Don Smick, 1335 Grosvenor Ct., said he lives in the subdivision on the |
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east side of Rochester Rd. He is here on behalf of the Homeowner's |
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Association Board of Directors for the Yorktowne Subdivision, (125 |
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homes). The Yorktowne residents are concerned about traffic flow into and |
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out of their subdivision, which will be impacted by the redevelopment. He |
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commented that exiting southbound onto Rochester Rd. from the Yorktowne |
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Subdivision has been recently made more difficult by the extension of a |
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deceleration lane for the Rochester Hills Chrysler Plymouth Dealership. |
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They must now cross four lanes of traffic to access southbound Rochester |
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Rd. They are aware that traffic counts have recently been conducted on |
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Rochester Rd. He hopes that the impact of the increased traffic flow into |
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and through their residential area will be given due and proper |
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consideration as part of the Planning Commission's approval process. He |
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requested that his homeowners association receive written notification of |
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any future meetings on this issue. He said they would also like to be kept |
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informed of any plans that address the increase in traffic flow that would |
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result in the successful redevelopment of the Winchester Shopping Center. |
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He said they are aware of internal discussions held within the Traffic |
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Department with regard to a proposed relocation of Yorktowne Dr. to |
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perhaps align with Meadowfield Dr., as well as discussions with MDOT on |
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the signalization of Rochester Rd. He encouraged the Planning |
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Commission to take this opportunity for improving the traffic flow on |
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Rochester Rd. as part of this development, even if it requires the developer |
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to potentially provide funding for signalization, property acquisition, road |
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relocations, or anything which might be impacted by the location. He also |
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wanted to know, with regard to traffic flow, if there is the potential to |
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possibly place some restrictions on the approval that would eliminate some |
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of the large truck traffic. |
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Mr. Shaw said the reason they are moving the driveway is to accommodate |
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the effective U-shape of a redeveloped shopping center. One issue that is |
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paramount to a successful shopping center is balancing the supply of |
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parking with the demand for parking. They did not want to have a large |
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area of parking go unused as it does on the north side of the K-Mart |
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property. That is how they arrived at the desire to have Buildings "H" and |
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"J" in the locations they chose. In order for these buildings to be successful, |
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they need to have the driveway go by the front of the building as far as the |
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tenants are concerned. He said the front of Building "H" faces south, and |
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Building "J" faces north which is where those entrances would be. They do |
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not want to do anything that would negatively impact the Burger King |
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Restaurant or its operation. They believe that the net impact of the |
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redevelopment of the mall would be a dramatic and radical increase in the |
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Burger King business. He feels his company has done their best to |
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accommodate the reasonable traffic exiting the Burger King drive-through. |
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He doesn't believe that it will be a problem at all. With respect to the |
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visibility of the Burger King Restaurant, he does believe there will be a |
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negative impact on the northbound visibility for the building, but added that |
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the normal traffic on Rochester Rd. is repetitive traffic. The people that are |
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most likely to eat at that Burger King will know it is there. With regard to the |
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