The Leitchfield City Council was approached at Monday night’s meeting by a representative from First Baptist Church in Leitchfield about closing a section of a street that runs through the church’s campus.
Joey Mattingly, Director of Campus Management at First Baptist Church, spoke to the council regarding the danger posed by traffic flow on the section of North Heyser Drive that runs between the church’s Family Life Center and Education Building.
“It is our belief that this section of North Heyser Drive poses a significant safety risk to our church family, the teachers and children in our preschool and kindergarten programs and visitors to our church campus,” Mattingly said.
The most utilized entry/exit point to the Education Building is on North Heyser Drive, Mattingly told the council. With the Education Building door opening directly onto the street.
While there is a stop sign at the doorway (see photos below), according to Mattingly, video surveillance shows that only about 50 percent of vehicles stop at the stop sign.
To help mitigate the risk, the city has allowed the church to temporarily close the street during church activities, including Sunday morning and Wednesday evening services, as well as during special community events hosted by the church.
“The dangers from passing vehicles are still ever-present for those on the church property outside of these hours, which include normal school hours of our weekday education program,” Mattingly said.
He then offered the council a personal illustration of the danger posed by some of those who travel on North Heyser Drive.
“One particular example that I can offer of a safety concern occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday, February 28,” Mattingly related to the council. “My wife and I were giving a tour to a young couple visiting our church for the first time. After completing the walk-through of our education building, we began to make our way back to the door along North Heyser Drive. The young couple actually reached the door first, and the husband proceeded to exit the building before we could stop him. Given his lack of experience with traffic on North Heyser Drive, he stepped from the doorway into the street and was nearly struck by a passing SUV that failed to stop at the stop sign … Unfortunately, this is just one instance of many.”
To alleviate the danger, Mattingly requested a section of North Heyser Drive be closed to traffic.
“To provide a more permanent solution to this issue, we would ask that the council members permanently close to vehicular traffic North Heyser Drive that runs from East Walnut Street and extending southward approximately 150 feet to the southern-most end of the education building,” he said.
The church, Mattingly stated, is willing to pay for removable steel safety bollards (secured with keyed locks) used to block off that section of the roadway. The church would provide copies of the keys to the bollards to the appropriate city offices.
Mattingly told the council that the church would also continue to provide pass-through access from North Clinton Street to businesses along the southern-most end of North Heyser Drive via the church parking lot on the south side of the Family Life Center, including commercial vehicle traffic.
“This would be the most effective way to provide some sense of lasting safety of the people walking between the church’s buildings,” Mattingly said.
There was a brief discussion regarding the ability of semi-trucks to negotiate around the possible closure, but City Attorney Earlene Wilson interjected that in order to permanently close a section of roadway the adjacent landowners would have to agree, and the request would have to be filed with Circuit Court.
The council agreed to table the request until adjacent property owners were consulted and further study is done on the matter.
(Headline photo: View from the north of the Education Building doorway that opens onto North Heyser Drive)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
