Community Outreach Meeting Held July 29, 2009
August 07, 2009Community Outreach
A Community Outreach Meeting was held on July 29, 2009 at the Sullivan County Courthouse to discuss the findings of a neighborhood traffic study and site redevelopment plans for the former Davis Pipe Company property at 250 Birch Street in Blountville. The meeting was well attended by local residents.
Neighborhood Traffic Study
At previous community outreach meetings, local residents indicated that non-neighborhood traffic and speeding where problems in the vicinity of the target property. Using EPA grant funds, Sullivan County engaged Cannon & Cannon, Inc. (C&C) of Knoxville to conduct a neighborhood traffic study for Oak and Birch Streets to evaluate non-neighborhood (cut-thru) traffic. C&C performed the study in July 2009. Daily traffic counts were recorded over 2-hr periods in the morning, mid-day, and afternoon. C&C counted 121 total trips over the 6-hour period of which approximately 40% was cut-thru traffic. Only 2% of total traffic was truck traffic. Several residents indicated that school-day traffic volume is higher than the July data.
The County has placed signs on both ends of Oak Street that prohibit truck traffic and discourage non-neighborhood traffic, and it has recently added in-pavement rumble strips on Oak Street. The residents generally agreed that the signs and rumble strips have been somewhat effective in reducing traffic volume. However, speeding is still an issue.
Site Reuse Planning
A Community Outreach Meeting was held on July 29, 2009 at the Sullivan County Courthouse to discuss the findings of a neighborhood traffic study and site redevelopment plans for the former Davis Pipe Company property at 250 Birch Street in Blountville. The meeting was well attended by local residents.
Neighborhood Traffic Study
At previous community outreach meetings, local residents indicated that non-neighborhood traffic and speeding where problems in the vicinity of the target property. Using EPA grant funds, Sullivan County engaged Cannon & Cannon, Inc. (C&C) of Knoxville to conduct a neighborhood traffic study for Oak and Birch Streets to evaluate non-neighborhood (cut-thru) traffic. C&C performed the study in July 2009. Daily traffic counts were recorded over 2-hr periods in the morning, mid-day, and afternoon. C&C counted 121 total trips over the 6-hour period of which approximately 40% was cut-thru traffic. Only 2% of total traffic was truck traffic. Several residents indicated that school-day traffic volume is higher than the July data.
The County has placed signs on both ends of Oak Street that prohibit truck traffic and discourage non-neighborhood traffic, and it has recently added in-pavement rumble strips on Oak Street. The residents generally agreed that the signs and rumble strips have been somewhat effective in reducing traffic volume. However, speeding is still an issue.
Site Reuse Planning
At a previous meeting, local residents voiced their preferences for future reuse of the former Davis Pipe property. The preferred reuses generally included:
- light manufacturing
- storage
- recreational uses
Based upon market interest, the most viable future site reuses include:
- construction company-type storage
- general warehousing/storage
- light manufacturing
Community residents were informed that the County is having a tax sale on the former Davis Pipe property in the upcoming weeks. The County is entering into a Brownfield Voluntary Agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for the Brownfield site.
The remaining activities for the County’s EPA-funded Brownfield Assessment Grant include:
The remaining activities for the County’s EPA-funded Brownfield Assessment Grant include:
- draft a site remediation and reuse plan
- County tax sale
- draft a TDEC Brownfield Voluntary Agreement for the site
- perform an updated Phase I Environmental SIte Assessment
- market the site via www.southeastbrownfields.com/sullivan website
- close out grant
The County’s EPA-funded Brownfield Assessment Grant is for three years and ends on September 30, 2009.
