City council takes first step toward Commerce Way redevelopment project
Published 3:47 pm Wednesday, September 20, 2023
TIFTON — The City of Tifton is ready to make some changes for the better along Commerce Way.
In a 4-1 decision, the Tifton city council approved a work order to tackle the redevelopment and revitalization of Downtown Tifton’s Commerce Way at their Sep. 18 meeting. The project will see the utilities and stormwater drainage of the road greatly enhanced and the sidewalk completely repaired.
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Vice mayor Jack Folk was the sole opposing vote in the decision, supporting the idea of restoring the strip, but disapproving of what funding was being used.
The initial project was estimated at $3.5 million, over budget to such an extent that it was unaffordable, even after the city had received $955,000 from a rural downtown development grant from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, as reported by city manager Emily Beeman at the previous city council meeting Sep. 11.
Much of the planned enhancements in the project were stripped away and scaled back to cut costs down as much as possible, including thermoplastic crosswalk markings, stamped concrete in the alleyways, and a crosswalk on 3rd St.
Beeman explained that the project was cut down to the bare minimum needs they initially hoped to address: updating the utilities, improving stormwater drainage, and fixing the sidewalk. However, even then the project had only been trimmed down to $2.7 million, leaving around $1.5 million for the city to pay once the DCA grant had been accounted for.
She suggested that the city could rely on their TSPLOST and SPLOST funds to shoulder the overage, with TSPLOST covering engineering and SPLOST V water and sewer. Both, alongside SPLOST VI, would help pay for street and sidewalk restoration.
Folk felt that the funding for the water and sewer improvements would be better taken from the city’s enterprise fund, believing that it would mitigate any disadvantages to their constituents. He argued that the city council was too quick to rely on funds like ARPA and SPLOST.
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His objections were reiterated when it came time for the council to vote on the project Sep. 18, but his fellow council members elected to move forward as planned.