HomeMy WebLinkAboutA035 - Letter from Edwards Neighborhood Association dated February 28, 2006 February 28, 2006
Ames City Council Members
c/o Diane Voss, City Clerk
515 Clark
Ames, IA 50010
Dear Council Members:
Edwards Neighborhood Association Board, members and neighbors ask that you clarify certain aspects
of the review and approval process for the Westwood Village PRD which comes before you Tuesday,
February 28. The new council is in a position to change the process to ensure citizen input is
meaningfully addressed and included.
Many of the same concerns that were voiced when this proposal was approved in 1992 remain to be
resolved. Others were not recognized or enforced. We feel that the plan should be reviewed and its
impact on the neighborhood truly addressed before approval of an ammended plan presented almost 15
years earlier.
The Council should direct a traffic study at minimum. When the Council approves and the plan review
stage ensues with Building Inspections and Traffic Engineering signing off,we would hope that the
amended plan will not be merely rubber-stamped.
Our experience with the process causes us concern. During negotiations between the community and
the developer of the site in 1991, an agreement about traffic was reached. That agreement was not
honored and given only lip-service to pacify the neighborhood residents. History has shown us that other
concerns were not addressed or ever really solved.
An addition to Westwood Village complex would only exacerbate traffic problems in a school zone. The
safety of children coming and going to Edwards Elementary School is the primary concern. We also
have noted that the amended plan does not contain any indication of building sidewalks on Lincoln Way
which is an arterial street, or any indication of plantings. The plan approved in 1992 had many plantings
of a variety of species. Pedestrian friendly and child safe sidewalks and crossings should be a priority.
Marshall Avenue should have sidewalks on both sides as there is already considerable commercial
traffic.
In short,we believe traffic and further congestion will result in unsafe condifions around Edwards
Elementary School. Story Street and Westwood Drive are narrow residential streets and were never
designed to be arterial streets or designed for the increased size and number of vehicles. Despite the
earlier efforts of placing traffic control signs, these were ignored and eventually damaged and/or
removed.
Please consider these points and work with us for the betterment of our neighborhood and community.
Thank you.
r
Respectfully,
112
The Edwards Neighborhood Association Board, represented by:
Robert Sill, 292-1760, dsi112003@yahoo.com
Judy Trumpy, 292-4499, trumpy@iastate.edu