Heath mayor supports roundabout on Irving Wick Drive for new subdivision
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HEATH − Irving Wick Drive East residents, frustrated about traffic and speeding on their street, are worried about the impact of a proposed 244-home subdivision adjacent to The Villages at River Oaks.
Their concerns were ultimately addressed – in a roundabout sort of way – at Monday night’s Heath City Council public hearing on the D.R. Horton housing development on the south side of Irving Wick Drive. The homes will be priced in the $380,000 to $400,000 range, the developer said.
The Planning Commission previously voted 5-0 in favor of Planned Unit Development zoning sought for the land, allowing for detailed requirements not available in other zoning classifications. The commission ruling is a recommendation to city council, which is expected to make a decision at Monday's meeting.
The 94-acre Licking Township site is just outside the Heath city limits in the Lakewood School District. The land is in the process of being annexed into Heath.
Molly Gwin, legal counsel for D.R. Horton and partner at Isaac Wiles, explained the developer has reduced the number of homes by 81, increased open space by about 11%, increased walkway trails and limestone paths, and will provide a 15-foot tree preservation buffer zone on west side of development.
“They didn’t address any of my concerns," Irving Wick Drive resident Jean Hart then told council members. "The No. 1 problem is speed and how are you going to slow down the speeding on Irving Wick? I think that’s the main concern of everybody here that lives on that road.”
A traffic impact study prepared for D.R. Horton by EMH&T, of Columbus, showed a traffic signal was not necessary at the subdivision entrance, but an eastbound right turn lane and westbound left turn lane would be needed at the Irving Wick Drive entrance to the development.
Mayor Mark Johns said the city would like to install a roundabout at the development entrance, using money the developer would have put into the turn lanes, along with other funding sources.
“With roundabouts, you have to slow down,” Johns said. “You can’t go into a roundabout at 50 miles per hour. We feel this is a good workable solution that helps address the (issues). I want to implement this type of solution and there are funding sources that could help this happen. This is what we will pursue.”
The mayor said resident complaints are not only about speeds, but about large trucks traveling well above the 35-mile per hour speed limit.
“We feel it will have an impact on speed, and semi-trucks aren’t big fans of roundabouts, so this will serve as a deterrent to semi-trucks,” Johns said. “I would argue this roundabout is needed. This is an opportunity to have a developer, financially, be part of the solution.”
When Hart heard the city's plan, she said. “A roundabout would be great and solve a lot of the problems.”
The traffic impact study recommended the turn lanes on Irving Wick Drive, but said a roundabout would also work, and also suggested a modification to the traffic signal at Irving Wick and Hebron Road to provide an overlap of the westbound right turn and southbound left turn movements.
The study said the ultimate solution to the Hebron Road-Irving Wick Drive intersection would be a westbound left turn lane on Irving Wick, but that would require a significant and costly realignment of the intersection.
Gwin said, “The law on traffic is generally the developer pays to mitigate and work through items that contribute to traffic that are generated by their development. It’s not a mechanism for fixing existing traffic problems, but the general rule is that we fix what impact we are bringing to the area.”
According to the traffic study, the completed development will create 168 trips during the one-hour morning peak
At the morning peak, a one-hour period, with the development, 168 total trips or two trips out per minute and one trip in per minute. During the afternoon peak, there would be two to three trips into the subdivision per minute and one to two trips out per minute.
The study recommendations will not be needed immediately, but at some stage during the development, the mayor said.
“The traffic study doesn’t say turn lanes need to be built on day one, nor should it, because the density wouldn’t be there,” Johns said. “We have time to seek a road solution.”
In addition to contributions from the city and the developer, funding may also be sought from the Licking County Area Transportation Study and the Ohio Department of Transportation, the mayor said.
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Heath mayor supports roundabout on Irving Wick Drive for new subdivision
