Avondale Estates, GA — The Avondale Estates City Commission will hold a regular meeting on Wednesday, March 27, at 5:30 p.m., followed by a work session, at Avondale Estates City Hall, 21 N. Avondale Plaza, and via Zoom.

During the work session, the city commission will discuss a contract for notice to proceed on the U.S. 278 complete street project, which includes a “road diet” that would reduce the number of lanes on the road.

To access the meeting, follow these instructions:

To join the meeting via Zoom, click here.

To view the meeting agendas, click here.

Public comments can be made either by attending the meeting in-person or through Zoom.

During the State of the City Address on March 21, Mayor Jonathan Elmore said the city anticipates beginning construction on U.S. 278 over the summer. U.S. 278 is the main drag in Avondale Estates, which has the names of East College Avenue and North Avondale Road as it runs through the city and its historic downtown.

The project includes a road diet that will reduce the travel lanes from five to three between Sam’s Crossing and Ashton Place. The length of the project corridor is 1.15 miles.

There will be some on-street parking. The project also calls for a 10-foot path along the entire corridor on the north side of the street, new traffic lights and streetlights, a center median, and a five-foot sidewalk on the south side of the street between South Avondale Road and Sam’s Crossing. The city is not planning to touch the Abelia hedge as part of the project.

The project has been a long time coming, as residents have dreamed about converting U.S. 278 from a highway dividing the city into a main street.

Avondale Estates also received $2 million in funding from the Atlanta Regional Commission for the U.S. 278 complete street project.

In other business:

– The city commission will discuss the sanitation and stormwater fees. The city commission approved a contract with Arrow Waste on March 13 for sanitation and recycling services, which means that the total sanitation fee assessed to households would be about $373.28

Arrow will begin collecting solid waste and recycling curbside once a week in May. The city’s public works department would continue collecting yard waste.

Last year, the city commission set the sanitation and stormwater fees for 2023 in April. The sanitation fee was $596 per household, and the stormwater fee was $180 per household.

– The city commission will also discuss a residential composting pilot program. Elmore announced during the State of the City Address that the city will launch a residential curbside composting pilot program in the fall with the help of a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.

“Not only is this a wonderful opportunity for residents to contribute positively to our environment by reducing what we send to the landfill, but the compost will be shared with Roots Down and Food Well Alliance,” he said.