Winder Planning Board Postpones Vote on Making Portion of Athens Street One-way

• Who met: Winder Planning Board
• When: Tuesday, July 19, 2011
• Where:
• Who was present: Board members Bobby Joe Deaton, Tom Settle, Betty Segars, Jim Neu and Chairman David Jackson; Planning Director Barry Edgar
• Top business:

The planning board began Tuesday’s meeting with a public hearing on the proposed East Athens Street Project, which may turn a portion of Athens Street into a one-way, single lane road. No residents attended the hearing.

Board member Bobby Joe Deaton expressed concern over the lack of interest in the project.

“If it were me, I would want to know that something this big may happen,” Deaton said.

After the hearing was adjourned, the board moved on to discuss the project with City Planning Director Barry Edgar. Edgar explained that the planning department recently contracted a traffic engineer to help plan a solution to the city’s parking issues.

The area in question is directly in front of on East Athens Street.

“Trucks are parking on the sidewalks to avoid hanging out into the road,” Edgar said.

Several proposals are now on the table for discussion on how to solve the issue. With each possibility there are financial and functional challenges the city will have to address. Edgar said the traffic engineer will assist the city in assessing the feasibility of all proposals to ensure the best solution to the problem

The planning board decided to postpone any vote pending a report from the traffic engineer.

The Winder Planning Board will meet again at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, at the Winder Community Center.