Columbia City Council to consider housing expansion project in east side neighborhood
Euphenie Andre
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia City Council is set to take up a controversial development proposal Tuesday that would bring 77 triplex buildings to an east side neighborhood.
Developer Troy Miller Properties is asking the city to approve plans for the project, which would cover more than 24 acres off East Broadway near the Brooks subdivision.
The development, called “Ashford Place,” would be built along Route WW–about a mile east of Highway 63– and would be completed in three phases. The first phase includes 23 buildings, followed by 36 in phase two, and 18 more in the final phase, along with upgrades to Sagemoor Street and El Chaparral Avenue.
Many nearby residents have voiced strong opposition to the project. In September, a packed crowd filled city hall, delivering more than two hours worth of public comments against the plan. Since December, more than a dozen residents have sent emails urging the city not to move forward.
Gail Hauswirth is one of the residents who emailed the city in opposition to the project. In her message, she said she has lived in the Brooks subdivision for the past eight years and that she and her husband bought their home there to enjoy their retirement.
Her main concern is safety. Hauswirth claims city radar gun data shows drivers are traveling 57 miles per hour in a 45 mile-per-hour zone on Route WW and Rollings Hills Road near the neighborhood.
“It makes it dangerous because our mailboxes are across the street, and we have to cross the street to get out mail,” Hauswirth said. “Those of us who are approaching our golden years in particular, have to be wary of speeding vehicles coming through.”
She also said her husband has had to warn children about their surroundings as cars pass through the area at high speeds. Hauswirth believes approving the development would only increase traffic volume and make the area more dangerous.
“It’s going to create a major traffic increase over on Sagemoor and they’re getting a new school over there that will be serving children with special needs,” Hauswirth said. “Those intersections are already busy, particularly at mornings and evenings.”
In response to residents’ concerns, CBB Transportation Engineers and Planners addressed traffic issues in its latest memo, stating that Sagemoor Drive and Hoylake Drive will be able to accommodate the additional traffic.
The CBB did a traffic impact study in 2017 for the Brooks Subdivision. At the city’s request, the firm analyzed traffic projections 20 years into the future, not just current conditions. That analysis assumed nearby vacant land to the north, west, and south of the Brooks Subdivision would eventually be developed.
As part of that study, the city also wanted to make sure the roads inside the Brooks Subdivision could handle traffic from future nearby developments. Due to that, the study recommended that Hoylake Drive and Sagemoor Drive be built as collector roads, meaning roads designed to handle higher traffic volumes than regular neighborhood streets.
The 2017 study also evaluated a worst-case scenario, assuming the land now proposed for Ashford Place would be developed to the maximum allowed zoning — 69 acres with up to 276 units.
Engineers then estimated how much traffic that development would generate. The results showed Hoylake Drive would have about 3,110 cars per day, which is still within the city’s acceptable range for a neighborhood collector road (1,500–3,500 cars per day). Sagemoor Drive would have about 1,910 cars per day, which is also within the acceptable range.
Despite those findings, residents said the study does not reflect real-world conditions.
“They used an IT model that measures only driveway traffic. It’s incapable of capturing the cut through traffic which is our major problem,” Hauswirth said.
Multiple neighbors told ABC 17 News they plan to attend Tuesday’s city council meeting to voice their concerns.
“My hope for Tuesday is that all of the homeowners concerns will be listened to and that it will be acknowledged that we’re not anti-growth,” Hauswirth said. “We are all hoping for us to live in a peaceful, livable community where we can be safe. We can go out and take a stroll without a fear of being ran over.”
The meeting has been moved from its usual Monday meeting date to 7 p.m. on Tuesday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.