Out and About with Caroline

17/11/2023

17/10/2023

Editor,

This is a follow up to my letter in the October 12, 2023 edition of The Pocahontas Times.

In that letter, I referenced the Public Safety and Security Fee Ordinance that was discussed at the October Marlinton Town Council meeting.

According to the discussion at the meeting, this fee would be used to help pay for a police officer and nothing else was mentioned. I noted that several days after the meeting, I learned that there are more things listed in the ordinance that the fee can be used for.

I obtained a copy of the ordinance from town hall. The first paragraph of the proposed ordinance reads as follows:

01 Purpose

This article is enacted because the public health, safety, comfort and general welfare of the citizens and residents of the Town of Marlinton require the continuance, maintenance and improvement of Fire Protection, Police Protection, Street Cleaning, Street Lighting, Street Maintenance, Street Improvements, Parks and Recreation Maintenance and Improvement and other Municipal Services. The revenues of the Town of Marlinton derived from sources other than that provided by this article are not sufficient, having regard to other necessary costs and expenses of the Town government to pay the expenses of the continuance, maintenance and improvement of the aforesaid services.

The ordinance is 6 pages long. I recommend people read it. If you can’t obtain a hard copy, you can find the entire ordinance at Out and About With Caroline on Facebook.

Thank you,
Caroline Sharp
Marlinton

12/10/2023

FOLLOW UP.

Copy of the Town Of Marlinton Municipal Services Fee Ordinance that was discussed at the October Marlinton Town Council meeting.

Purpose: This article is enacted because the public health, safety, comfort and general welfare of the citizens and residents of the Town of Marlinton require the continuance, maintenance and improvement of Fire Protection, Police Protection, Street Cleaning, Street Lighting, Street Maintenance, Street Improvements, Parks and Recreation Maintenance and Improvement and other Municipal Services. The revenues of the Town of Marlinton derived from sources other than that provided by this article are not sufficient, having regard to other necessary costs and expenses of the Town government to pay the expenses of the continuance, maintenance and improvement of the aforesaid services.

09/10/2023

Dear Editor,

This letter is in reference to the article on page 2 in the October 5, 2023 edition of the Pocahontas Times titled, “MTC has short, yet productive meeting”

Agenda item #1 under new business was not even mentioned. The item read: Discuss and/or act on Public Safety and Security Fee Ordinance.

According to the discussion, this fee would be used to help pay for a police officer. Nothing else was mentioned. (Note: several days after the meeting, I learned there are more things listed in the ordinance that the fee can be used for). It would be billed bi-monthly. Three fees were presented: $10, $12.50, or $15. The people who will be required to pay the fee are the 550 people who pay the fire fee.

We just had a water increase and a sewer increase is coming soon. And, according to the mayor, our garbage fee will probably be increasing at some point, too.

I asked the council this: Will residents be receptive to another fee, let alone a security fee? One council member wondered what would happen if people can’t or don’t pay the fee and asked, will the police still respond?

Council took no action at this time. However, it will be on the agenda at the next meeting in November. It takes 3 readings for an ordinance to pass. I expect the first reading to be at the November meeting.

The Marlinton Town Council meets the first Monday of each month at 7PM in the municipal building auditorium and by Zoom. The meeting agenda is posted at town hall and on the Town of Marlinton page.

Thank you,
Caroline Sharp
Marlinton

28/09/2023

Amended agenda for Marlinton Town Council meeting Monday, October 2, 7PM

Amended agenda for October 2, 2023 Regular Meeting:

28/09/2023

Marlinton Town Council meeting agenda for Monday, October 2, 2023 at 7PM.

12/09/2023

This is a WARNING to the residents of Marlinton and surrounding area.

Copper wiring is being cut/stolen from gas tanks in town.

This particular incident happened sometime Thursday night and early Friday morning, September 7 and 8, 2023. It could have turned out bad but fortunately the smell was noticed and found rather quickly and the gas was turned off.

Here are some pictures. The line runs up the building from the tanks. About 7 feet, give or take, was cut, so they had to climb the tree in order to make the cut.

Please spread the word and be mindful.

06/09/2023

The Marlinton Town Council will have a regular meeting at the Municipal Building on Monday, September 11, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.

14/08/2023

It was Déjà vu all over again at the Marlinton Town Council meeting on August 7, 2023.

