By Shelby Harrell
InkFreeNews

ETNA GREEN – The Town Council heard a suggestion for the town to begin implementing solutions to downtown parking and traffic flow concerns during a meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 11.

“I think it’s going to involve potentially purchasing a couple of properties that have remained stagnant and turning them into parking areas,” Council Member Keith Claassen told the council. “We’ve allowed people to build apartments downtown in these old businesses and, unfortunately, the current parking structure really doesn’t fit well downtown.”

Council member Susan Klinefelter expanded on that concern by discussing the idea of potentially converting both sides of Walnut and Broadway Streets into a historical district that could be a benefit to residents and businesses.

“There are really no cons since there were no requirements placed on property owners,” said Historic Preservation and Consulting Designer Kurt Garner in an email to Klinefelter. “The benefits are grants for both nonprofit and profit owners as well as tax credits for both profit and any residential areas that may be part of the proposed district.”

Converting Broadway, in particular, would allow the Church of Christ and the Etna Green United Methodist Church to potentially benefit from grant funding.

Additionally, Clerk-Treasurer Patricia Cook has been working in collaboration with Wastewater and Street Superintendent Andrew Cook to submit the necessary paperwork to the Local Technical Assistance Program.

This will ensure their eligibility to receive a grant that will cover 75% of the funding required for repairing a few of the town’s roads.

“I plan on having things finished by the end of this week to fix Spring Street, all of SR 19 to the curve and then Pearl Street from the Methodist church all the way to the park,” Cook said.