Concerns expressed

Last week, my wife and I, along with other residents of Summit Meadows, attended the Planning Commission meeting and voiced our concerns about the builder’s plans for the Prairie Lea plat adjacent to our subdivision.

It was clear that some members of the Commission had grave concerns about the negative impact to traffic flow the plan would have on Arkansas Highway 72 and the overall desire of the city to encourage the highway corridor to be more commercial than residential. It was disappointing that none of the members seemed to share our concerns for how the design would impact the safety of our subdivision, exposing the residents to a significant increase in traffic. Many families with children walk and play in our neighborhood, so increased traffic puts children at risk. Forty-five new homes with two cars each adds 90 cars.

The traffic study that was presented is obsolete and we were not able to get a more recent copy as of Friday afternoon.

It was disappointing to see the lack of concern for how this land was being overdeveloped into an high density housing development with small yard space, the type that results in higher turnover residents, leading to transient mentality. While we understand this new housing development will have a HOA, those are only as good as the residents who live there.

The city should be encouraging developers to build neighborhoods that take advantage of all that northwest Arkansas has to offer, including the open natural beauty God has blessed this area with.

Looking around at the more recent developments reveals how Pea Ridge is quickly being converted into a high density, low to zero property line lot size land of shoulder to shoulder of over abundant housing and little else. A good example of this is the subdivision being built just across the road to the northeast of the new high school.

The ongoing lack of transparency on the builders’ part to the residents here as well as to all of you is unbelievable. We urge you to demand transparency from the builder, think about the impact these kinds of developments are having on our city and be the champions of current and future residents of Pea Ridge by providing guidance, oversight and a true passion to make Pea Ridge the jewel of this corner of northwest Arkansas that it can be.

ALAN & SHEILA BIGGERSTAFF Pea Ridge