A proposed chicken ordinance, submitted by town resident David Bethany, is below. Council approved the first reading and the second reading will be at the meeting in September. The changes in yellow were made on August 8.

Here are three questions to ask the town council about this ordinance: is it equitable; is it even enforceable; is it essential. I think the answer is NO to all of these questions, especially the enforceable part.

And, why are town residents allowed to write town ordinances?

05/08/2023

Marlinton Town Council meeting agenda for Monday, August 7, 2023. 7PM.

Chickens again.

10/06/2023

The Town of Marlinton election is Tuesday, June 13, 2023. The Mayor, Recorder and 5 Council members will be elected to serve the citizens and businesses of the town. Vote and let your voice be heard. You can find the list of candidates and how they appear on the ballot at Town of Marlinton

The Pocahontas Times allowed all of the candidates running for the upcoming town election an opportunity to communicate with the citizens. We could submit a bio with a picture, free of charge and it was in the April 27, 2023 edition. Thank you Pocahontas Times!. In case you missed it, here is the bio I submitted.

I am Caroline Sharp, and I am running for one of the five open seats on the Marlinton Town Council. I was born and raised in Marlinton and like a lot of people I moved out of the state to work, a choice that ended up providing me with opportunities and life lessons that no textbook or classroom can offer. After college, I lived in Chicago and Kansas City working in retail management, returning to Pocahontas County in 1995. I worked at our community radio station for 17 years which gave me the opportunity to understand our community even better including the challenges we have. I served on the Pocahontas County Parks and Recreation Board for 13 years including serving as treasurer during the building of the wellness center.

I have prioritized attending the Town Council meetings as well as the Pocahontas County Commission meetings since moving to town in 2017. As I researched the many issues we are dealing with, I recognized that it is essential to have realistic plans for the future.

Community engagement is needed for our town to succeed, and every voice must be heard.

Transparency is essential for community engagement. I will work to have the town’s boards and committees active with working members who provide minutes to the public and regular updates to council.

I want to update the town’s comprehensive plan that was adopted in 2019, and use it to bring in more community voices. Is our plan here to help us create the town’s future? Is it here only because it’s a prerequisite for something else? Is it just a marketing tool? I have a series of posts discussing the comprehensive plan on my page “Out and About With Caroline”.

The mayor, recorder, and five council members constitute the governing body of the Town, in accordance with WV Code and ordinances. Authority for the annual budget, staffing and employee concerns, oversight of committees and commissions, development of the Town, and other issues of town governance lie with the Town Council in its democratic mandate to serve the community.

f I am one of the five people elected to sit on town council, I pledge: to represent all citizens and business owners evenhandedly; to manage the town’s finances responsibly; to promote efficient and effective management systems; to be consistent when making decisions based on public policy; to be concerned with the long-term future of the town, avoiding short term gains at the expense of long term losses; to be transparent with my fellow governing members and town staff; to learn all I can about the town; to keep all channels of communication open; and to promote responsible planning and development.

Thank you for considering me for Marlinton Town Council. Look for my name at the bottom of the list of Town Council candidates on your ballot, June 13.

02/06/2023

Marlinton residents.

04/05/2023

Thank you to The Pocahontas Times for allowing all of the candidates running for the upcoming town election an opportunity to communicate with the citizens. The following was in the April 27, 2023 edition.

I am Caroline Sharp, and I am running for one of the five open seats on the Marlinton Town Council. I was born and raised in Marlinton and like a lot of people I moved out of the state to work, a choice that ended up providing me with opportunities and life lessons that no textbook or classroom can offer. After college, I lived in Chicago and Kansas City working in retail management, returning to Pocahontas County in 1995. I worked at our community radio station for 17 years which gave me the opportunity to understand our community even better including the challenges we have. I served on the Pocahontas County Parks and Recreation Board for 13 years including serving as treasurer during the building of the wellness center.

I have prioritized attending the Town Council meetings as well as the Pocahontas County Commission meetings since moving to town in 2017. As I researched the many issues we are dealing with, I recognized that it is essential to have realistic plans for the future.

Community engagement is needed for our town to succeed, and every voice must be heard.

Transparency is essential for community engagement. I will work to have the town’s boards and committees active with working members who provide minutes to the public and regular updates to council.

