Major road repairs needed in sub-division By John Cargile Staff Writer NORTHPORT – His request was not on the agenda, but Joe Maxwell, president of the Montgomery Farms sub-division off Highway 171, asked for help from the Northport City Council Monday night for major road repairs. Maxwell, who has been president of the association for eight years, said road repairs has been an issue as long as he has lived in the sub-division. And, that has been eight years. “We have 40 homes in the sub-division and more being built,” Maxwell said after the meeting. “The roads into the sub-division are mostly slag now,” he said. “Builders have been able to fill in some parts of the road with gravel just to get to the site.” Montgomery Farms’ sub-division is second tier homes in the $325,000 and up range, Maxwell said. More homes are being planned for the area. The city of Northport is responsible for the road repairs in the sub-division. “I first heard about it about six years ago when I was elected councilman,” said Bart Harper, councilman in District 5. “At the time I knew it was a problem, but it wasn’t bad.” Harper said this is what city government is all about. “A person comes to us with a problem and we’re supposed to help them,” Harper said. “It’s the city’s problem and we just need to take care of it.” According to Maxwell, the roads are only worsening with contractors coming in with large equipment, along with garbage trucks and school buses. Water is coming in and the soil is eroding. A second layer of asphalt was needed several years ago, but the city did not spend the money to put the second layer of asphalt down, according to City Administrator Scott Collins. Collins said some repairs are already underway, and a geo-technical study is being done to let the city know what needs to happen. The cost is unknown at this time until after the study is completed, Collins said. The repair work will come from a municipal bond issue that has yet to be approved by the Council. It will take from 90 to 120 days before the study is completed, Collins estimated. Maxwell said the long-term solution would be to excavate the sub base and lay down asphalt for the sub-division. “In a weeks’ time it goes from passable to impassible in the sub-division,” Maxwell said. The developers of the sub-division went bankrupt about eight years ago and it was about that time the roads began to deteriorate, Maxwell said. The area is not flat, but is hilly, which adds to the problem, Maxwell said. “As president of the home owners association, we will do whatever it takes to help with a resolution,” he said. “We are in the middle between the city and the builders and all I am asking is for help to repair the roads in our area.” The City Council will have to vote on the amount of money it will spend to resolve the issue once the study is completed. In other business, the Council appointed City Councilmen Rodney Sullivan and Jay Logan to the Metro Animal Shelter task force during its meeting Monday night. The task force was created by Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox after the Tuscaloosa County Commission proposed discontinuing the shelter’s current management and instead has the Tuscaloosa County Sheriffs Office manage the shelter and use inmate labor. The task force, made up of members from Tuscaloosa, Northport and the Tuscaloosa County Commission, will study the shelters current management and examine other options. The council also approved participation in the states back-to-school sales tax holiday, which will be Aug. 1-3. Northport will join the state of Alabama in waiving its sale tax on certain items, including many clothing items and school supplies.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 09:55:04 +0000
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