Meeting for the West. Once you trail access point updates as a courtesy would like to remind you of API's data collection policy. In order to meet a promise of a belt One for all, we are working to collect demographic and geographic information from our participants. This information is strictly for internal reference and research purposes, only to guide us in the outreach and public engagement efforts and will not be distributed to any other organization. And if you are just joining them, I am Brittany Brewster Community Engagement Manager for ABI and welcome to the southwest study group. So happy to have each and every one of you here. This is our first meeting for the year. So Happy New Year. I hope I am not remiss by not welcoming you all. But happy to have you all join with us tonight. Again, thank you for participating in this virtual meeting. I am bringing Brewster and I'm a Community Engagement Manager for Atlanta BeltLine inc or ABR which is the organization responsible for implementing the best vision for the Beltline. You can go to the next slide please. We have several members of the ABI team on the call tonight. Atlanta BeltLine is committed to creating a culture within the organization that values and advances equity and inclusion. Part of that means representation from all of the 45 Plus beltline neighborhoods are on staff. Staff members participating with you tonight represent various disciplines across ABS organization and are here to support your experience with the presentation. The q&a and YouTube live tonight. You now I will provide you with an overview of the meeting format for tonight. We are joined by it looks like 33 attendees in addition to avi stad. We are also broadcasting to you too, if you are watching on the Zoom platform Are you too you can follow along have the agenda at the top of each slide. If you are listening by phone, I will walk you through that meeting agenda now. Our agenda has opened with a welcome and meeting logistics will follow this with audience polling a belt line one on one. And after that you will have a presentation about the status of breath David Abernathy AccessPoint, the complete streets project and you note apart after the presentation, we will have plenty of time for questions and answers, comments and the conversation. Oh, looks like we've got our other feature guest here tonight. Councilmember Dozier please write us with your presence.
Thank you. So I don't know about grace. But I'm just glad to be here. It's a policy that or does the background my daughter has her very first basketball game in her life. So we're here Dad and getting them fight with his daughter and my daughter playing message. And so we have a guy here on the Beltline teams and during this meeting, I know that since I've been my two years I've been an offense. The two of the questions that are asked the most for the Western Community is what's going on with the note apart and also what's going on with the Beltline accident. So I'm I'm thankful that I got really dug in to try to move these projects for I'm thankful to be this week, part of the work they are doing on December 4 and making sure that the community ditch Western lawn farmers in a way that really respectful of the community and a spiritual community to change it really leaves into making sure it gets voted on. So I just think for those who say welcome. And this for O'Donnell ever have access to the internet. I know a seer, the Western community with a customer again, we're here to serve you all the way Sasha thinks about it church during this meeting, and they'd love me to give it a couple of seconds while I turn on my daughter, I can also block. So thank you so much.
Absolutely. It's always a pleasure to have you here with us and best of luck to your daughter as well. All right, now let's jump back into the meeting. You may have noticed by now your line is muted, and you will not be able to share your video screen during the meeting to provide the best listening experience for everyone on the line. A recording of this meeting the presentation and all other supporting materials will be made available online at www.beltline.org/meetings. If you are having any technical difficulties difficulties during the meeting, please email engage at ATL beltline.org. Should we encounter any technical difficulties on our end? We appreciate your patience as we sort them out. Next slide please. All right, now we're gonna jump into our audience polling. I would like to get a sense of the virtual room by asking you all a few questions as I start the poll, you should see a question pop up on your screen. This is a feature that is only available if you are attending online. If you are on Facebook Live, I will read the results to the group. I'm sorry, YouTube Live. This is new for us tonight. So work with me. The first question is, what neighborhood Do you live in? Is it Westview as skate Avenue slash road Weston Mosley Park, Oakland City, Busch mountain. Mechanicsville is in a beltline neighborhood in the city of Atlanta that is not on this list, a city of Atlanta neighborhood and not on the BeltLine, or a neighborhood not in the city of Atlanta.
The poll should be bumping up
all right. Got some good participation happening tonight.
All right, go ahead and end up poll. share the results. Looks like the bulk of the community tonight are here representing WestView. I actually grew up in that community. So I'm happy to see a lot of you all here and supportive tonight. Thank you all. Next question. How long have you lived in your neighborhood? Is it one to five years? Six to 10 or a little bit more?
