Eagle Scout Proposes Project to City of Cumming

Samuel Belnap, an Eagle Scout with Troop 423, had the opportunity to present a project proposal regarding the Veterans War Memorial to Mayor H. Ford Gravitt and City Council during this month's government meeting.

See video attached to this article.

Belnap, along with the support of his Troop and family members, wants to spruce up the memorial, which is located in downtown Cumming. Belnap says there are several items that need repairing like cracked tiles, concrete and broken lights. He presented pictures to City Council of where the repairs were needed.

In response, Mayor Gravitt said that the Veterans War Memorial came about in the early 90's due to the Gulf War. He said City Council and appointed members from the community "used businesses and private monies" to build a memorial to show appreciation to war veterans.

"I think at the time we raised about $275,000 to build the war memorial," he said.

Fast-forward more than 20 years later the memorial is starting to show its age. But the mayor said, "Before anything can be approved we have a lot of people to talk to before we can authorize anything that can be done."

Mayor Gravitt was clearly pleased with Belnap's proposal and said, "we want to congratulate you and your troop on what you are proposing and we'll take all of this under advisement to the various groups of veterans that will be involved and we'll report back."

In other business:

A group of residents who live on a street called Ridgecrest Avenue in Cumming are upset with the increased traffic flow and speeding they say must stop before an accident happens.

Frank Huggins, a resident, presented to City Council a petition asking that speed humps be installed to either reduce speeding or better yet eliminate the traffic intrusion of his small neighborhood.

He said most of the motorists who use Ridgecrest Avenue do not live in the neighborhood and use it as a cut-through to get from Pilgrim Mill Road to Dahlonega Street and visa versa.

Huggins said the petition states that the street serves four schools, a funeral home, numerous doctor offices, several office parks and banks, a Hispanic grocery store.

"The list goes on and on," he said.

Since Huggins has lived in the neighborhood he said the traffic flow has become increasingly worse.

"To their credit the Cumming Police Department has done some enforcement," he said.

Huggins outlined some of the problems to City Council, which includes speeding (the posted speed limit is 25 mph), running of the stop sign, side swipes of vehicles, and large box trucks that have used Ridgecrest Avenue as a shortcut.

"We pray for relief gentlemen," he said. "We are looking to you to help us solve this problem."

One family who lives on Ridgecrest Avenue wants a safe environment for their young children; today they do not have it in their neighborhood because of the traffic and the speeding.

"People speed heavily, heavily down this road," said a concerned father and resident.

The father said he has two young boys, 2- and 4-years-old, and that he and his wife are deathly afraid of letting them play outside in the front yard because of the speeding problem.

Mayor Gravitt said there are certain procedures that are required before speed humps could be installed or a road closed. He also said a traffic study would have to be implemented to measure traffic flow.

"We need information, we need recommendations from traffic engineers," he told the petitioners. "We would have to hold public hearings."

But City Council unanimously approved a motion to begin the process and have a traffic study conducted.

How would you feel if your neighborhood street was used as a cut-through by non-residents? Tell us in comments.

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