05-11-1999 Public Hearing - Woodhill CC

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rWY-04-1999 14:57 BENSHCXDF & flSSOC. I I I ' • >V^ •« ' Woodhill Avenue Residents bl2 2;J0 IbYl K.k34/'0Y May 4, 1999 NEGATIVE IMPACTS CAUSED BY COUNTRY CLUB USE OF WQODHILL: AVENUE The Country Club’s application includes their estimation that their tr^c use of Woodhill Avenue “will be in the range of 20 to 30 trips per day on weekdays, and possibly 60 on weekend days in the summer months of June and July.” Page seven of the report corroborates the preceding weekend projections through their statement that ..it is therefore estimated that no more than 60 trips (i.e. 30 members per day) would use the Woodhill Avenue access...In our judgment, the Club would have to exercise very stringent controls to limit the usage of Woodhill Avenue the volumes cited in their application. The reason for this comment is that their pi ,4Cted volume usage represents only five to eight percent of the total daily trip generation for the Country Club. Thus, for purposes of addressing the impacts of the Country Club access on Woodhill Avenue, we have utilized the Club’s projections that ^e volumes on Woodhill Avenue would increase by 20 to 30 vehicles per day on weekdays and by 60 vehicles per day on weekend days in the summer. Considering that Woodhill Avenue presently serves just six homes, the effects of the Country Cliib access would be to cause a 50 percent increase in the tot^ volume using Woodhill Avenue on weekdays and to cause a two-fold increase in the volume on weekend days. In our judgment, this expected magnitude of traffic increase would cause noticeable adverse impacts for the existing residents saved by Woodhill Avenue. In this regard, we take exception to three points ei^ressed on pages 8 and 9 in the Country Cjub’s application, which suggest that no traffic difficulties would be experienced. These three points and our responses are as fellows: • • a) T7te two residences located at the intersection of Orono Orchard Road and Woodhill Avenue have a limited impdetfrom the restoration of the Woodhill Avenue access. The driveways for these two homes are on Woodhill Avenue. Their ability to use these driveways would be impacted by the motorists traveling to and from the Country Club. Further, the safety of these residents to walk or bicycle along Woodhill Avenue would diminished. b) The entrance from the Woodhill Ridge private road onto Woodhill Ayenue does not pose any significant traffic hazard. To the contrary, we believe that a serious safety hazard would exist because extensive trees and brush obstruct sight distance in the southeast comer of this intersection. c) While pedestrian or bicycle use by children of the public street will ej^Hfse the children to a greater level of traffic on Woodhill Avenue than is present today, the level of traffic is substantially less than the level of trtzffic usually encountered on residential public street in Orono and elsewhere. This comment overlooks the point that Woodhill Avenue is just wide enough for two traffic lanes and does not have a sidewalk or bike path. The Club’s • application and the Parsons report conflict with each other regarding the width of Woodhill Avenue. The application indicates that Woodhill Avenue is 22