All right, go ahead and end the poll and share the results please.
All right, so we have a strong one to five years commitment. Little bit of a tie between the six and 10 years and 11. Number one, happy to see the community growing with the newcomers. Third question, what is your relationship to the Atlanta BeltLine? Use the trail. I'm a home owner and about my neighborhood, our rent and home in the Beltline neighborhood. I'm a residential landlord and the goldmine neighborhood. I'm a business owner and the Beltline neighborhood. I'm a commercial landlord and the Beltline neighborhood developer, a real estate broker, community accidents or accident? Are you just generally interested in this project as a whole?
All right, let's go ahead and stop the poll and share the results. Okay, so we have a lot of homeowners and you get an eye in the room. And then addition to that, we've got a couple of people that are just generally interested in the project, some developers and community activists. Happy to have you all here. I'm right. Next question. Now this is a new one for us. What are you most likely to be doing on the trail exercising or other recreation, you use the trail to run errands. You use it to get to school or to work, such as commuting in general, you use it to engage in leisure activities, or you don't used to travel at all.
All right, let's go ahead and end that poll and share those results as well. So it's great to see a lot of our trail users are physically fit. A lot of people use the trail to exercise and other recreation. A strong amount of people do engage with the trail for leisure activities. And last question on the poll before we get to the nitty gritty. Is this your first fell laughing tonight? Is it simple? Yes or no?
All right, go ahead and stop the poll and share the results.
So I didn't amount 80% said, No, this is not their first time with us. Good to have you back. And for those newcomers got something for you. I want to let you know exactly who we are and what we do. Before we jump into the project overview, I want to make sure we're all grounded in the elements of the BeltLine, and exactly who we are. The Atlanta BeltLine vision to be a catalyst for making Atlanta a global beacon for equitable, inclusive and sustainable city line. So what does that mean? That Mr. 22 miles of trail transit, 1300 acres of new green space 33 miles and multiuse trails at 600 units of affordable workforce housing $10 billion in economic development 48,000 construction jobs and 30,000 permanent jobs, public art, environmental cleanup, community engagement, which is exactly why I'm here tonight. All of these great things make up this political project called the Atlanta BeltLine. Now, I have one of our future guests, Jennifer DeSoto. Please join and let's talk about audience.
Thank you, Brittany. It's good to be here with everyone. My name is Jennifer Distel. I'm the Senior Project Manager for the Atlanta BeltLine that is actually managing the Ralph David Abernathy complete streets and also the access point to the west side trail. And the first thing I'd like to do is make an introduction of the contractor that is actually constructing these two projects for us. They weren't the successful bidder on these projects, and the name of the company is F s Scarborough. We are joined by several of their members. The Executive Vice President for the company is Alan Eason. He's also our acting project manager that I'm interfacing with on a regular basis. He's assisted by Hannah Cox and as the Assistant Project Manager in the field of field work is being supervised by Randy cash lead superintendent and he is being assisted just recently by Berman tell who will be helping him out with the additional project that's about to start up and complete streets. Next slide please. So for those of you who aren't familiar with the project, this is just an overview of the location of the west side trail access point. It is at the corner of South Gordon Street and cascade Avenue and RDA. So you can see what this site has been unoccupied for a while and we're going to make it into something beautiful. Next slide please. This is a rendering of the improvements that you can expect to see at the West Side Access Point on Southport and there are going to be greenspace landscaping areas added and additional sidewalks which are widened and easier for pedestrians to walk along certainly level and new, which will be wonderful. There's a crosswalk that's getting you safely across so Gordon, and then more importantly, the new crosswalk that will extend from San coordinate over to the west side trail, bringing onto a plaza and giving you access to a an ADA accessible ramp up along with stairs that lead down the west side trail. Next slide. This these photographs just depict an additional feature that will come with these improvements, which are the nice landscaping in the green space. And also the Rapid flashing beacons that we will have at that main crosswalk that's going over Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard will make it a lot safer for crossing at that location. I currently feel like a chicken myself running across there. Okay, next slide.
