March 2013

Historic Riverside Cemetery Conservancy

Dear Supporters of Riverside Cemetery

Below is a message from Councilman Rick Hutto encouraging citizens of Macon to provide feedback (the deadline is today, April 8) concerning the impact of the Interstate 75-16 expansion on our community.  Riverside Cemetery will be impacted by this expansion and is working diligently to protect the interests of lot owners and the community in our cemetery.   

Councilman Hutto offers some history on the issue and his thoughts about the potential negative impact of the project.  

 

You can share your own opinion but today is the deadline for doing so!

Go to the following link: http://www.maconbibbpz.org/     

The contact person is Gregory L. Brown  [email protected] or 478.751.7463  

 

 

Neighbors,

I apologize if you receive more than one copy of this email but I am trying to reach as many people as possible who are concerned about Shirley Hills and our adjoining neighborhoods.  I apologize if I have emailed you in error. As most of you know, the biggest threat in a decade we have faced as a neighborhood is the planned overbuilt I-16/I-75 interchange. We all agree the interchange needs to be fixed but no one with whom I've spoken approves of the GDOT's plan for eleven lanes of bridges across the river comprising an interchange that is wider than I-75 between Atlanta's Varsity and Georgia Tech and contains almost as much square footage of concrete as spaghetti junction in Atlanta. It is being built to get the most people THROUGH Macon rather than to Macon and is specifically designed to accommodate the huge increase in cargo trucks resulting from the expansion of the Savannah port.

 

I won't list ten years of details except to remind you that 54 neighborhood associations (including the Shirley Hills Neighborhood Association), historical and philanthropic organizations, churches, and house museums officially opposed this huge design. Many of us attended numerous briefings, private meetings, rallies, etc., all directed at lessening the size and scope of the interchange. We had at least a fighting chance until September 2008. At that time, Mayor Reichert asked Council to approve a mitigation resolution which would give concessions to Pleasant Hill as part of the project in exchange for our turning over any environmental assessments necessary for the project to GDOT. The Mayor called an "emergency" meeting on the last day of the month insisting that he must have approval that day, even though Councilman Tom Ellington had in his pocket an email from GDOT saying that was not the case. Your three East Macon members (Hutto, Lucas, and Miley) strongly opposed the move but were joined by only two other members in voting against the legislation. The following members voted with the mayor and against Shirley Hills' expressed wishes: Cranford, Defore, Erickson, Jones, Paris, Ross, Schlesinger, Timley, Watkins, and White.

 

Fast forward to the present day. I am a voting member of the MATS committee that is about to give final approval to the 2040 Transportation Plan.

 

The plan can be found here:

http://www.maconbibbpz.org/  

 

Go to the bottom of that page and click on "Read More" and you will find the entire long-range plan. About half-way down that page is 2040 LRTP Project List 2040 LRTP 02-22-13 which lists the actual projects and costs. You must add the separate I-16/I-75 project costs together to come up with approximately $350 million in construction costs. That figure does NOT include right-of-way acquisition, engineering costs, etc.

 

The head of P&Z publicly agreed that the total cost for this project is about $500 million.

 

The Citizens Advisory Committee has already voted to oppose the plan because the huge majority of money being thrown into the project prevents funding almost all those they support, including bike trails, pedestrian walkways, sidewalks, etc. 

 

The deadline for public response is April 8th. You will also find there the name and email address of the staff member to whom responses should be sent. I would also urge you to speak directly with Mayor Reichert, Chairman Hart, and Commissioner Lonzy Edwards, all of whom also have a MATS vote on this issue.  As we enter the election season this would be a good time to do so.

 

Several people have said to me, "Oh, that big intersection will never get built." You are wrong. Today we learned that GDOT has just released one-half million dollars available immediately for preliminary engineering costs of one section of the project. Right-of-way acquisition has already taken place. THIS HUGE INTERSECTION IS FUNDED. We may find that only the representative of the Citizens Advisory Committee (Dr. Nick Pietrzak) and I cast  the only negative votes when this long-range plan is given final approval next month. Given the permanent damage it will inflict on our property values and quiet enjoyment, I hope that is not the case. Please send your comments so that GDOT cannot claim that we have given tacit approval by our silence.

 

Thanks,
Rick Hutto 

 

 

 

 

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