After several months of waiting, on Monday, the Perry City Council members were finally able to move forward with the recommendations that will accommodate the Woodland Subdivision residents.
Bryan Wood, Community Development Director, presented exhibits showing how the Woodland and Wind River subdivisions both had only one access point onto Highway 127. The council members were presented with the recommendation to move forth with the construction of a second access point should there be an accident or an event that could possibly cause blockage to the routes out of the neighborhood.
“We’ll also have to watch and see what the traffic winds up doing,” stated City Manager, Lee Gilmour. “Because you could have a shift in Woodland subdivision traffic going the other way, to get through Wind River subdivision to get out to State Route 127.”
Although Wood presented exhibits showing that there was only one access in the Woodland subdivision, a resident of the neighborhood was present to disagree.
“Bryan had said something about there being only one access,” said a female Woodland subdivision resident, “and that’s not true.”
The resident went on to explain that the subdivision does have multiple accesses. She stated that they are in the process of finishing up Woodland Boulevard to have access to exit the other end of the subdivision that goes out onto Old Perry Road.
One of the resident’s major concerns was for the council to take in any consideration that will detour the traffic and keep the subdivision safe.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the council members have not been able to provide the Woodland residents with everything that they have asked. Council member Joy Peterson of District 2 Post 2 expressed how the residents have been patient and compromising.
“Their way of life at the end of the cal-de-sac was pretty much taken away,” stated Peterson, “by finding out that part of the cal-de-sac was, in fact, going to be a public street.”
Peterson also shared how it has been a pleasure to do this job and try to help citizens.
The council members agreed to move forward with the recommendation to put two stop signs at the end of both streets and a speed table on Riverton Drive and not on Rolling Acres Drive to assist with slowing down traffic.
Major Bill Phelps of the Perry Police Department presented the mayor and council a proposal with the recommendation and feedback on the All Traffic Solution Portable Speed Sign.
This sign is a radar speed detection sign. The sign can detect and store data about traffic such as the speed of traffic, number of vehicles using the street and maximum and minimum speeds. There are three modes: the Radar Mode, Covert Mode and Speed Mode.
Phelps says because the data is stored in Cloud and generates a report, when citizens have complaints, they will be allowed to show them exactly where the complaint may be.
A radar speed detect sign was placed on Stonegate Trail in mid-September to test. The sign is visibly attached to a street pole.
Although reports showed that there were not many speeding violations, the city could benefit from these traffic signs because of the accuracy of the data.
“It allows us to be proactive with the limited number of resources,” expressed Phelps.
The price to purchase the radar speed detection sign is $4,540.
Gilmour stated that the recommendation from the administration was to purchase only one sign at this time. There was a concurrence to purchase one sign to test out further.
The Perry Public Arts Commission and the Main Street Advisory Board were both recommended to be reviewed, Monday.
Perry Public Arts Commission intentions were to activate arts in the community; however, there has not been much success. Gilmour says that there have been difficulties recruiting members to participate or to stay on the commission. After a review, it was recommended to be eliminated.
Even though the Main Street Advisory Board has had a lot of worthwhile projects with interacting well with businesses, there was a need for some change discussed. A recommendation to change the nomination and appointment was brought forth.
Recommendations brought from the Department of Public Works, Department of Administrations, and a few others from the Office of the City Manager were discussed between council members also and are to be presented and voted on at Tuesday’s council meeting. There was a concurrence on the recommendation regarding the Metal Detector Guidelines and the Athletic Facilities Fees that were presented by the Department of Leisure Services.
The citizens of Perry can also look forward to adding a few community events to their calendar that were not on the original calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Halloweeletka will take place Friday, Oct. 30 – Sunday, Nov. 1 in the Rotary Centennial Park. This event is intended to be a safe way to celebrate Halloween for the community. There will also be a second Grub Crawl that will take place on Oct. 23 in 13 locations, including four new locations.
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