I want to update the town’s comprehensive plan that was adopted in 2019, and use it to bring in more community voices. Is our plan here to help us create the town’s future? Is it here only because it’s a prerequisite for something else? Is it just a marketing tool? I have a series of posts discussing the comprehensive plan on my page “Out and About With Caroline”.

The mayor, recorder, and five council members constitute the governing body of the Town, in accordance with WV Code and ordinances. Authority for the annual budget, staffing and employee concerns, oversight of committees and commissions, development of the Town, and other issues of town governance lie with the Town Council in its democratic mandate to serve the community.

If I am one of the five people elected to sit on town council, I pledge: to represent all citizens and business owners evenhandedly; to manage the town’s finances responsibly; to promote efficient and effective management systems; to be consistent when making decisions based on public policy; to be concerned with the long-term future of the town, avoiding short term gains at the expense of long term losses; to be transparent with my fellow governing members and town staff; to learn all I can about the town; to keep all channels of communication open; and to promote responsible planning and development.

Thank you for considering me for Marlinton Town Council. Look for my name at the bottom of the list of Town Council candidates on your ballot, June 13.

04/05/2023

Marlinton has a long history of flooding and the floods of 1985 and 1996 were catastrophic to the town. We must be mindful of that when planning and developing because we want the least amount of damage when it does flood. Much of the downtown is within the Special Flood Hazard Area and several properties are within the regulatory floodway, which has even greater limitations to development and redevelopment.

What does Marlinton’s Comprehensive Plan say about flood plain management?

It says to encourage less development or redevelopment, especially of permanent structures in the floodplain by educating the public about the costs of developing in the floodplain as opposed to locating outside the floodplain. And, it says that any discussion of future land use and development in Marlinton should be tempered with a good understanding of historical flooding.

It recommends educating people on the National Flood Insurance Program and on programs that may help mitigate flood damage in the future.

It says to make sure property owners know the requirements of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and why it may be needed. https://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance, and encourage them to participate in the Flood Insurance Rate Maps https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps/national-flood-hazard-layer

And it says that if the town or private property owner is demolishing a vacant or dilapidated structure in the floodplain, ensure that what is being rebuilt is up to the NFIP requirements, or encourage the land to be left as open space so as to lessen the impacts of future flood events.

The plan also recommends the idea of researching and applying for flood mitigation grants for elevating properties in the floodplain and to work with officials to address the sedimentation and the excess aquatic vegetation in the Greenbrier River near town. Citizens are concerned that the increased vegetation in the river is causing flooding events in and around town to be worse. In August 2022, the county commission held a special meeting with the Town of Marlinton on floodplain issues. (You can read more about the special meeting in an earlier post August 9, 2022 at Out and About With Caroline on Facebook ). During this special meeting, sedimentation and the grass were discussed and Commissioner Helmick recommended that the commission contact the WV Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), which they did, to learn more.

At a commission meeting in September 2022, Commissioner Helmick said he received a report from the WVDEP and they identified the grasses growing in the river near the Rt. 39 bridge as being American Water Willow. The report said that it is a native species of aquatic grass that is common in the waterways of West Virginia and is known to trap and build-up sediment and that the sediment can average six to eight feet deep in this portion of the Greenbrier River.

Are there enough people living in town to justify the federal or state government spending any amount of money for flood control and/or flood mitigation projects?

What does the plan say about land use, which is an important consideration when developing a comprehensive plan? The planning commission analyzed the land use in Marlinton starting with the existing land use map (page 64) that shows how the land in town is currently being used.

The Pocahontas County Assessor’s Office has GIS parcel information that is used for taxing purposes and each parcel of land in Pocahontas County is given a land use code that identifies what the primary use of each parcel of land is. Using this information for the future land use map (page 66), the community has identified preferred development areas. The plan says that this map should guide future land use decisions in the community.

Preferred development areas are defined by state code W. Va Code §8A-1-2(y). https://code.wvlegislature.gov/8A-1-2/ as a “geographically defined areas where incentives may be used to encourage development, infill development or redevelopment in order to promote well designed and coordinated communities.”

The areas the community designated as preferred development areas are: 4th Avenue North of 8th Street, along the river trail; north of the bridge along Route 219 because there needs to be a sidewalk or multi-use path developed for safety; Edray Business Park; and a fishing pier and walking trail along Knapp Creek.

