The Canton Street Promenade Task Force has brought their work to a sudden halt.
At the start of their second meeting on Tuesday, the group voted unanimously to stop its work and recommend Roswell hire an independent urban planner to conduct an economic study on the impact of partially closing the road in the dining district to traffic on weekends.
Task force chairwoman Laine Bristow says the study, with proposed designs, should be done before any trial run at creating a pedestrian promenade takes place.
“We would be willing to reconvene if asked or if needed or requested by City Council at that time,” Bristow told City Administrator Randy Knighton.
The task force decision was met with applause by attendees of the meeting held at City Hall.
Roswell’s popular Canton Street has been the center of controversy since early spring when Mayor Kurt Wilson announced he wants to create a pedestrian promenade in the dining and entertainment district.
Seven task force members were selected by City Council three weeks ago to recommend a plan by Aug. 26.
The project is said to be dividing the community. Some businesses have said a road closure without a parking deck for Canton Street establishments would negatively impact revenue. Nearby residents worry about disruption to their neighborhood.
The task force held their first meeting last week and learned that no studies have been performed to determine how businesses and residential neighborhoods would be affected by closing the road.
Before the unexpected end to Tuesday’s meeting, public safety officials had been scheduled to present insight on how emergency access would work and what limitations would be in place for local businesses’ outdoor set-up on promenade days.
Bristow told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she informed Knighton of the task force’s plans about 20 minutes prior to the meeting.
Task force members have had conversations with each other over the last several days and also received questions from the community that they couldn’t answer, Bristow said.
Councilwoman Lee Hills, who was the only elected official at the meeting, said the city is still on track for the promenade and anticipates that an economic study will be performed, and the task force would reconvene after its produced.
“I think it would be healthy for us to expose the details and data so that everybody has an understanding of what we’re looking at,” Hills said. “It will also give us some time because we’re underway with procurement for a parking deck in the adjacent area.”
Jenna Aronowitz, a Canton Street restaurant owner, said the task force had no informed knowledge to produce a plan for a trial road closure to the city.
“I’m so grateful that we had seven people who had the knowledge and the brains to know that they were put in a position to fail,” she said. “... They realized there was no plan, there were no data studies, economic studies, they had no tools in their tool box to even give recommendation.”
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