Development Near Columbia Highlights Need for Traffic Study
Date Posted: August 31, 2016
Posted In: Ideas,
From the Columbia Tribune: The Boone County Commission in a divided vote approved a rezoning request that makes way for a 130-home development southwest of the Columbia city limits.
Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill voted against the rezoning while Southern District Commissioner Karen Miller and Northern District Commissioner Janet Thompson voted to approve it.
The single-family homes in the Nursery Heights development are expected to cost $190,000-$240,000. Thompson said there is a need in the community for homes valued at $200,000 or less.
Atwill said the Nursery Heights development called for too many homes on the 40-acre property south of Route K and west of the University Estates subdivision. He said he also has concerns about stormwater drainage, particularly flowing into Old Plank Road, which is east of the development and tends to flood during heavy rainfall.
Each of the commissioners cited a need for a traffic study in the area that would identify safety hazards and speeds that vehicles travel. It would particularly address roads experiencing increased traffic in recent years such as Route K, Scott Boulevard and Old Plank Road as the area has experienced a development boom.
Earlier this month, the commission met with representatives from the county resource management staff, city of Columbia planning and development and the Missouri Department of Transportation to talk about the traffic study. The group asked Shawn Leight, vice president of CBB, a St. Louis traffic engineering and planning firm, to submit a traffic study proposal.
Decreasing the number of homes would increase the price tags, said Jay Gebhardt, an engineer with A Civil Group who is working on the Nursery Heights development.