THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996 TAG: 9604160337
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The state Department of Transportation is leaving options open on how to deal with increasing Water Street traffic in the next 25 years.
DOT planners updating the City Council on a proposed ``thoroughfare plan'' backed away from a controversial proposal to widen the downtown street and eliminate parking.
``Water Street is still under study,'' DOT project engineer R. Van Argabright told the City Council on Monday. ``We have no recommendation as of now. Maybe the city can help us out on that.''
The thoroughfare plan is a map that shows Elizabeth City's existing roads and the changes that are expected to be made by 2020. Proposals for new and widened roads are based on growth and traffic patterns.
DOT presented a first draft of an updated plan to the council in January and held a public hearing shortly afterward.
The report shows several roads already over capacity, including parts of Road Street, U.S. 17, U.S. 158/N.C. 34 in Camden County, and Water Street downtown. Proposals for dealing with these crowded avenues include the already approved U.S. 17 bypass, plus several suggested connectors and road widenings.
The recommendation that met the most resistance was the proposal to widen Water Street to four lanes, which would cut the street closer to businesses and make parking and shopping more difficult.
After several Water Street business owners protested, the council sent an alternative suggestion to DOT - recommending that some lane designations be changed to ease the traffic flow without changing the road's width.
Both possibilities are apparently still on the table. City Manager Steven Harrell said Monday he had been having ``positive'' discussions with DOT officials on the issue.
Argabright said Monday that vehicle miles traveled in the city are expected to double from 1995 to 2020. Approving the recommended thoroughfare plan would reduce about 5,000 total miles of travel per day, he said.
The state will hold another public hearing on the plan next week. The council and DOT will try to agree on a final plan, which must be approved by the State Board of Transportation.
Also Monday, Mayor H. Rick Gardner appointed Mayor Pro Tem Anita Hummer as chair of the newly formed Human Resources Committee, a three-member council panel that will study personnel policy in the city.
Hummer had recommended the formation of the committee and had also scolded Gardner early this year for not appointing any of the council's three women members to head a standing committee. Also serving on the committee will be Councilmen Jimi Sutton and Don Cherry.
The council also heard a request by the year-old Elizabeth City/Pasquotank County Tourism Board to expand its powers and give it more money to bring tourism to the area.
The six-member panel was appointed jointly by the city and county to dole out a portion of the county's occupancy taxes to groups and events that promote tourism. But board chairwoman Patsy Houtz said Monday the board would like an opportunity to drum up tourism, as well as being the gatekeeper to funds for other agencies.
Houtz and tourism board member Bill Rich also visited the Pasquotank County Commissioners with the same request Monday. City Councilman Lloyd Griffin recommended that the two governments discuss the proposal during a joint meeting next month. by CNB