| Pedestrian bike path a topic of debate at City Council meeting |
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| Written by Shishir Jai | |
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The focus of the council’s meet centered on the design of the Dieble Loop pedestrian bike path. It was suggested to have the bike path on the south side of the creek which was opposed by the residents of the Oak Knoll South subdivision. Around 16 residents attended the meeting and eight stepped forward to express their views. The path comes as close as 20 feet to a residents property. Councilman Rick Morris also pointed out that about a year ago the drawings showed the path on the north side of the creek. He said “I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but I know we looked at this last year, and I saw it (the trail) was on the north side.” Dr. Oluyomi Olusanya of Carriage Lane, representing the homeowners group, presented a series of photographs showing the close proximity of the proposed trail to the existing homes including his own. He conveyed that the home owners are not against the bike path, but are concerned about it’s impact on their privacy. Realtor Cindy Beger broke down while speaking to the council, she clarifies that when they sold these homes they had no idea that such a path would come up. Beger tearfully explained the Final Design would put the trail just outside a client’s 13 year old daughter’s bedroom window. Caroleen Ferrell, co-owner of Executive Realty/Ferrell Associates, told City Council members her firm sold much of the property along the proposed path in the Oak Knoll South subdivision. “We’re very proud to be in Rolla. I feel very bad about it. We didn’t know if the developer had this information, and we feel bad we did not have this information to share with our customers,” Ferrell said. “We had no idea plans for the trail changed.” While only a topic for discussion, Rolla City Administrator John Butz said the city does have options and will review those options later. Butz also said the city has an 80-foot right-of-way for future expansion of Lions Club Drive with which there is room to alter the trail. Other proceedings included approving the City Council minutes from previous meetings. Three Ordinances to vacate Utility Easements in Arwood Hills Subdivision, the alley in Block 21 of Schuman’s addition and a portion of the North East corner of Bishop Avenue were approved. There was also an agreement to be included in a class-action lawsuit that would group Rolla among 300 other cities that would recoup as much as $89,000 in a telecommunications tax from Verizon Wireless. Two percent of that amount would go to the Missouri Municipal League, the group seeking the class-action suit. The City Council also agreed to revise current city ordinance, Chapter 42 of the Rolla City Code, known as the Planning and Zoning Code, detailing dedication of public parks. The current ordinance prevents the City Council from selling, trading or changing the use of a parcel dedicated to the city under this ordinance for any other purpose than ask parkland. This realization was made following the recent Buehler Park decision that cast doubt on the city’s ability to change the status of parkland given to the city for perpetual use. The changes would substitute the word “deeding” for the word dedication.” The public park use requirement would be broadened to include all public uses and the word “forever” would be eliminated. |
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