Lenoir City approves traffic stu

Residents of Harrison Glen petitioned Lenoir City Council during Monday’s meeting for a traffic light at the subdivision’s entrance on Harrison Road.

The group told council that growth in the development has exacerbated traffic congestion and safety concerns.

Councilmen Jim Shields and Eddie Simpson motioned and seconded, respectively, to take steps needed to conduct a traffic study, a process Lenoir City Mayor Tony Aikens believes could take at least 90-120 days. Money will come out of the city’s general fund.

The vote passed 5-0, with Councilman Bobby Johnson Sr. absent.

“We’ve got to have a study before we consider the traffic signal,” Aikens said after the meeting. “If a study says, ‘Yes, they need a new traffic light up here,’ then actually we can seek some funding, possibly state funding, some (Transportation Planning Organization) funding, but we have to have the study there for those folks to say, ‘Yes, Lenoir City’s done this study. This is needed. It’s near a high school. We’ve got all kinds of traffic. They need a traffic light up there’.”

Aikens during the meeting estimated a traffic light could cost “in the neighborhood” of $200,000-$250,000.

Harrison Glen resident Glenn Davis wanted council aware that the large subdivision has only one entrance and exit.

“Over the past several years the building has swelled to the point where the are now 154 dwellings in that area, in the Harrison Glen proper, 24 of which are condos, the rest are homes,” Davis said. “Most of the homes are multi-family, multi-car, my wife and I included, and as a result of only having one road in and one road out and one lane in and one lane out, namely Glenfield Drive, traffic has become to the point where it’s almost impossible to get out onto Harrison Road in the morning for those who need to get out to go to work or other purposes.

“The problems are twofold: No. 1, the number of people trying to get there. No. 2, the fact that the traffic coming down Harrison Road runs into the flashing light because it starts very early in the morning and stays on for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening,” he added.

He said traffic backs up all the way past Glenfield Drive.

The city about 20 years ago allowed former developer Rum Runners LLC — the current owner is Safe Harbor — to move forward with a development Davis said wasn’t properly prepared for.

Resident Bob Pawlick worried about the subdivision’s infrastructure, asking that it be monitored as the development grows.

“There are a number of infrastructural issues that need to be addressed,” he said. “We’re not against this development, we just want to make sure it’s done correctly.”

Jim Hopson, another resident, pointed to the developer not being “the best neighbor” when informing residents what’s going on.

“In fact, things happen kind of on a daily basis,” Hopson said. “One of my neighbors best described the deforestation of the ridge immediately behind our houses today as a Brazilian wax job and that actually is probably very apropos in the sense that one day we have this beautiful forested ridge and the next day all you see are stumps, you see a lot of dirt, you see a lot of things that are out there that certainly have not been cleaned up after they are doing this.

“I recognize that progress is messy and needs to be done, but you’ve also heard Mr. Pawlick tonight talk about stormwater issues,” he added. “We would like some assurance, if we could, that those stormwater issues have been resolved.”

Greg Buckner, city stormwater manager, assured the plan was current and met state and federal guidelines.

Hopson said he has no problem with growth, but like Pawlick said he wants assurance his and others’ investments in their homes are maintained.

“I would like to point out to council that simply up the road from Harrison Glen is the Allenbrook subdivision, which has approximately 175 homes and two entrances,” Hopson said. “So the concept of having multiple entrances into a subdivision is not only a safety issue, it’s a common issue, but for some odd reason is not being considered important in a subdivision that actually is double the size of Allenbrook.”