COLUMBUS, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Brian Jones

The Columbus City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved some external renovations for the Trotter in order to bring it into compliance with ADA law. The focus of Phase I is on the 2nd Street side, where the plan is to double the current sidewalk width from five to ten feet in addition to making some badly-needed repairs there, add a wheelchair ramp, and change the parking from angled to parallel parking. They will also be removing the “hazardous” crepe myrtle trees on the corner. “We’re going to convert angled parking — where people can’t see to back out — to parallel parking, which mimics what’s across the street,” City Engineer Kevin Stafford explained. “You can see (when) coming in and out of those spaces.”

Phase II will be all about the courtyard area: “If you’ve been down there, the patio area outside the downstairs doors of the Trotter is kind of treacherous,” Mayor Keith Gaskin said. “The trees that are in there have bumped up the sidewalk.” Trees will be removed and the concrete will be repaired. All repairs and renovations are slated to be complete by about christmastime of this year, and the funding will come from the city’s current 2% hotel tax, which is designated for Trotter maintenance and repair.

The Old Fire Station 4 at Airline and South McCrary, which has not been in active use for several years, is going up on the auction block. The 1959 structure has been plagued by structural and roof issues, so any buyer would need to deal with those. One potential bidder has expressed interest: Crossroads Sober Living, which ic located right next door. Founder Dusty Snider spoke with the Dispatch: “We’ve been going back and forth with the city for about a year. . . We’re still interested if it makes sense. It’s been sitting there empty, it needs a lot of (repair work), so we’re hoping for a fair price.”

Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/news/ada-ramp-better-sidewalks-parallel-parking-coming-to-trotter/