Residents respond to transportation plan proposals

Residents of Coastal Highlands Drive and surrounding streets made their opinions clear Monday night about a recent proposal to include a new access point to the casino in the city’s far-ranging transportation system plan.

Some 40 people attended the July 9 City Council meeting to decry the prospect of casino traffic being routed through their streets.

The latest draft of the Transportation System Plan was up for public review last month, and among the list of about 70 priority vehicle and pedestrian traffic items was a $3.6 million extension for Willow Loop, included in the plan because of master development that has been on one golf course’s drawing board for years.

That extension would have provided alternate access to Ocean Dunes Golf Links and connection to Munsel Lake Road from Regal Street.

Since the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians purchased the course, the tribes are making other plans that no longer include the Willow Loop extension.

The tribes asked, in a letter to the city during the plan review process, that the Willow Loop recommendation be removed from the city’s plan and stated they were considering access in the Coastal Highlands area.

It didn’t take long for that message to catch wind.

No plans are officially on the table, no permits have been issued; plans are still only conceptual, according to the city and the tribes’ letter.

But Coastal Highlands homeowners weren’t seeing it that way. In letters and public statements they itemized their concerns:

A commercial zone should not be located in a residential zone, said meeting attendees. Children ride, walk and wait for the school bus. Only one sidewalk lines Coastal Highlands. Seniors use the area to ride bicycles and walk. Another casino access would increase traffic, noise and crime rates not only on Coastal Highlands, but on 12th and 18th streets and others. The commercial access would affect property values.



For the complete article see the 07-14-2012 issue.



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