HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ - Public Testimony by Karen Gardner - 11.211
Machelle Hill
From:Karena Gardner <karenagardner@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, November 21, 2016 12:03 AM
To:Joshua Beach
Cc:Machelle Hill; Caleb Hood
Subject:Firenze Plaza
Dear members of the Planning and Zoning Commission,
I am writing in regards to the proposal of Firenze Plaza on the NW corner of Eagle and Amity. As a resident of
Tuscany, living on Taormina Drive, I am concerned about the amount of traffic this project will bring into our
quiet community. The reason people move out to South Meridian is because we like it quiet. North Eagle Rd is
a nightmare to travel on, so why make that mistake again by starting South Meridian that way with commercial
development. Once one store goes in then the rest will follow. My husband and I purposely did our research
before we built here to make sure the surrounding areas were zoned as residential. We moved to Tuscany
because we were drawn to a neighborhood where our children are safe to ride bikes, where they can walk to
school and not everybody has to drive, where we could look outside and see the stars and not the blaring
commercial lights, and a place where we could enjoy our neighbors while being out in our front yards.
The proposal right now shows multiple streets entering into our neighborhood, which would bring HUNDREDS
of cars onto our residential streets. Even Bruce Wong wrote in an email in response to questions at our HOA
meeting that "currently the projection, if nothing changes, is that the concept may add a couple hundred cars a
day in the residential area, not the 1000 that was raised by one of your team members." A couple hundred is not
acceptable! While that was put in an email correspondence to Warren Cays to "sound better", we don't want
extra cars. Period. This will put many children's lives in danger as the streets proposed to extend were not built
as connector streets. Our front driveways face these streets, unlike the other connecting streets in our
neighborhood. If you do a traffic study on Palermo or Zaldia, you will see how fast the cars on the connecting
streets drive. That is why they have roundabouts to slow down the traffic. That is why those homes are backed
off the streets and do not have driveways facing them. They were developed that way on purpose. It is a cause
for major concern for those of us with homes on these streets that are proposed to connect. People will cut
through our streets to get around all the traffic that comes with a residential and high density housing project
proposal. We will also have increased traffic from the neighboring developments that will be cutting through to
get to the commercial development. We don't want that. We want to keep our community a safe and wonderful
place to live!
Every morning I watch as my children, and hundreds of other kids walk/bike to school or to the bus stop. There
is a major bus stop on Zaldia and Eagle, and the corner of Montague and Amity, for middle school and high
school children. These two specific areas would house lots of traffic if this proposal gets passed. Montague and
Amity is a terrible corner because people take the turn in very wide having come fast down Amity, and
Montague is a very narrow street. No matter where you move the access street onto Montague, it will be a great
danger to our children coming on and off the bus. There are 30 kids that get on and off at the bus stop at
Montague and Amity to go to Victory Middle School, and 45 more at the Zaldia stop. I don't know the high
school numbers, as I only have a middle schooler, but I have seen many high school children waiting at the bus
stops as well. Adding in increased traffic is a huge risk. Our lives of our children will be in jeaopardy by the
increased car volume from town homes and the retail establishments. Especially, since our children get on the
bus during a time frame where people coming in and out of that development are headed to work. The proposal
shows that people will be forced to turn right onto Amity out of the development. With no turnaround place,
they will most likely turn right onto Montague and travel up that street to get out where hundreds of kids are
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heading to the bus stops or to Siena Elementary. With the new school re-zoning, we were all zoned into Siena
because we were in the WALK ZONE, therefore majority of kids do just that. They walk or ride their bikes.
Please listen to the voices of Tuscany residents and their concerns for their children and put that first and
foremost.
Many people, including myself, have voiced that we do not need another grocery store out here. We have a
Winco going in on Overland, and a Rite Aid on Victory and Eagle. We have enough as it is. We move to South
Meridian as we were accepting that we could travel a little further to a store in exchange to live in a quiet,
beautiful community. The whole feel of our community will be greatly changed, and many people spent years
saving up to live in such a wonderful family friendly place. We want to keep it that way. Even if you cut off all
the roads, it will still change the character of our neighborhood. Please keep South Eagle residential! I know of
one person that has already sold their home as the news of this development was so upsetting. I saw two more
pop up last week. People want family friendly neighborhoods, and this proposed development ruins that for us.
We do not want increased traffic into our neighborhood and forcing our kids to stay inside. We do not want to
stress about our children as they travel to and from school since all streets will be at risk for traffic as people
will wind through our neighborhood to get out. We want to stay a great place to live where kids can still be
kids, people can actually be outside and mingle, and we don't have the noise of a grocery store operating from
5AM-1AM. Tuscany is a sought after neighborhood because people like the community and quiet feel. We
would appreciate you keeping it that way for us!
Thanks,
Karena Gardner