July 1, 2024By: Dwayne Page. Nineteen months after being awarded a state 934,000 grant to put down sidewalks on Highway 70 east, the City of Smithville is going to try for another grant in the amount of 1.1 million for sidewalk extensions on South Congress Boulevard Highway 56 to the city limits. During Monday night s regular monthly meeting, the aldermen authorized an application for a Tennessee Department of Transportation Multimodal Access Grant at the request of Mayor Josh Miller as well as a commitment of 60,000 for the local match should the grant be funded. . This grant would be to put down sidewalks on Highway 56, said Mayor Miller. When they TDOT put the new road in South Congress Boulevard they put sidewalks up to the Pentecostal Church. We can apply to take those sidewalks on out to the city limits. This grant is a little more than 1.1 million and our portion grant match would be 60,000. We may not get the whole 1.1 million, or we may not get anything, but we should apply, said Mayor Miller. Some people may ask why we can t do this for city streets. A Multimodal grant has to be connected to a state highway in some form either by a crosswalk, sidewalks, or something of that nature, Mayor Miller explained. Although no sidewalk installation has yet been done on Highway 70 east from Multimodal grant awarded in November 2022, Mayor Miller said the project is on the way and may start by September. In 2022 we were awarded a Multimodal Access Grant that was a little over 900,000 934,000 to put sidewalks in on Sparta Highway, said Mayor Miller. Our portion grant match was 47,000. We have just paid a little bit of that fee so far. This is a state project. They are handling it but as you ll see there are no sidewalks on Sparta Highway yet, but we are on the state s timeline. We have been awarded that so hopefully it will start very soon. I think they plan to start ramping things up about September, added Mayor Miller. Under the 2022 Multimodal grant already approved, plans are to put down sidewalks on Highway 70 east from near the intersection of Highway 56 South Congress Boulevard and to install high visibility crosswalks and ADA compliant curb ramps in the areas where Highway 70 intersects with Bright Hill Road and Colvert Lake Road. The total cost is 934,000 but thanks to the Tennessee Department of Transportation s Multimodal Access Grant, the city will receive 887,000 for this project with a local grant match of 47,000. Meanwhile, the aldermen adopted on second and final reading Monday night an ordinance to rezone property belonging to ownerdeveloper Matt Stanley at Juniper Lane and Bell Street from R1 Low Density Residential to R2 High Density Residential as requested by Stanley. According to city officials, Stanley plans to develop a subdivision there. Last month, City administrator Hunter Hendrixson said Stanley s property with the R1 zoning already qualifies for a subdivision. I believe he is asking for the R2 zoning to squeeze in a few more lots so its already going to be a subdivision. The Smithville Planning Commission s recommendation was for this property to be rezoned from R1 to R2, said Hendrixson. According to the city s zoning ordinance, the minimum lot area for a singlefamily dwelling in R1 is 10,000 square feet and for R2 its 7,500 square feet. In other business the aldermen adopted on second and final reading following a public hearing an ordinance to rezone a portion of property on Kendra Drive belonging to Chris Allen from I1 Light Industrial to R2 High Density Residential as requested by Allen. No one showed up to comment during the public hearing. City Administrator Hendrixson addressed Allen s request during last month s meeting. I gave you aldermen a printout of where the old Georgia Girl factory is, said Hendrixson. This is not on the Miller Road side but Kendra Drive. He Allen has requested, and the Smithville Planning Commission has recommended to the city council along with our planner Tommy Lee to rezone a small section from I1 Light Industrial to R2 High Density Residential to do an apartment or duplex, etc. but its only for a small part of the property, said Hendrixson. Mayor Miller announced that he and the aldermen will have a workshop followed by a special called meeting after the city planning commission next Monday, July 8 at city hall. . . . News Feed. 2606 McMinnville HwySmithville, TN 37166Phone: 615 5974265FAX: 615 5976025Email:wjledtccom.netWJLE AM FCC Public FileWJLE FM FCC Public File. 6:30 A.M.7:30 A.M.8:55 A.M.12:00 NOON4:00 P.M.9:45 P.M. . . .
City of Smithville to apply for a $1.1 million grant for sidewalk extensions on Highway 56 to city limits. They previously received a grant for sidewalks on Highway 70 east. Additionally, aldermen approved rezoning for a new subdivision and a request to rezone industrial property for residential use.