Concerns about increased traffic, road safety and impact on existing residents were forefront at a public hearing this week for a proposed multi-lot development in 100 Mile House.
Several people spoke at the Tuesday evening public hearing regarding an application for rezoning and Official Community Plan amendments on a 24-acre parcel west of Seventh Avenue, adjacent to Peter Skene Ogden Secondary and the Scenic Place Mobile Home Park.
The developer – Khotan Holdings Ltd.- is proposing mixed zoning to allow for residential low density, residential small lots, residential medium density, residential mobile home park and parks and open space.
Following the public hearing, council voted unanimously for third reading of the bylaws amending the zoning and OCP.
Despite a traffic impact assessment that was completed and approved by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, according to consultant Nigel Hemingway, many residents from the neighbourhood expressed concerns about increased traffic in the area, specifically an access road for the new development that would cross the road in and out of the Scenic Place Mobile Home Park.
Park owner Lynda Walters said she has heard concerns from residents of the “quiet, senior residential village” who worry safety will be disrupted with the addition of an access road.
“There will have to be some kind of a traffic situation so that the traffic isn’t going to use the east end of my part to access it,” Walters said. “I’m not anti-development, but these are things that need to be discussed so that we can have a better understanding and make sure this doesn’t jeopardize my business or my people.”
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Developer Trevor Embree said he was open to exploring options such as reduced speed limits, speed bumps, a lit pedestrian crossing or a four-way stop where the roads intersect.
“I don’t see your road within your trailer park having any more traffic on it,” Embree said in response to Walters’ concerns.
Hemingway also pointed out that the proposed road that would cross the current roadway through the mobile home park was designated by the district 25 years ago “for future land use and development in that area.”
Donna Barnett, who lives in the mobile home park, said that several streets in the area - including Seventh, Eighth and Alpine - will all be impacted by increased traffic of the development, raising serious safety concerns given how narrow the roadways are.
“I support the growth, I think the subdivision is good,” Barnett said. “But addressing the safety of the community must be the first priority.”
After hearing the concerns of those who spoke, Hemingway reminded attendants that the zoning and OCP amendment applications are “just the first step of the process,” which will address whether the proposal is an appropriate use of the property.
“The next step of the process is when engineers get involved, and they do all the design for the water, sewer, storm drainage, how the roads will work, how they make the roads safe at that crossing,” Hemingway explained. “There’s a whole other process that will have to be approved before anything else is constructed.”
melissa.smalley@100milefreepress.net
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