Pocahontas County is one of the counties in West Virginia that is known to have Karstic features and the county is home to many known caverns, many situated near Marlinton and there could be subsidence areas in or around town. The plan recommends considering this when looking at new development in the community.

Annexation is mentioned in the plan. Land annexation is the addition or incorporation of a territory into a city and there has been annexation in the past, at the request of landowners who wanted land added near the school. The plan says that any future annexation proceedings need to be carefully analyzed and discussed before any official action is taken and that council should have a good understanding of state annexation laws and to weigh all advantages and disadvantages.

More community concerns are the water treatment system, wastewater and stormwater issues. Since this plan was written, the town has a newly built water treatment plant that was completed in 2020. Here is the link to see pictures. https://townofmarlintonwv.com/water-sewer/

The idea to talk with hospital officials and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of town ownership of the hospital’s water system was also recommended. Currently Pocahontas Memorial Hospital has its own water system and talks are in progress with the county commission and engineers about adding the hospital to Marlinton’s system. And it also recommends that the town proceed with the next project which is to repair or replace the aging water distribution lines because of significant leaking.

For stormwater issues, the only thing mentioned is the downspout disconnection program in place by ordinance. It says the purpose of this ordinance is to decrease the amount of storm water leaving a property and being channelized because the more stormwater that can be infiltrated onsite, the less water there will be in the stormwater drains and on the roads and parking lots. The town has eliminated several combined sewers throughout town. Combined sewers are when both storm water and wastewater are collected in the same piping and during periods of high rainfall there is a chance excess wastewater/storm water might be discharged into a water body before it is treated.

For wastewater issues, it is recommended that the town council compile an itemized budget that includes a list of all work needed to be completed and to address inflow and infiltration concerns as part of the larger project. Because of the age of some of the collection lines (over 100 years old) some water from the river is getting into the collection lines, meaning the treatment plant is treating more than what it should be treating. The plan also recommends the town to apply for grants to help speed up the process to complete the older sewer lines that was started in 2018.

This series of posts is intended to help the citizens of Marlinton learn what the comprehensive plan says and to bring an opportunity for discussion.

The vision statement in the comprehensive plan says:

Marlinton is a safe community that fosters healthy families, vibrant business and numerous cultural and recreational attractions for residents and visitors, while preserving the unique traditions and natural beauty that make the Town special.

I would like to hear from the people who have been reading the posts and share your thoughts and ideas. Are there any realistic recommendations in the plan that can actually help us achieve the overall vision for the community?

19/04/2023

Is Marlinton’s comprehensive plan here to help us plan for the town’s future or is it here only because it’s a prerequisite for something else, or is it just a marketing tool? As a candidate for Marlinton Town Council, I want to look at the town’s comprehensive plan, starting with an update, and use it to bring in more community voices. What recommendations are there to help us plan for the future and help achieve the overall vision for the community?

The planning commission identified six things that the community is concerned about: Safe Community; Healthy Families; Vibrant Business; Cultural and Recreational Attractions; Cultural Traditions; Natural Beauty. In other words, the community wants to live in a safe place, have healthy families and have a healthy business environment. When it comes to tourism, the community wants to use what we already have to build upon while preserving our history and culture, and protect the environment and natural beauty.

What does Marlinton’s plan say about these concerns and what recommendations does the plan give us?

For many of the community concerns/issues, the recommendations are to continue to support and promote the things we already have in place and build upon them.

The recommendations for having healthy families are to continue to support the school, library, hospital, wellness center, substance abuse services and community programs, Day Report, food banks, farmer’s market.

How to create an environment that attracts new businesses and strengthens existing businesses?

For things already in place, the plan recommends working with local partners like the Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation to promote new and existing businesses and also meet with them periodically to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Interestingly, one recommendation is to identify usable, empty storefronts, including publicly owned storefronts and encourage private owners to rent out space. I’m not sure how this will work since the town doesn't have many empty buildings still standing. And of course, the town could hire a grant writer to address issues that have been identified in the plan.

Not surprisingly, having reliable, high-speed broadband infrastructure is mentioned as a need to attract new businesses but doesn’t provide any new recommendations other than what is currently being worked on.

