Summit Drive drainage, sidewalk project brings two moths of construction to Lake Park neighborhood
Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin
By Alan Mauldin
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ALBANY — Eliminating flooding in the 3 Oaks area of the Lake Park neighborhood was a popular project, but some argue the addition of sidewalks was a bit of superfluous progress that wasn’t needed.
The drainage project, which is designed to catch water that in the past flooded a sinkhole covered with grass and trees, including the three oaks for which it is named, now carries stormwater underneath Summit Drive to another sinkhole named Lake Cornelia.
That part of the project was sound, but for 1918 Lullwater Road resident Roy Brown, there are more pressing needs in the neighborhood.
Brown, a retiree who has lived at the residence for 31 years, said he was onboard with the drainage project, but the sidewalks came as an add-on that residents can do without.
“First of all, you don’t see many sidewalks around here,” he said. “The neighborhood was laid out 60-plus years ago. It was laid out with wide streets, and you look at the slopes of the yards. The neighborhood was not laid out to have sidewalks.”
Residents who walk have plenty of room on the wide streets, Brown said, and the sidewalk portion of the project has eliminated shrubs and trees at a number of residents along Summit Drive, including his native azaleas.
“We know sidewalks are not necessary here,” he said. “For the vast majority of people, sidewalks are not necessary. We don’t want them, and we weren’t consulted about it either. We didn’t get a chance to voice our opinions on it. It’s a waste of funds.”
The sidewalk on one side of Summit Drive was added to the project in March, and most residents were not aware of the disruption that constructing them would bring, Brown said.
“It’s a quiet street,” he said. “The neighborhood, by and large, is a quiet neighborhood except for one problem: We have habitual violators who speed (through Lullwater Road) and don’t stop at any of the stop signs.
“You can ask anybody in the neighborhood. It’s on Facebook. People have been complaining ad nauseam for years.”
In contrast, traffic on Summit Drive is light, the Lake Park neighborhood resident said.
The bulk of the project was designed in 2017, two years before he was elected to office in 2019, Albany City Commissioner Chad Warbington, who lives a few blocks from Summit Drive, said. Phase 1 of the 3 Oaks stormwater project consisted of dredging Lake Corneila to handle the heavy volume of water that would flow through the massive stormwater drain pipes.
The second phase was to bury the drain pipe underneath Summit Drive, at a depth of up to 40 feet, to move the water into Lake Cornelia.
The sinkhole area apparently was intended by designers decades ago to be a lake, but it never held water, Warbington said. With the added depth from removing dirt it does serve as a destination point for stormwater and from where it will be returned to the aquifer naturally.
“That was the whole genesis of the project,” he said. “It (3 Oaks) flooded, and when it flooded the surrounding area flooded. This has been going on for a while. It has gotten worse as we’ve developed northwest Albany. That was all we were trying to do, to eliminate the flooding.”
After he took office in 2020 Warbington learned of the draining project and made it a priority. The roughly $2.5 million project was funded through transportation special-purpose local-option sales tax (T-SPLOST) dollars and included funding for multi-use trails.
Despite the objections from a few in the area, Warbington said he thinks the project has merit and that doing the sidewalk work in conjunction with the street demolition project cut the costs of a standalone project by as much as 50% or even two-thirds.
“Lake Park, like any neighborhood in the city, has to continue to evolve, to change,” he said. “I haven’t shied away. I will stand by making our neighborhoods stronger. I will stand by the data that shows this is a good thing for neighborhoods.
“One of the criticisms is that this (sidewalk) is needed elsewhere. This is needed everywhere. That doesn’t mean you don’t do this as part of another project that’s going on. That doesn’t mean you don’t do this one.”
Statistics show that adding amenities, including walking trails, increases property values and offers recreational opportunities. There are a number of other areas in Ward IV where the commissioner is having discussions with residents about sidewalk projects, the commissioner said. He also said he has discussed the issue with those who have criticized the sidewalk, in some cases with both agreeing to disagree.
To Brown’s point that the construction project has caused disruption with heavy equipment, dust and noise, Warbington said he agreed that it is inconvenient. Brown said the work has been under way since July 14.
After the work is completed on the sidewalk, curb and gutters, and other work, the street will be resurfaced and crews will move out.
“If you look forward a month or two, it’s going to be beautiful,” Warbington said. “It’s going to be an asset to this neighborhood.”
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