Easement clears way for Norris sidewalk project
This deteriorating asphalt sidewalk along the Norris Commons in front of Norris Middle School and the Lions Club Pavilion will soon be removed and replaced, but with a move closer to the school to get it away from the trees. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The council has been considering and debating what to do about the deteriorating sidewalk for the past 12 years, and for several years even had a $100,000 state grant available to help pay for their rehabilitation.
But too many bureaucratic restrictions and requirements – which council members said were changed frequently over the years – led the council to relinquish the grant and proceed on its own to come up with a plan and funding for rehabilitation of the sidewalk.
Middle school Principal Rob Cummings and Anderson County Board of Education member Dail Cantrell both told the council Monday night that the school board would grant the easement.
But they stopped short of offering to school board funds to help pay the cost of the sidewalk replacement, which Mayor Chris Mitchell said would be “under $100,000.”
“The [school] board unanimously supports an easement,” said Cantrell, a Norris lawyer and former judge who represents the Norris area (District 3) on the board.
“The funding issue was not discussed,” he told the council. “We have to go to the [Anderson County] Commission for any funding. I’m sure the schools would entertain a request.”
Norris officials want to remove the existing sidewalk, and build a new one next to it, closer to the school, to get it away from the trees that line the area between the current sidewalk and the roadway.
Roots from those trees have caused much of the damage to the existing sidewalk, causing it to be uneven and broken in several areas.
But because the land the city wants to build the new sidewalk on is part of school property, the city could not legally build a sidewalk there without getting the easement from the school system.
Besides serving children walking to and from the school, the asphalt sidewalk is used frequently by downtown visitors taking part in the numerous city activities held in the Commons area and the nearby Norris Lions Club Pavilion, and by customers of the Norris Farmers Market, whose vendors set up along the sidewalk.
No timetable was discussed for the sidewalk rehabilitation project, and the council has not yet appropriated any money for it.
In other business Monday, the council:
Approved a policy to allow city police officers to take off-duty assignments from private entities within 25 miles of Norris. But the policy the council OK’d limits the use of city police cars for off-duty assignments to those that are within the city limits.
Also approved a take-home vehicle policy for police officers that allows them to drive their assigned patrol cars home – but only within 25 miles of the city.
Approved two other new Police Department policies that allow citizens to ride along with police, with the police chief’s approval, but only if they sign a waiver of liability; and that set up a reserve-officer program for the department.
Approved on second and final reading three ordinances designed to help the city remove junked vehicles from private property, and help the city to force cleanup of distressed properties.
