Residents concerned about proposed development

Andrew Glazer

MESA VERDE -- A number of homeowners here are concerned their neighbors

don’t know about a proposed housing development that may bring more

traffic to the neighborhood.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to approve the 90-home Pacific

Standard project on Mesa Verde Drive, which planners say conforms with

area standards, at its Monday meeting.

“It just came to my attention yesterday,” Peg Howard, who lives near the

site, said on Wednesday. “I don’t think they’re trying to sneak something

by us, but they are in a hurry.”

City Manager Allan Roeder said he can understand why residents may feel

slightly surprised by the development, but added that it shouldn’t have a

major impact on the neighborhood.

“There is a huge demand for residential single-family homes,” he said. “I

think it’s a very positive thing.”

And, he said, traffic would be worse if the site were developed for

stores or offices.

Willa Bouwens-Killeen, the city’s project manager, said the city actually

designated the site for more than 90 homes.

She also said the city followed state regulations by sending, several

weeks ago, all residents living within a 300-foot radius of the proposed

gated community a letter explaining the project.

The development will include two-story, single-family homes selling in

the high $300,000s, said Scott Stowell, president of Standard Pacific of

Orange County, the project’s developer. The entrance to the gated

community will be at the intersection of Golf Course Drive and Mesa

Verde.

Peg Howard and Robin Leffler, who is on the Mesa Verde homeowners’ board,

say they worry that after work, homeowners waiting in their cars to enter

the gated community will bottleneck onto the two streets.

“There will be an hour’s worth of intense traffic each night,” Leffler

said.

But Stowell said an independent traffic study showed the new development

wouldn’t overburden the two roads.

The Planning Commission meets at 6 p.m. on Monday at City Hall, 66 Fair

Drive.