By Karen Hall

Editor

Lewisburg City Hall will host its first-ever open house from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, the afternoon of the Christmas Parade. Santa Claus will be there, and cookies, punch, and candy canes will be served. People will be able to tour the newly decorated building.

The council chamber has already been repainted, and by the time of the open house, it will have new curtains, and a new skirt on the council table.

"It will all come together," Councilman Odie Whitehead Jr. assured his fellow council members at a work session Monday night, when the open house was announced.

"We've never had an open house before," said Mayor Jim Bingham. "Councilman Whitehead deserves a lot of the credit. His calling the Town Hall 'The Peoples' House' is what inspired it."

There will also be an open house at the Historic First Avenue Building, with historian Lynda Potts as the hostess.

During the non-voting work session, councilmen discussed several proposals which, if approved, could improve the appearance of Lewisburg. Perhaps the most exciting is the possibility of winning a "multi-modal access grant" from the Tennessee Department of Transportation. City Manager Randall Dunn said this grant could be used to improve the connection between the square and Rock Creek Park. Using the grant money, Dunn said, the 1,700 feet of 1st Avenue North could be repaved, with sidewalks and bike lanes, making an attractive connection between the square and the park.

"It meets a lot of the criteria," Dunn said. "The buzz word is connectivity, and I'd say we have an excellent chance of getting it. TDOT likes what we're doing here.

"I'd really like to have this grant!" he exclaimed.

The project could cost $500,000 to $800,000, but the grant will pay 95 percent, leaving the city to pay only $30,000 to $40,000.

Dunn told councilmen he'd like to hire a consultant to help him write the best possible application for the grant.

"There are no guarantees, but you have a better than average chance (if you use a consultant)," he said.

"It's by far the better deal (a grant with a 5 percent match)," said Bingham. "If we're going to pursue it we need the consultant."

"Ninety-five percent grants are a good thing," agreed Councilman Steve Thomas.

"I'm excited," Bingham said. "This is part of the Vision Plan as well."

Dunn also told council members he would like to ask planners Hodgson Douglas to write new zoning regulations for signage, appearance of buildings, and so on, for the stretch of North Ellington Parkway from the railroad bridge near Walmart all the way to the junction with East Commerce Street.

"This will create consistency and order and set some reasonable parameters of things you can and can't do," he said. "It's important to get that in place as soon as possible, before development starts. In my opinion, we need to get this done pretty quickly."

"I think the time to do this kind of thing is now," agreed Thomas.

"We just don't want it so restrictive we drive people off," noted Bingham.

"We'll protect what we have and go from there," said Whitehead.

Improvements are already in progress for the signs at the Industrial Parks, reported Director of Industrial Development Greg Lowe. The sign at the I-65 Commerce Park has been taken down, and will be replaced by two smaller signs, which Lowe assured the council would be "nice, attractive and welcoming."

The sign for the Industrial Park on the east side of town, where Garrett Parkway meets Fayetteville Highway, will have to be revamped where it stands, Lowe said. If it were torn down, current TDOT regulations would not allow another sign to be constructed in its place.

Lowe said the total cost for two new signs and renovation of the other one was estimated at $30,727, but there is a possibility of getting a $17,500 grant from TDOT to cover some of that cost.

"We need to move quickly if we're going to get that grant," said Thomas.

When asked if the city had enough money for this, Treasurer Donna Park said, "It's not in the budget, but it could be appropriated."

"New road, new signs, new buildings -- it's a pretty positive message," summarized Thomas.