Okay, this is an overview that shows two section cuts that we're going to show you on the next two slides, use that you will see if you were to cut a site and across these lines. So let's go to the next one. Because this will be section this is for Section A which is a cut across the ramps, it'll start up high at the row level, where we see the new biplane being introduced Plaza landscaping down as you're traveling through the ramp and leading down to the west side trail. And the next slide, which will be the Section B is a view through the stair that we're adding. And the ramp actually connected to the stair at a point that we're it's almost on green to the trail. So that's going to be the improved We see some nice landscaping going on, it's going to be really nice for everybody. Next slide. Overall, this project is supposed to be in a two month, eight to 12 months construction schedule. We have been delayed pretty significantly as of late due to the weather and some existing site conditions. But we are anticipating a summer 2024 Completion still contractors working hard trying to achieve that goal and they're doing everything they can with the conditions that are plaguing us right now. Next slide. These are photographs of work in progress. This photograph on the left is a picture of the hole right now that we have done that is supposed to be the location of the stairs and the ramp that will be coming up you can see the the general shape of things to come. Right now we're battling this low point on the site and trying to get that stabilized to start going vertical with walls for the ramps and stairs. Being to center pictures that are stacked are photographs of the recently completed North triangle on South orden. And that shows the sidewalks that are adjacent to RDA and the sidewalks that are going on the residences down in South corner with new granite curb. The pictures to the right stacked are the business location across the street on South fourth, which is 1384 Ralph David Abernathy. And also that next picture is just a little bit further for the bicycle shop. That's up the white here. So that work is underway. We have curbed going in fighting with a little bit of a water leak right now. But City's trying to get out to help us out to get that repaired so we can continue on with grading and quickly pouring sidewalks there hopefully. Next slide please.
This is just a depiction of the ongoing delays and disruptions that will be experienced in the area during the construction. We're expecting the construction hours are from seven o'clock PM, there are going to be going to be continued traffic delays intermittently, there will be traffic control. We are working with the patrons and also the businesses that are in the area to tell them about the upcoming construction that is immediately impacting their areas. Sidewalk closures we need for you all to be alert and inherent to the sunrise that you're you see. And please just don't put yourself in any Jeopardy trying to do things that assigns are not asking you to do. We're trying to keep everybody safe during this time of disruption in the area. So there is continuing vibration noise and some dust but the contractor is doing a good job keeping things clean. And we'll continue to do so throughout the duration of the project. Next slide please. Now we're moving to the RDA complete street conversion. This is a project that we're doing in partnership with renew Atlanta, Atlanta, D O T. They've been great partners on this job as far and the main area of construction is from East Ontario to Willard Avenue which is depicted here. This is this project has come about to prioritize safety and comfort and reestablish a curb face along each side of the road to the extent we can. We're winding some sidewalks and providing pedestrian lighting and street trees and there also will be protected bike lanes at the main west side business district there. Okay next slide. This is the original rendering that was presented on the project and then the next slide is the actual design that was settled on so we need to go the next one
and this is going to be assignment was settled on we have the trees show. You'll know the bicycle lane that's protected from the parking adjacent to the sidewalks and we have the crosswalks that are new to the area which will make those crossings easier and certainly more safe. So medians that will protect the parking that is going to be adjacent to a meeting itself on either side. There will be pedestrian lighting in this area also. Next slide. Here one of the ancillary areas of construction associated with this project was the introduction of some parking improvements at the West Side cemetery. We have recently poured the medians that were outlined in this project and delineators will be going in to make them more visible but this will further define parking along that that cemetery and let people know this is not a direct lane. make it easier for people trying to get in and out of their cars. Next slide, please. And another improvement that I know Kip is very happy about the kids thrive Academy has been advocating for a crosswalk. And we've gotten that in on this project. Lana made this a priority for them. And that is it is currently in it is, it's got the signage installed, and the crosswalk striping has just been done this week. So it's fully open, less some cleanup that we need to do, but certainly there for use. And we hope to make some additional improvements potentially in the future, even for this particular crossing to make it a little more visible. But that is it. And certainly we encourage students that are attending and their parents to utilize this crosswalk for Sacred crossing. Next slide, please. These are just some photographs, I Snow, Snow snap this week. These them at the bottom of the page are the media's that were just Oregon at the West Side cemetery. And this, the upper photograph is of the crosswalk before the striping and signage delineators had been installed. But that work is complete now. Next slide. And the next group of slides are going to be a a synopsis of the schedule that we have laid out. And we've had to do a lot of coordination with the local