When it comes to tourism, preserving our history and culture, and protecting natural beauty, the plan recommends promoting and strengthening existing events and festivals by working with the Pocahontas County Conventions and Visitors Bureau, all civic and historical organizations and the arts groups. It is recommended to promote Marlinton as an outdoor recreation hub and to support the efforts to make the area a “Ride Center”. It says to preserve the places and structures that hold historical or cultural significance by working with the Pocahontas County Historic Landmarks Commission, the Pocahontas County Historical Society, and Preserving Pocahontas.

Some ideas for enhancing recreation amenities throughout town are to create a dog park for citizens and tourists; build public restrooms and drinking water facilities; and keep in good repair the parts and green spaces within the town that can be used by families for exercise and recreation near their homes. In 2020, Discovery Junction and the splash pad were completed and the town became a Mon Forest Town. Learn more about what a Mon Forest Town is at the following link https://publicinterestdesign.wvu.edu/mon-forest-towns/process

Recommendations for protecting the natural beauty are to work with private landowners and utility companies to keep areas clean, safe, and attractive and make sure town-owned property is free of debris. Replace some public areas, where there is grass, with natural vegetation that will not require mowing or as much maintenance and can enhance the beauty of the space.

Recycling and energy conservation has been a concern with some residents but the plan doesn’t have many recommendations for either. In the long term, it recommends integrating small-scale alternative energy systems to partially power municipal structures, for example, it says that the town lights should be solar powered. Also, the opera house lot design includes solar panels, as well as a charging station for electric vehicles, therefore, it is important to address any community concerns and aesthetic concerns before installing any alternative energy systems.

There are currently no recycling options for everyday materials in Marlinton and the Green Box sites take only limited items. The plan doesn’t have any recycling suggestions other than to analyze the different options and to create a partnership with the county. According to the Pocahontas Times front page news story, April 13, 2023, thieves threaten continued recycling at Green Box sites and that is forcing the solid waste authority to have to remove the recycling trailers from green box sites.

For concerns like housing, abandoned and dilapidated building, floodplain management and land use, the plan recommends that housing be consistent with the needs and desires of the community, to start enforcing codes, encourage sound floodplain practices, and promote better land use management.

Housing is an essential part of any community. Understanding the quantity and overall quality of the housing in town is important to know when considering recommendations for the future growth and development. The age of the housing can indicate the condition of housing and the older the housing, the more issues there are with deterioration and dilapidation. Marlinton has a relatively older housing stock that is similar to the rest of the county and surrounding municipalities and very few housing units have been built since 2010 therefore, the plan does not include a likelihood of new housing or land being needed in the next 10-15 years.

According to the information in the plan, there was an uptick in the number of people locating to the Marlinton area for the pipeline and it indicated that as more temporary workers relocate to Marlinton, there is a possibility that new housing will be needed to accommodate the influx. The pipeline project was canceled in July 2020.

One recommendation is for town officials to collaborate with the Marlinton Housing Authority to develop a plan for the properties the authority owns within the town limits. The Marlinton Housing Authority was created by the town council in 1986 after the 1985 flood and in 2011 a resolution gave all housing authorities in the state the powers, duties, and authority of an Urban Renewal Authority under Chapter 16, Article 18 of the West Virginia Code. You can learn more at this link https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-18/

It is recommended that the housing authority meets with town officials at least quarterly so the town can keep the authority members up to date with municipal happenings. From my research, the current Housing Authority has not met since 2014 and even the planning commission has had little to no activity since adopting the comprehensive plan in 2019.

The plan says the town should encourage a diversity of housing options and look at the advantages and disadvantages of diversification, including housing for lower income families, senior citizens/retirees and housing that is developed out of the floodplain. It’s also important for officials to make sure the vouchers maintained by the Greenbrier Valley and Raleigh County Housing Authorities are sufficient for Marlinton residents and to promote adaptive reuse of properties, which is when a structure that was originally intended for one use such as a place of business is later converted into housing or another use from which it was originally intended, for example, the ARC Building. The plan also recommends where there is demolition, and if rebuilding on the property is advantageous, encourage assisted living housing or housing that is accessible for persons with disabilities.

The town has abandoned and dilapidated structures, which are a safety concern, and they also lower property values which can prevent reinvestment in the community. One recommendation in the plan is to improve the enforcement of the 2015 International Property Management Code (IPMC) that the town adapted which can be used to address rubbish, inoperable vehicles, and abandoned and dilapidated structures. And, it does say to enforce this code throughout the entire town and deal with all citizens and business owners evenhandedly.

