Athens city leaders address resident’s concerns over neighborhood problems

ATHENS, Ala. (WAFF) - Some Athens residents are voicing their concerns over several issues in their neighborhood.

Many living near Strain Road and Luke Street took to the City Council meeting on Monday night to tell city leaders that their neighborhood is being overlooked and lacks proper water drainage and sewer service.

WAFF 48 sat down with the City of Athens spokesperson to discuss what city leaders are doing to help those residents moving forward.

Holly Hollman with the city said they are doing what they can to help and that starts with hearing the concerns directly from the residents.

City leaders are conducting a door-to-door survey in the neighborhood to hear each and every resident’s complaints. They are also asking if any of these residents would like to be added to the city’s sewer system.

Hollman said adding a sewage line through an already existing neighborhood is pricey and can cost around $1 million. If the majority of residents say that they do want to be added, Hollman said the city can begin looking at funding and planning.

“We decided that the best course of action to truly know what is going on in the neighborhood is go door-to-door,” Hollman said. “We have been going door-to-door, we started on Strain road and a few of the issues that we could address more immedietly we’ve already started tackling but bigger issues like sewer and drainage will take a lot of funding and planning to get that started.”

Many residents are demanding that city leaders take action before the end of the year, stating that they simply can not continue to deal with rainwater collecting and causing issues like flooding and septic tank backups.

Hollman added that not every resident in the neighborhood wants to be added to the city’s sewer system, which is why the survey is vital in guiding them to make the best decision involving sewage moving forward.

“Once we get all the surveys done then we will have a better picture of what the priorities are,” Hollman said. “Is it more drainage than sewer or is it sewer over drainage? Both of those can be very expensive endeavors so we need to truly know what the picture is.

“It may be different for West Strain Road than it is for East Strain Road, that’s why we are doing the door-to-door surveys so we can determine who is having issues with their septic tank because some say they don’t but they would like sewer if we can run sewer out there.”

Hollman said they have completed their door-to-door surveys on West Strain Road and they are now moving forward to East Strain Road.

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