BELLE MEADE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Residents in Belle Meade are upset over a possible pedestrian walkway along historic Belle Meade Boulevard.
The multi-million dollar plan was discussed by Belle Meade’s city commission on Wednesday evening in front of a packed chamber.
City officials are looking to conduct “Boulevard Beautification” largely for safety purposes. However, many people who live in the neighborhood told News 2: don’t fix what’s not broken.
“That’s not what the citizens of Belle Meade want, the taxpayers,” said longtime resident Steve Fridrich. “They love their boulevard. It was meant for a road, it was not meant for recreational purposes. And we don’t want to change what’s been here since 1913.”
“I just want to say that the boulevard is the centerpiece of Belle Meade,” said resident Mary Proctor during Wednesday’s commission meeting. “It’s a road. It is not meant for pedestrians; if you want to walk on it, you’re taking your life into your hands.”
According to the City of Belle Meade’s website, the project would “beautify and improve” the boulevard, while also addressing pedestrian safety. Among other changes, the plan calls for the reduction of the boulevard’s medians by several feet on each side to allow for safer passage.
Currently, Belle Meade Boulevard has safety guidelines and signage in place for pedestrians and drivers, plus an active police presence.
If alterations are made to the road, residents believe they deserve more input, especially as the city appears set on changing its layout.
“We appreciate [the boulevard], we love it, we love the landscaping of it,” said Fridrich. “And if you bring it in 5 feet, a lot of this landscaping is gonna have to be cut back.”
“This is a scenic route to [Percy Warner] Park, and we want to keep it there,” he continued. “It’s very beautiful, we have a beautification committee, we have a historic committee. There’s lots of reasons we’re trying to preserve the neighborhood like it is, as most people are in their neighborhood. We don’t want lots of changes.”
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News 2 reached out to Belle Meade’s mayor and vice mayor, both members of the city’s five-person committee, for a comment on Thursday.
In a statement, Mayor Rusty Moore wrote, in part:
As Commissioners of the City of Belle Meade, we are always pleased to hear from our residents and appreciate their attendance at our Commission Meeting. We feel confident that we can find a solution that allows us to keep our pedestrians safe while enhancing the beauty of our beloved boulevard. No action was taken on the Beautification and Pedestrian Project at our Commission Meeting yesterday as it was not on the meeting agenda.
Mayor Rusty Moore
To learn more about the Belle Meade Beautification and Pedestrian Plan, click here.
