Amanda Ties and other landowners on Third Avenue West recommended that the City of Lisbon does not move forward with using Third Avenue as the access point to the new sports complex and nature park the city is developing.
“Our road was not constructed in a way that is not conducive to a lot of traffic,” Ties said. “It’s only a short width of road.”
The roadway serves four houses currently, and among those four houses are a number of children who are under the age of 5. Using Third Avenue West would impact the amount of traffic on that roadway.
The impact to the Ties yard would also impact their driveway and garage that was constructed, potentially not allowing a car to park fully in a driveway off the street.
“We’re very excited about this project, and want to be involved and discussing the project,” Ties said. “Our concern is if we’re bringing people into town and to Main Street businesses, is Third Street and Washington Street going to drive them to the businesses in Lisbon?”
The project is in early planning phases, said Lisbon mayor Doug O’Connor, and the council is trying to collect information on all roadways that would lead to the park.
“One of the options we’re looking at is traffic would come in from Jefferson Street and another street would serve as the exit from the park, which would keep traffic flows going one direction,” O’Connor said.
The council is also potentially changing with the coming general election, said Lisbon City Council member Stephanie Kamberling.
“There’s potential that this council will have two or three new council members beginning in November 2021,” Kamberling said. “I encourage you to bring these concerns back to the new council as well.”
The costs for the project is what the city was looking at, said Lisbon city administrator Travis Bagby.
“If this doesn’t generate too much in terms of cost savings for the project, this is probably not something we will look into doing,” Bagby said, of utilizing Third Avenue as the main entrance. “If we get rough numbers and we’re even remotely leaning that way, we’ll definitely be discussing this with the homeowners who will be impacted by us shifting from one of the other streets we’ve previously considered.”
This is one of the biggest projects that Lisbon has taken in a number of years, Kamberling said. She also indicated if the park is successful, that Third Avenue West could become a through street in the future.