The September 17 Planning Commission’s public hearing for the Hickory Grove MX/B-2 application ended in a 7-0 vote for a 30-day deferral. Numerous thorny issues are attached to this application, two of the largest being lack of an accurate traffic impact analysis (TIA) and the other, residents’ resistance to a commercial node.

Ten citizens spoke in opposition to the application, many citing existing heavy traffic on Rte 54 and the sprawl associated with a commercial component.

An accurate and rigorous TIA is necessary to calculate traffic numbers and road cash proffers. East Ashland, approved in 2010, has yet to be built, but would add a huge daily traffic number to the already under capacity Rte 54. Where is the planning foresight?

In a PowerPoint presentation, Bob Nelson presented his analysis in the public hearing. Download from here.

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One of the numerous problems with the Hickory Grove MX/B-2 rezoning application is the flawed traffic analysis. The totality of commercial and residential traffic, the likely future building of East Ashland (approved in 2010) and road cash proffer calculations have not received the rigorous scrutiny needed for what, if built, will certainly be a bottleneck on Rte 54 east of Ashland.

Bob Nelson has reviewed the TIA and offers these observations in a position paper:

* The Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) is fatally flawed, and the Hickory Grove mixed use application should be rejected.

* If the development is not rejected based on the flawed TIA, a residential transportation cash proffer of $930,501 and a commercial/office transportation cash proffer of $8,778,176 are justified under the circumstances and should be approved for Hickory Grove.

* No credits or offsets against the recommended transportation cash proffers are warranted for Hickory Grove road improvements.

Mr. Nelson’s full analysis may be accessed here.

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