Neighborhoods in Athens-Clarke County can now fund their own traffic calming improvements, like speed bumps.
The Athens-Clarke County Commission voted 9-1 on Tuesday to greenlight the Voluntary Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program. That plan would allow property owners to raise their own money to build county-approved traffic calming measures on their streets.
ACC Mayor Kelly Girtz explained the measure.
"Should there be a very well-heeled member of your neighborhood that would like to pay for a device now, this would simply allow that with all of the standards and engagement required with transportation and public works," Girtz said.
Even though the residents of the neighborhood would be footing the bill, the traffic-calming device they would install still has to be vetted and approved by ACC staff.
The voluntary program goes hand in hand with another traffic calming program passed by lawmakers in January. That plan prioritizes streets that need traffic calming, and uses public funds for necessary improvements.
District 8 Commissioner Carol Myers called that program a "data-driven approach," while noting that she didn't expect to see the voluntary program used very often. Still, she contended that it still offers advantages.
"It inevitably reduces the number of roads needed to go into that other program, so it's a kind of a win-win," she said.
Commissioners voted 9-1 to move ahead with the program. Commissioner Dexter Fisher was the lone vote against it.
