Proposed Leesburg budget to improve downtown walkway, parking safety

LEESBURG — Safety concerns prompted a discussion of parking spaces along Starksville Road during Tuesday night’s Leesburg City Council meeting.

As City Manager Bob Alexander presented the city’s proposed FY 2018 budget, funding for parking, sidewalk and roadway improvements became a key topic of discussion.

If all goes according to plan, Leesburg residents could get safer parking, more downtown parking spaces and new handicap ramps for the sidewalk on Walnut Street near the city administration building.

Council members say they are considering a $20,000 SPLOST fund allocation that would enable the city to construct the new sidewalk handicap ramps.

“We also hope to get some matching funds from the Georgia Department of Transportation,” Alexander said.

SPLOST and public facilities funds could also be used to add landscaping to the 11 acres surrounding the downtown railroad tracks.

“These improvements would give us a nice facelift,” said Mayor Jim Quinn.

Of greater concern to the council is how to best utilize the current downtown parking spaces along Starksville Road. City officials say the current parking space design just isn’t working. The council discussed redesigning the spaces in front of the county administration building on Starksville Road by repainting the parking lines so the spaces will run horizontally, or perpendicular to the walkway, rather than at an angle.

Officials say the proposed solution will improve safety without a hefty cost.

“This solution is needed because it is hard to see oncoming vehicles when backing out of the current spaces,” Alexander said.

Other council members agreed.

“It presents a real danger. It’s crazy to back out of there, but that is the only way to get out,” said Councilman Bobby Wilson.

Alexander said he wants feedback from Lee County officials, even though it is up to the city to fix the parking problem.

“We (city officials) need to come with an idea to resolve the parking concerns because the street belongs to the city — not the county,” Alexander explained.

According to Leesburg officials, a few buckets of paint could potentially make the parking problem disappear.

“The proposed redesign seems like an easy and inexpensive fix,” Quinn said.

The only apparent setback to the new parking space plan is it will likely cause the city to lose space at a time when more parking slots are needed.

“As Lee County continues to grow, we will definitely need more parking,” Quinn said. “The new parking design will likely cause a loss of at least two spots.”

Other roadway concerns discussed during Tuesday night’s meeting included citizen complaints about a bad bump on Park Street off U.S. Highway 19.

“It has been called the worst bump in Lee County … everybody talks about it,” said Wilson.

Officials say they will consider allocating funds to fix these and other road hazards once the 2018 budget is approved.

The 2018 budget has some contingency funds and public facilities money that could be used to improve roadways and parking. City leaders say they also anticipate some additional funding from DOT to help with proposed improvements.

The City Council will meet again Tuesday for a public hearing on the budget, which also calls for a 3.5 percent raise for employees and an increase in health insurance and workman’s compensation rates.