draWhile many communities are debating whether or not to accept subdivision roads that aren’t built up to specifications for city roads, the city of Springville made a final decision to accept one such street.

Streets in the Butterfly Ridge subdivision have been built with two layers of pavement, but did not meet the 3-inch drop requirement for drainage purposes.

“Everyone else has to pave the 3-inch drop, are we going to do this for everyone? We need to treat Peter and Paul the same,” Councilman John Coyne said. “It bothers me that we’re going overboard for one subdivison and not everyone. The road is flat as a pancake.”

While the 3-inch drop is not implemented on the roads, Councilman David Jones said he had been up to the subdivision during heavy rains, and the roads drain and are in good condition.

The resolution stipulated that the city is under no obligation to correct the road as a result of its adoption as a city road. Furthermore, Councilman Brian Skinner suggested that the current road requirements may need a second look.

“Probably less than 10 percent of the newer roads meet current requirements,” he said. “These roads look good. We may need to loosen the requirements for some existing roads in subdivisions.”

Councilman Wayne Tucker suggested a simpler remedy for the future — require developers hire a licensed engineer to verify that roads are built up to specifications.

“That’s not in the subdivision regulations, but it needs to be. I’ve been trying for 15 years to get that into the regulations,” he said.

With a comment from Hugh Martin that condition of the roads needs to be a factor in the decision, the council voted 6-1 to approved the roads. Coyne was the lone dissenting vote.

In other actions:

— A $500 donation for the Springville Relay for Life was approved.

— The May 2 council meeting was rescheduled for 6 p.m. May 9 due to the Alabama League of Municipalities convention.

— An open air permit for the Guardian Angels Bike Run, to benefit Children’s Hospital, was approved. The event will take place Saturday.

— A resolution to apply for a Trails grant was approved. The grant consists of a $50,000 grant with a $12,500 local match. The grant will be used to extent the walking track currently around Big Springs Park to around a newly-acquired property which Mayor Butch Isley said was somewhat isolated.

— The financial audit for the year ending Sept. 30, 2010 was approved.