The plan recommends implementing the state statute that enables municipalities to place a statutory lien on insurance funds for a structure that has been declared a total loss by a fire and recoup the costs of cleaning up the debris, or, enact a vacant property registry and place vacant properties, as defined by the state code, in a registration system that requires payment of an annual fee for each property on the registry.

Another recommendation is to share a code enforcement officer with other jurisdictions which can be an effective way for smaller jurisdictions to help with cost savings.

In the next post we look at what the plan says about floodplain management and land use.

31/03/2023

When a comprehensive plan is adopted, it can be implemented to help future development and help achieve the overall vision for the community. I've been working through the plan to better understand what it says. Up to this point, I have gone through the first two sections of our plan, how it’s organized and our community profile, which is standard in all plans I’ve researched.

If you look at other comprehensive plans for towns throughout WV, they are basically the same and have the same pattern aka template. For example, the WVU Land Use Clinic prepares the plan using information from the community, and all plans have to follow WV State Code, which is basically a lot of prerequisites for being able to follow other building codes and land use regulations.

Is our comprehensive plan here to help us plan for the town’s future or is it here only because it’s a prerequisite for something else?

The planning commission identified six things that the community is concerned about: Safe Community; Healthy Families; Vibrant Business; Cultural and Recreational Attractions; Cultural Traditions; Natural Beauty, and these turn into the vision statement, which is what we want our community to be:

Marlinton is a safe community that fosters healthy families, vibrant business and numerous cultural and recreational attractions for residents and visitors, while preserving the unique traditions and natural beauty that make the Town special.

I will be looking at each concern to hear what the community said and learn about any recommendations made to help achieve our goals.

The number one concern identified by the planning commission is a safe community. Some areas the community says that concerns them include: law enforcement, lack of surveillance cameras/lighting, poor roads and broken sidewalks.

The community wants a better police presence in town. Instead of contracting with the sheriff or state police, the plan recommends that we hire at least one full-time officer, which the town did in 2020. He is currently in training at the WV State Police Academy.
We still need to work with the sheriff and state police but we can also help ourselves by reestablishing the neighborhood watch program and develop a plan with volunteers in place to ensure that it is long term.

The plan notes that there is a lack of surveillance cameras in public places, in particularly parks, and that there is insufficient lighting, especially in certain parts of town. As of March 2023, cameras have been installed in additional places, like the mini-park, and the new traffic lights that were recently installed have cameras.

Another safety concern is the road conditions. Many areas exist where the road conditions are not ideal and part of the issue is; “who owns the roads?”. Under the West Virginia Division of Highways, the state established an orphan road program in the 1990’s to acquire and maintain roads and bridges that met certain criteria. Because of this program, the state owns almost all of the roads in Marlinton therefore we have to compete for transportation funding and maintenance with Tucker, Randolph and Pendleton Counties.

Broken sidewalks are another concern. The plan says the town has identified approximately 85 potential tripping hazards in town. That’s a lot! A third party company was used to grind the hazards and would cost approximately $5,500 to complete this project. Is this a priority for the town and if so, do we need to prioritize a sidewalk project? Also, property owners need to know that they are required to maintain any sidewalk that touches their property. Routine maintenance includes shoveling snow and removing grass clipping and other debris from the sidewalks and periodic reminders should be provided with water bills, social media or the town’s website. The plan does not mention the need to provide all new property owners about this particular maintenance requirement.

The need for updated signage and GPS directions was noted by the plan, especially to direct travelers through Marlinton which offers more amenities than traveling Route 92 to Snowshoe. Note: A few years ago, signs were placed at the intersection of Routes 92/39 so this part has been accomplished.

Here is a piece of information that I found interesting. Our plan says that there is a physical disconnect between the downtown and where most people live to the commercial development that is across the river along Route 219. Because of this disconnect, there are blueprints for a pedestrian bridge from the Greenbrier River trail, across the river, into Riverside. A pedestrian bridge could provide a safer route for citizens and bicycles to travel. Currently people have to cross the vehicular bridge and then walk along Rt 219 where there are no sidewalks. If this blueprint does exist, let’s explore to see if this project can be implemented.

I will continue with concern #1 in the next post.