Concern of Parks using the 1/8 percent Leatherwood Tax, voted in effect in 2013 and permanently in 2017, comes down to whether or not using the tax for the Downhill Gravity Trails and related shuttle service is compliant with the Lake Leatherwood Master Plan (LLMP) and Ord. 2176.
Ord. 2176 allows for the tax to be levied to “improve and maintain Lake Leatherwood City Park in accordance with the approved Lake Leatherwood City Park Master Plan.” It was brought to the attention to City Council last Monday that Parks did not present the LLMP for council approval.
Concerns were made by former alderman Kristi Kendrick in March 2018. She asked how the sales tax could be used if council never approved the LLMP, and that the downhill project exceeded the scope of the Trails Master Plan. At the time, city council endorsed construction of the Downhill Trail system and alderman Terry McClung said council appropriated funds properly by approving the ballot for the sales tax.
Whether the shuttles fit within the Master Plan and the scope of the ordinance is up to interpretation. The LLMP holds only a mention of mountain biking trails in Plan Concept 4, but it also is meant to be, as described in the executive summary, a “reference guide” and “flexible enough to change with the times.”
Bill Featherstone, Chair of the Parks Commission, said that he felt nothing done by Parks had been done contrary to the spirit of the LLMP. He said the plan does not specifically address the past, present, or future and was meant to be a living, breathing document that was not written to give an exact representation of the future.
Featherstone said there is evidence of support for the downhill project and the commission has no reason to feel otherwise.
When asked if the commission would look into updating the LLMP he said that they will, and that they had not updated the plan as others see it should have been. He said there is intent to absorb the LLMP into the Master Plan commissioners are in the process of creating. Whether that will be all, some, or none of the LLMP as we know today is unknown. Featherstone finished saying he would not comment on financials until information on the audit from Windle & Associates was in the commission’s hands.
Commissioners had given W&A a Jan. 31 deadline and as of Feb. 3 had not received 2019 actuals