New Parking Lot At The Commons At Collegedale Getting Plenty Of Use

  • Monday, February 3, 2025
  • Gail Perry

Much of the Collegedale Commission meeting on Monday was getting updates on projects that are already in progress. The new parking lot built near The Commons is being heavily used even before it is completely finished. Commissioner Tim Johnson said this past weekend  he saw over 75 cars parked there, spilling out into the overflow lot.

The lot cannot be completed until the temperature increases for a predictable length of time. Commissioner Johnson said it will be late March before the road builder will come back to evaluate the asphalt, make any needed corrections and stripe the lot. It is a judgment call for the company based on weather forecasts and the ability to line up workers along with a period of warmer temperatures.  City Manager Wayon Hines said a rule of thumb is the temperature needs to be 40 degrees and rising for a 12-hour period before paving can be done.

The parcel that contains the parking lot does have an address, but that has not yet been provided to GPS. With the recent events scheduled at and around The Commons, Commissioner Johnson said he has received requests for that address so people can locate it using their GPS systems. The city manager said that two monument signs will be built to identify the parking lots, but money for them is in next year’s budget.

In 2024, the city of Collegedale committed money to make improvements to the Collegedale Airport. Officials said $79,000 has been spent so far on work to refresh the terminal. Commissioner Johnson said list of improvements that are wanted has snowballed and now he has heard concerns from the public about the increased spending  on the airport. Commissioner Johnson wants the citizens of Collegedale to know that the money being used is not coming from property taxes that they paid. It is being financed with money from sales taxes coming from businesses located on Lee Highway.

During an  audit, Collegedale discovered that $296,000 of sales taxes had been inadvertently paid to Hamilton County instead of the city before the mistake was found. The airport improvements will be made by using money from those sales taxes along with part of a $1.3 million grant from TDOT.

Staff has recommended using some of that money for overages of other items. Before more work is done, the list of projects will be reviewed and prioritized.

In regular business, Police Chief Jack Sapp received approval from the commission to renew an Interagency agreement with the Child Protective Investigative Team of Hamilton County. That consists of 14 municipal police departments from nearby cities, different government agencies and community organizations. This is not a new program, said the chief. It has been in effect since 2017. This is just an  update that lays out the city’s responsibility for child abuse and investigations of child abuse.

The commissioners also approved selling a 1997 bucket truck used by the public works department. Mr. Hines said it would cost more to have its lifting capacity certified than the truck is worth. Currently, the city is renting one. The search will begin to look for a slightly used bucket truck to buy.

The next meeting of the Collegedale commission has been moved from Monday, Feb. 17, to Tuesday, Feb. 18.

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