Smyrna City Council Awards Contract for Concord Road Improvements

Monday Smyrna City Council voted unanimously to award a $6.8 million contract to the lowest bidder, C.W. Matthews Contracting, for improvements to Concord Road.

Concord Road actually has a pair of projects set to be completed with monies used from the 1-cent 2005 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and the 2011 SPLOST. From the older SPLOST, $3,335,000 has been dedicated to the Concord Road Trail/Streetscape project, which will provide a multi-use trail on the north side of the road between Atlanta Road and South Cobb Drive; and $5,280,000 for the widening of Concord Road to include turning lanes and median between Spring Road and South Cobb.

The City of Smyrna’s website and one provided by the county outline this info and amounts used to cover the full design and most of the Right of Way acquisition. Funding from the 2005 SPLOST does not cover construction of the project as that funding, $11,755,00, is to come from 2011 SPLOST money.

, Smyrna’s City Engineer Keith Williams said the utility relocation for the project should begin in September.

Ward 4 Council Representative Charles “Corkey” Welch asked his constituents to be patient during the construction.

“I’m just going to appeal to the citizens out there to be patient with the project,” he said “It is going to be a long, drawn out process. I guess it’s going to be 100 percent complete some three years from now.”

Council Representatives also voted 6-1 to begin the process of acquiring some remaining pieces of property needed for the widening of the roadway through eminent domain. Ward 7 Council Representative Ron Fennel cast the dissenting vote. 

City Administrator Eric Taylor said the city only needs to acquire small sections of property on the south side of Concord Road before it began widening the roadway.

“The city’s been working for the past several years to acquire property on Concord Road for the purposes of expanding that particular roadway (...) We’ve managed to come to terms with all but seven properties,” he said.

Mary Kirkendoll, a regular speaker during citizen input, criticized Council’s decision to begin acquiring the properties through eminent domain.

“I’m ashamed to live in a city that just takes people’s businesses and property instead of trying to improve the area and help the businesses grow and help conditions for these areas,” she said.

Smyrna City Council also took action on the following items:

• Approval of a resolution consenting to the submittal of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan 5-Year Update to the Atlanta Regional Commission and Georgia Department of Community Affairs (7-0).
• Approval of the addition of a filming ordinance to the city’s code of ordinances (7-0).
• Approval of Ward 4 appointment to the Tree Board (7-0).
• Approval of Ward 6 appointment to the Smyrna Hospital Authority (7-0).
• Approval of August 6 Mayor and Council Minutes (7-0).
• Award of Belmont Hills Connector bid to lowest bidder Baldwin Paving for $1,468,259.04 (7-0).
• Approval for Campbell High School to conduct CHS Spartan Spirit 5K and Kids Fun Run on Nov. 17 (7-0).
• Ratification of partial road closure for east end of Anderson Circle Aug. 11 for Williams Park social event (7-0).
• Approval to use Council Chambers Aug. 30 for Williams Park Neighbors and Smyrna Historical Society Meeting (7-0).
• Approval of 2012 Performance Partnership Agreement with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (7-0).

See Also:

• Council Votes to Award Concord Road Contract Monday