area businesses to try and make this as least impactful as possible. Although it's going to be it's going to be a little bit of a tough go. So this is phase one construction is phase one, construction is going to involve the demolition of trees, the demolition of sidewalks, the rule of existing curb, and then we'll be setting new granite curb doing rough underground electrical, prepping and pouring sidewalks and also installing new pedestrian lights. The areas that are colorized ours are labeled by area, they will run consecutively, we're going to have this schedule on our website that you can further analyze it and look at it in more detail. But the first area that we'll be starting, which is going to be next week is going to be the top area in green, which is from Lucile down to the fire station fire station 17, they're going to they're going to start removing sidewalks in that area. And scheduling pours. When you look at the schedule, there are durations under the area designations so you can see roughly the timeline that we're talking about, or the area to take. And these these areas will will happen consecutively. One after the other in sequential order. Okay, and this overall is a six to 10 month schedule. It's it's drawn out because we are having to take small bites of these areas to not overwhelm the businesses in the area to allow business to happen as normally as possible under construction conditions. So we anticipate starting in the main densified area of the business district in March. And while we're doing this, the first week, they're going to going going to be going in and actually removing the trees at that time, we're not going to be able to allow the parking alongside of the existing current. So the contractor will come in and capture those areas to remove those trees. But they'll do that as quickly as possible. It could be in one day, it could be in two days, it just depends on how well the traffic can work with them. And that they can capture the spaces to be able to inventory safely. Each time we do an area that's colorized, we will have to take the parking immediately adjacent. For this phase of the construction, we're going to be again, removing the existing curb and sidewalk, reporting the sidewalks and putting in the underground electrical and the lights, pedestrian lights. So we will finish an area and then move to the next area. And we will endeavor to keep the businesses open or work with them around their days that they are closed to allow access. So please, if you are not a business owner, but you patronize these areas, please continue to give them your business, it's very important that we give them the support during this time and make sure that they aren't experiencing any loss of revenue for the construction that we're doing watching that they're going to be open. Okay. We will have some storms who will work that's in the upper area and have lighter green along Inman. And so this period of construction or the sidewalks and all of this work will extend through August. So let's go on to the next slide. Phase two of construction is where we get into the road because remember, as I said we're going to be creating these medians and protected bike lanes. So once we have completed the sidewalk and the sidewalk working curbs, we're going to come back through and we're going to do They'll the areas of paving that are grayed out here. And it will be repaved. And then they will come back and actually install the medians and the protected bike lane, concrete hot that's going to be installed there. This work will start roughly about mid June. And we'll go to early part of August, kind of still within the timeline of the construction that's going on all around. So let's move to the next slide. These next three slides are just depictions of the areas that a small section that's going to continue. So all of this work will happen in the northbound side, northbound side of RDA first, and then next slide please. We will move to the southbound area and start moving that way. And then find slide which is going to show just one more area of milling to that location. So that's it in a nutshell, as far as the schedule is concerned. Like I said this information we posted on our website under the RDA complete street conversion project. And my information, my contact information will be at the end of this presentation. Thank you so much. And I will be handing it to Megan, for the unnoted Park uptake.
Thank you, Jennifer. Okay, great. So as many of you know, we've been working on this project since I think 2018. But are those of you who aren't familiar with the Noda Park and what we have been working on for several years, I'll kind of go through the overall design and location. This is currently just a small tot lot that exists within a resident
heavily residential part of the west side. It currently does
not connect to the west side trail. But we're expanding this from a small existing tot lot to about an eight acre park that will include basketball courts, splash pads, playground, a solar array pavilion, which you can see here, multi use fields and a lot of area for both active and passive use from the community. The park is bound on the north side by i 20. And by Lucille Ave on the southern side, and the west side trail actually runs the full length but the good 1800 linear feet of the trail will run alongside this park was several access points included in the overall construction. But we took this on in 2018 and worked through the design with the help with city Atlanta parks, as well as the community. And then around 2020. We stopped work in order to raise funds for the construction. I'm happy to say we have a contractor on board now as of two weeks ago. And then I'll get into that on the next slide. But procurement for construction is complete. We're now moving into the phase of budgeting and scheduling. And we're also working with city of Atlanta right now to permit the park in order for us to get started. One of the strange things about this park is it's actually three different parcels. So it has to be permitted three separate times. So it's taking a little bit longer than we normally would or looking anywhere.
