By LISA SIMPSON STRANGE
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW —
Traffic congestion around a busy area on the northeast side of Glasgow will increase after the addition to a neighborhood subdivision, but the number of vehicles traveling the roadways should not go up dramatically, according to city officials.
Members of the Glasgow-Barren County Joint City County Planning Commis-sion voted to approve an extension in the Wood Haven subdivision off Scottie Drive during their regular meeting Monday night in council chambers at city hall.
The extension, or phase II of the subdivision, will consist of 18 additional tracts on 5.42 total acres on Ashkirk Lane off Ashwood Lane. The development consists of single-family, assisted living homes and is zoned R3 — small lot, medium density, residential, according to Kevin Myatt, JCCPC planning director.
Because the residents of the subdivision are made up primarily of an older demographic, an increase in traffic flow should not be significant, said Mayor Darrell Pickett.
“Anytime that you add an addition you’re going to have increased traffic, but it’s not going to be as much with assisted living housing,” he said.
Scottie Drive has seen a surge in traffic flow over the last several years as the Glasgow school district added Highland Elementary to an area where the high school and middle school were already located. The three schools have meant increased morning and afternoon traffic during the school year.
Along with the trio of schools, the Highland Ridge Assisted Living facility, the first phase of Wood Haven assisted living homes on Ashwood Lane and a half a dozen multi-family dwellings on Scottie Drive all have single-entry access points to the road with the exception of Glasgow High School, which also has access on Columbia Avenue.
Commissioners voiced concerns about the increased traffic congestion on Scottie and Glenview drives during discussions before the vote Monday night, but approved the final plat prepared by American Engineers Inc. for Central Kentucky Development LLC for the extension of the subdivision.
“It will result in heavier traffic loads,” Myatt told the board. “It will result in either the city or that developer having that roadway widened if it’s possible to be widened.”
But Pickett said work on Scottie Drive, which is a city street rather than one maintained by the state, has already been under way for some time at the city’s expense.
“I’ve been working on Scottie Drive for a long time — widening the road and adding sidewalks. It’s not a state road and it’s been a considerable amount of money for the city,” he said.
The state has been working on a project on the opposite end of Scottie Drive from the subdivision where it intersects with Columbia Avenue and where the middle and high schools are located. Additional turning lanes have been constructed and a stoplight has been added.
Commission chairman Tommy Gumm said the question of traffic flow is outside the commission’s purview when it comes to making decisions, but he said a traffic study of the area does need to be completed.
“I think there is concern, but that really doesn’t fall under our jurisdiction. We follow our own set of regulations and guidelines. That’s all we can do,” Gumm said.
When construction on Veterans Outer Loop is completed and intersects with both Glenview Drive and Columbia Avenue a short distance beyond Scottie Drive, that may help decrease the problems with traffic congestion, according to Myatt.
“With the outer loop that is eventually going to come in there — that might alleviate a little bit of this traffic as well. Not all this traffic is going to be just from the school system, but people trying to get to other parts of the city. Going up Scottie Drive and going down Glenview to the outer loop should help,” he said.
In other business, the commission approved the preliminary plat for Phase II of Highlander subdivision in Barren County. Highlander Properties LLC is the applicant/owner. The plat contains 15 tracts on Dunedin Way and Darlington Court totaling 12.166 acres. The plans were prepared by Pride Land Surveying Inc.
Commissioners also approved a variance application by Samuel N. Johnson for an access strip length variance on South Fork Road near the intersections of Old Davidson and South Fork Terrace roads in Barren County.
