Ridgewalk Parkway Widening Could Start in February

The Woodstock City Council on Monday unanimously approved an agreement Community & Southern Bank to use a loan to pay for the widening of Ridgewalk Parkway.

The loan amount is set at $2.7 million, with a 1.85 percent interest rate fixed for three years. 

The road will be widened between the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta's main entrance and Ridge Trail.

The agreement calls for the loan to be secured with up to $2.7 million in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST, IV dollars. 

The city, along with Horizon Properties, the outlet mall's developer, and Cherokee County all chipped in to pay for the roadway's improvements.

City Manager Jeff Moon told the council the road improvements will start as soon as the relocation of Woodstock Parkway is complete, which he said is expected to done by the end of the month. 

Woodstock Parkway was shifted to the eastern part of the outlet mall's property, and also realigned with the entrance to the Meridian at Ridgewalk neighborhood. 

The road's old intersection with Ridgewalk Parkway will be used as the outlet mall's main entrance. Woodstock Parkway's intersection with Rope Mill Road is slated to serve as the outlet mall's secondary entrance. 

The Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta is expected to open on July 17 and is expected to attract millions of visitors each year. 

Council members also voted 5-1, with council member Liz Baxter opposing, to approve the first reading of its proposed changes to the boundaries of its six wards.

The changes would:

• move a portion of Ridgewalk Parkway where the outlet mall is being constructed from Ward 1 to Ward 6; 
• moves the Northtowne and Mill Park subdivisions from Ward 2 to Ward 1; 
• moves a portion of the Brookshire subdivision from Ward 6 to Ward 1;
• places the Magnolias at Ridgewalk subdivision from Ward 1 to Ward 2; 
• shifts the Avonlea apartment complex from Ward 2 to Ward 6; 
• keeps Garden Street in Ward 1 
• places several commercial properties along Main Street between Rusk Street and Dupree Road from Ward 2 to Ward 1. 

Reapportioning the city's wards occurs every 10 years after the U.S. Census is taken.

Based on the city's 2010 population of 23,896, each ward ideally would have 3,982 residents.

The city has to stay within the mandated 5 percent range, which means each ward could have between 3,783 to 4,181 citizens. 

The council also:

• also approved a request by city staff to add one full-time building inspector and to amend the city's fiscal year 2013 budget to accommodate the change. The change would take effect in March. 
• approved a request from Camila's Cabs to extend its vehicle for hire license to Dec. 31. The applicant was initially denied the renewal because the city learned the vehicle did not meet the city's age stipulations in its code. 
• The council met in executive session to discuss real estate, personnel and litigation. When they returned back into regular session, the council voted to increase Building Official Duane Helton's salary to $62,522.71.