High Pointe Summit

Pioneer Hills development planned between Parker Rd., Piney Cree

Nov 04, 1999

The Goldberg Property Association is in the process of developing a retail complex on the vacant land between Parker Road and the Piney Creek community. The preliminary development plan calls for two ?“big box?” stores -- a Home Depot and a 24-hour Super Wal-Mart ?– as well as 15-20 smaller retail pads. The plan also calls for extending Chambers Road all the way to Parker Road, and installing signals at the proposed intersection of Chambers and Parker Road. According to the developer?’s traffic engineer, traffic on Belleview will decrease when the Chambers Road extension is complete. Fourteen acres of the site is designated as a protected wetland area and cannot be developed.

The developer must overcome several obstacles before the City will approve the plan. Currently the property is not zoned for 24-hour operations. Goldberg?’s proposal of a 24-hour operation so near Piney Creek and other neighborhoods has caused an uproar among homeowners in those communities. Another obstacle is the fact that the preliminary plan calls for minimal landscaping. The City usually requires 15% of a developer?’s usable acreage to be landscaped. In this case, Goldberg substituted the wetland acreage for the usual 15% of usable acreage. The City frowns upon such substitutions.

The High Pointe Summit HOA feels that there are both good and bad features of this plan. We welcome decreased traffic on Belleview Road. Increased traffic on Parker Road, however, is more of a concern. Currently, 3,000-4,000 cars per hour travel on Parker Road during the morning and evening peak hours. Goldberg is projecting that when the Pioneer Hills development is complete, traffic on Parker Road will increase by 15 to 20% on weekdays.

We also feel that the developer should increase the amount of land allocated towards landscaping in order to break up the sprawling parking lots that are planned for the site. We are opposed to any 24-hour facilities on the site. This will significantly increase noise levels at night for homeowners who live near Parker Road. Finally, we would like to see the City ensure that Pioneer Hills is a high quality development with buildings that fit the character of the surrounding communities.

The High Pointe Board welcomes your input. Please feel free to let us know how you feel about the Pioneer Hills development. Board member phone numbers and email addresses are included in this newsletter. The City will consider our suggestions, and we can have an impact on how this development turns out.