City Council to consider funding for Lynn Avenue

By Thomas Wilson
STAR STAFF
twilson@starhq.com

   The Elizabethton City Council will consider approving funds for phase one of a highway project scheduled to turn a section of Lynn Avenue into a five-lane thoroughfare connecting East G Street to the Elizabethton Connector.
   The council will consider at Thursday's meeting to authorize the city to commit the 20 percent -- or $25,000 -- in matching funds to finance the preliminary engineering services totaling $125,000 by the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
   Eighty percent of the project would be funded by federal dollars. The appropriation would be deposited in the Local Government Investment Pool.
   Engineering services would be the first step in reconstructing a .33-mile section of Lynn Avenue into a five-lane highway from the Elizabethton Connector to East G Street.
   The Lynn Avenue reconstruction is an attachment to the $28 million Elizabethton Connector project.
   The estimated $6.5 million in money to purchase the right-of-way for the project has been budgeted by the state legislature. The Connector's estimated $18.5 million construction cost has yet to be appropriated.
   The council will also consider a resolution to transfer ownership of the Boys & Girls Club of Elizabethton/Carter County from the club to the City of Elizabethton.
   The club purchased a building previously owned by the East Tennessee Undergarment Company on Hudson Drive in December 2000. The building underwent over $750,000 in renovations to create the new club facility.
   The resolution grants the club primary use of one of two gymnasiums in the facility and additional use of the second gym between Nov. 1 and March 15. The resolution also spells out use of other areas in the facility with primary usage by the club.
   Maintenance responsibilities over $500 are the responsibility of the city as well as utilities and insurance of the facility. The Boys & Girls Club is responsible for maintaining insurance coverage of its property in the building.
   The resolution gives the city ownership of the property for five years through 2007. The agreement will be renewed for additional five-year terms as long as the Boys & Girls Club seeks to have a presence in the building, according to the agreement between the city and the club.