Aurora road compromise ends some opposition
Several residents of Aurora's Country Club Villages subdivision and a nearby unincorporated area near Eola said they believe they lost a lengthy battle Tuesday night against the extension of Sheffer Road.
For months, they have fought the extension of Sheffer between Old Eola Road and Eola Road and the Chase Bank proposal that would accompany the extension at the intersection of Indian Trail and Eola roads. They said the extension would increase traffic through their neighborhoods, put playing children at risk and otherwise disrupt their quality of lives.
An eleventh-hour negotiation struck by 10th Ward Alderman Lynda Elmore with the developer, Location Finders International, on Monday evening satisfied some Aurora residents but left those on the Eola side feeling left out in the cold.
"We offered a proposal for traffic calming and child safety to which the developer has agreed," Elmore said.
Some of the amendments to the original plan include the developer's agreement to install sidewalks at current dead ends, a temporary speed hump on Hammond Way next year and making Sheffer from Fourth Street to Old Eola one way eastbound.
"This would mean people turning off Eola onto the new Sheffer connection would come into Old Eola with a sign that says 'Do Not Enter,'" Elmore said. "But it still keeps open the ability for traffic in the local area to get around the neighborhood without blocking them off entirely."
Elmore stressed that improvements at Eola and Indian Trail are the key ingredient to keeping drivers out of the neighborhood. Those changes, to be funded by Location Finders, include a longer left-turn lane from Eola to Indian Trail and the installation of a right-turn lane to southbound Eola.
Aurora resident Patti Sindelar, 3009 Peachtree Circle, has been one of the most outspoken residents against the plan but Tuesday backed Elmore's compromise plan.
"I think this is a good compromise and it tackles a lot of concern that we're brought up along the way. Most of us have kids and/or are married and know we must sometimes pick our battles," she said. "I think we have picked the right battle and it is now time to compromise."
Several Eola residents, however, said they believe they were left out of the planning process and are being punished with the Sheffer extension because they are not taxpaying constituents of the city.
"This is a document that saves Country Club Village, isolates Eola and uses Sheffer as your own personal cut-through for anything westbound," Eola resident Catherine Oliven said. "We were not considered. This is not what we wanted.
"Your putting through a road for one bank and you're destroying an entire community."
John Philipchuck, representing the developer, suggested residents are merely opposed to change, despite the fact that commercial development and the Sheffer extension have been in the strategic plan for at least nine years.
Third Ward Alderman Stephanie Kifowit thanked Elmore for working toward the compromise but ultimately was the lone dissenting vote against the 3-year-old project because a bank does not provide retail or food and beverage taxes.