Hampton council works on cleaning up the city

The Hampton City Council discussed stop signs, dog parks, garbage, and street projects during their workshop meeting on Monday, March 7.

Continuing discussion on a matter brought up at the previous meeting, the council considered a request to install stop or yield signs at the intersection of 1st Ave NW and 3rd St. NW, the northeast corner of Fareway.

According to police reports, that corner has been the site of four accidents in the last decade and was acknowledged as an intersection where near misses are common.

"I personally don't like that intersection," said Mayor Russell Wood. "I think most people don't."

As the council discussed what to do, Councilmember Dick Lukensmeyer warned that just putting up yield signs may not solve the problem as people clearly aren't yielding to begin with.

"If I was going to do something, I would put four stop signs at that corner," said Lukensmeyer.

The council agreed to put the issue on the agenda for the Thursday meeting.

Moving on to the ongoing efforts towards building a city dog park, the council attempted to work out what their expectations for the volunteer dog park committee would be before the city takes official action.

The city has found itself in something of a catch-22 situation where the city is hesitant to officially approve action on developing a park before the committee has funding, but the lack of an official commitment for even a location makes fundraising difficult.

For their part, the dog park committee has committed to fully funding the development of the park and establishing mechanisms to support upkeep. They would like the city to at least make an official motion of support, which will aid them in fundraising and grant writing while the city continues to scout potential locations.

Continuing another discussion from the previous meeting, the council again met with Jerre Grefe, owner of 1st and 2nd Vintage, who brought additional photographs of problem areas around downtown where garbage has accumulated.

The problem is multi-faceted, with Grefe showing examples of accumulated garbage, collections of discarded cigarette buds, scattered cardboard, and overflowing dumpsters resulting in garbage blowing through the streets and alleys.

"What do they think is going to happen if that dumpster is open?" said Grefe.

The multi-faceted problem will require a multi-faceted solution. The council discussed a range of ways to encourage downtown residents to take better care of their garbage, from shoring up and more strictly enforcing city ordinances to communicating with local garbage collectors to adding additional receptacles downtown.

Mayor Wood even broached the subject of bundling garbage service into the city water bill, though he acknowledged that would bring on an entirely new set of issues to be overcome.

"There are some benefits, but there are some big drawbacks," said Wood.

The council will continue exploring various options, but in general advises people to just be more aware of their garbage and thoughtful about where it ends up.

On a similar note, the council invited Newton Grotzinger, director of the Greater Franklin County Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss the upcoming city clean-up days.

"We're trying to clean up the yards," said Grotzinger.

The chamber and city are working together to organize the clean-up days for April 15-16 and April 22-23, with large item pick-ups available and access to the city compost site open for drop-offs.

Finally, the council met with Mark Crawford, who presented the council with a detailed map of the city's streets and described how they prioritized which roads are worked on from year-to-year.

Several factors are considered, when deciding what to work on, from the cost of repair to expected longevity. Streets with utilities under them in particular can be problematic as the city wants to avoid putting money into a street knowing they may have to tear it up again when doing a sewer project.