Meeting with Rankin County Supervisor, August 2005
Board members attending: Michele Harris, LeAnna Torres and Steve Waite.
Rankin County representatives: Larry Swales, County Attorney David Morrow, Sheriff Ronnie Pennington, Buster (engineer) and Norman (county official).
Speeding - Sheriff Pennington assured me that Rankin County will be in Avalon next week with their little radar device, positioning it somewhere along Avalon Way. Rankin County cannot cite individuals, but they can stop them and ask them if they realized how fast they were going. In doing so, they can ask for license, registration and proof of insurance. If the driver is missing any one of those items, they can be ticketed. They sheriff's department will follow up with car and motorcycle patrols the next week. They said this has been effective in other neighborhoods.
Traffic light at main entrance - This is part of the second phase. Recently The Clarion-Ledger noted federal funds allocated for road work in the tri-county area, of which $6.4 million is earmarked for Old Fannin Road. That is Phase II, the widening of Old Fannin to five lanes. They said the traffic light will not be installed until Phase II is complete. There is no schedule for when work will commence; the federal funds are to be paid out over five years, so any time during the next five years. Our traffic light will be - at this time (pending future traffic studies) - exclusively for Avalon. Three other stop lights will be installed along Old Fannin Road, at Barnett Bend III, Farmington Station and one other.
Hugh Ward Drive - Scheduled completion was first said to be Oct. 1, then amended to, "late fall." Larry Swales said the County was able to come in late and arrange for a biking / walking path along Hugh Ward, including benches (to rest) in intermittent spots. Abbey Woods will connect to Hugh Ward at no direct cost to Avalon residents. (I say "direct" because the county can always raise our taxes.)
Farmington Station - Will NOT be connecting to Avalon. Larry said they met with the developer of Farmington Station, who has since sold the lot where the pseudo road "connecting" our subdivisions currently exists. The main road into Farmington Station will go all the way to Hugh Ward, giving them two outlets. Larry said the county encouraged - and the developer complied - to put a "loop" of water pipes around Farmington Station. The benefit to Avalon is that loop gives our subdivision redundancy in our water source, i.e. two water feeds from separate directions into our neighborhood.
Proposed water tower at Avalon Way and Hugh Ward - They had no word on this, as it is a City of Flowood project.
Follow-ups - Larry said he'd follow up with the owner of the apartment complex and have them replace the dead cypress that were planted as a buffer between our two complexes. He also said he follow up with Farmington Station to suggest some type of natural buffer between our two subdivisions.
Other notes - Sixty-five percent of the traffic citations the Rankin County Sheriff issues are written in the Reservoir area ... a recent traffic study found that 20,000 cars travel on Old Fannin Road each day and 500,000 cars pass through the Spillway-Old Fannin intersection each month ... Gus Primos requested to put in another apartment complex across Hugh Ward (to the east) from Bridgewater; Larry Swales said the county refused ... Larry Swales said there are plans to add two more lanes to Lakeland Drive from Dogwood to NW Rankin (probably the middle school) ...
All fairly good and encouraging news. Michele, LeAnna and I felt it was a very positive meeting.