City Council approves downtown street closures

Published 8:20 pm Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Tuesday night the Bainbridge City Council approved three downtown street closures that will take place in October.

The first closure, which will affect Broughton Street between Broad Street and West Street, will take place on Thursday, Oct. 16 and will last from 4 — 7 p.m. Bainbridge High School requested the closure to accommodate the Homecoming parade, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. that Thursday.

The other two closures, requested by the Downtown Development Authority, are for the Downtown Street Dance from 6 — 10:30 p.m. on Friday Oct. 24 and the downtown Halloween festivities including Pumpkins in the Park and trick or treating from 3:30 — 6 p.m. on Friday Oct. 31.

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West Street, Water Street and Broad Street on Willis Square will all be closed for the events. The closures were approved under the stipulation that the merchants along those streets be notified of the closures because they may have effects on business during the respective events.

“I’ve gotten a lot of recommendations, for the safety of the children and the crowds that we have, for the streets to be closed so the parents don’t have to worry about kids getting out in traffic,” said Amanda Glover, executive director of the DDA.

Glover said that the closures for the downtown dance will allow for tables and chairs on the streets.

The discussion on street closures also led to a discussion on the need for a concise application in the future versus accepting letters as recommendations for street closures when Councilwoman Roslyn Palmer questioned the time of the initial closure.

“I don’t have a problem with it. It’s just a long time unless they’re going to have something going on during that time,” Palmer said.

The council also voted unanimously to approve the Fiscal Year 2015 budget, which begins Oct. 1.