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City officials discuss park expansion, budget requests
Published Saturday, August 22, 2009
By Jebb Johnston
Staff Writer
The Corinth Board of Aldermen received the final round of agency budget requests this week and approved a zone changing affecting a residential area in south Corinth.
The parks department, which was budgeted at $132,000 last year, is requesting $225,000 from the city. Director Todd Witt said a vehicle upgrade is among the park’s needs.
Also, the parks commission is still eager to work with the city on park expansion.
“We’re still trying to find a way to develop the property on Droke Road,” he said. “We’re shovel-ready and have a master plan in place.”
Witt said economic opportunity is being lost by delaying expansion.
The Corinth Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is requesting an increase in its monthly allocation from $36,667 to $38,500. Those funds come from a portion of the 2 percent tourism tax.
Tourism Director Kristy White told the board part of the CACVB’s strategy in the coming year is to target the Birmingham and Memphis markets. The tourism office is also preparing for opportunities tied to the upcoming Civil War sesquicentennial.
White also addressed the funding situation for the Crossroads Museum, which received no allocation from the city last year. If that is again the case, the $12,750 designated for museum sponsorship in the CACVB budget will become operating funds for the museum.
Other requests are CARE, $12,500 for landscaping and maintenance of areas including the honor garden; Soil & Water Conservation, $6,500 for conservation education activities in both school districts, as well as other programs; and $5,000 for Our Resource Center.
The city budget must be completed by mid-September.
In other business:
• The board approved the rezoning of an area described as between Martin Luther King Drive and Wood Street behind the former Gibson’s area on U.S. Highway 72 from C-2 commercial to R-3 multi-family residential. The city’s community development and planning departmentrequested the change. Officials have said it is a well-defined residential area that may have been zoned commercial in error.
The zoning change also clarifies the zoning of the Bishop Park area as special use.
• Community Development and Planning Director David Huwe reported that the Harper-Proper intersection upgrade is 47 percent complete with 42 percent of the contract time elapsed.
