Plans for the Gilmer portion of a proposed scenic bypass route that also includes roads in Pickens and Dawson County will be revisited following a public meeting held last week.
There were several questions and concerns presented at the public meeting on the proposed Amicalola Falls Scenic Bypass Wednesday, July 20, at Reece’s Cider Company. However, not all of those had to do with things the project’s planning committee can change or control, noted Kent Sanford, of the Greater Gilmer Joint Development Authority.
“The majority of the issues raised were not within the privy of the (scenic byway) application,” he said. “We opened the meeting by addressing two or three topics we’d received phone calls and emails on like is there going to be any road construction and any additional easements asked for. When we opened it up for other questions, it got into (things like) potholes, not mowing the roads and they (commissioners) don’t have enough money to build a swimming pool, how are they going to afford this?”
Several residents of the Orchard Lane/Fendley Road area, which is part of the proposed route, voiced concerns about the scenic bypass designation bringing more traffic in that direction.
That, said Sanford, is a valid concern the scenic byway planning committee will be looking at. “We’re going to try to see if there’s a way of dealing with that. We’re looking at maybe dropping off that section and sticking to a wider road,” he added.
Wes Clampitt, who lives on Fendley Road, attended the public meeting to talk about danger involved with putting more traffic on the already well-traveled roads. A popular winery, Chateau Meichtry, and two newer subdivisions are also located within the same area, he noted.
“Fendley is a small county road. The byway comes down Yukon and turns on Orchard Lane, then Fendley Road, then comes back on Clear Creek,” said Clampitt. “Between those two roads, especially Orchard Lane, is very dangerous. It’s basically a one-way road. If it’s two small cars, you can pass, but if it’s a big dump truck or a bigger vehicle, somebody has to get out of the road. Usually it ends up being the smaller vehicle.”
Clampitt said he’s not opposed to the scenic byway designation, which would consist of roadsigns going up along the entire 81-mile route. Those two roads, particularly Orchard Lane, need to be in better shape if they’re going to be on the route, he noted, as both are used as cut-through roads, and that has increased in recent years.
“If they label it a scenic byway, I do think that would give more people the opportunity to travel the roads. I wouldn’t object to (that), other than the fact that when I travel Orchard Lane now, I’ve got to stop to get out of the way of someone coming,” Clampitt said.
No road construction is planned for the 27-mile Gilmer section of the scenic byway route, which extends from Dawson County along Highway 52 East, runs past Yukon Road and continues into Pickens County on Highway 136.
The last of three public meetings in the three counties is scheduled for Thursday, July 28, at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville.