three-block area is designed to have one lane of free-flow traffic each direction direc-tion and one lane each direction for parking and right turns. There will be no left turns permitted off Main Street in this downtown area. In the six blocks outside the downtown area, the plan calls for about 60 feet width of street with four lanes one each direction, one lane for right turns and parallel parking, and one lane for left turns. "I know some motorists who won't want to drive Main Street when it narrows to only 40 feet, and this concerns me," said Mrs. Holt. She also questioned the wide landscaping land-scaping and sidewalk improvements improve-ments in the downtown area. Architect Doug Todd said it was necessary to have a wide area of sidewalk to get proper landscaping as city officials have indicated they want. He added that angle parking now proposed could be changed at any time in the future to permit parallel parking, without disrupting disrupt-ing the landscaping or the traffic flow along Main Street. Sidewalks in the outside six blocks will remain at a 5-foot width and landscaping will be primarily trees and grass. Studies are continuing con-tinuing to determine if the city will plant and care for the landscaping or will make irrigation water available avail-able to the merchants in the area and seek their assistance in maintaining main-taining the landscaping. In the three-block downtown area, the council earlier decided to provide all the landscaping including in-cluding trees and potted plants, as well as a widened sidewalk, drinking drink-ing fountains, telephone booths, etc. The city will also provide maintenance of the landscaping. Depending on tonight's vote, the council is expected to approve a nine-block conceptual plan, working work-ing out as many problems as possible possi-ble before the bid is let in early February. A meeting with downtown merchants mer-chants and property owners is planned Jan. 26 to get detailed input in-put on the proposal before final plans are prepared. Total cost of the redevelopment project is $1,865,000. A bond for $1.5 million has already been approved and sold, and the remaining remain-ing money will come from the city. Construction is expected to begin be-gin in March and completed by Sept. 1. See Gary's column, News & Views, on Page 2 regarding the proposed street design and landscaping land-scaping proposals. , ... -1 |
