Broadview merchants unmoved
By Kelly Alm
Broadview business and property owners have had a week to mull over the alternatives proposed for the road since last Tuesday’s meeting with town officials and their consultants.
And many are befuddled.
“The whole meeting was based on having a connector,” said Dan Lowery, of Waterloo Motors. “Every statistic they gave us was based on a connector that hasn’t even been built yet.
The HNTB consultant at the meeting proposed five alternatives for Broadview. The success of each, however, would rely on building a connector between U.S. 211 and U.S. 17, which, according to Chris Mothersead, director of planning and community development, won’t take place for more than a decade.
“I thought it was a bit presumptuous, considering we’re out 12 years before the first shovel of dirt is even dug,” Lowery said. “I think the cart is getting ahead of the horse.”
Sue Coe, of Wilco Associates on Broadview, expressed a similar view.
“My major concern is that the town has spent a considerable amount of money producing this survey,” Coe said, “totally dependent on the installation of the connector, which is not even a current proposal. I don’t understand the town’s lack of economic feasibility in how its tax dollars are spent.”
“If that’s got to happen,” Dale Edwards, owner of Chick’s Services Inc. said of the connector, “then that’s what we should do first.” The connector alone, he said, will have a huge impact on traffic flow along Broadview, and thus on businesses.
“The businesses on Broadview provide a lot of money...in tax revenue,” he said. Sometimes I don’t think they look deep enough into the effects their plans will have on businesses.”
Edwards said his gasoline business decreased by 30 percent when US 29/15 bypass was built around Warrenton. “My business deals with traffic flow,” Edwards said. “I wish it was busy all the time.”
Coe was not impressed that the results of the study showed that “Alternative One — doing nothing — was one of the best alternatives presented.”
Broadview business owners stressed that small changes could be made now to improve the bypass. Edwards suggested lowering the speed limit by five to 10 mph, which he said would cut down on the “conflict points” the consultant referred to, and make it easier and safer for those turning in and out of businesses.
Lowery and Coe noted the possibility of putting in a traffic light at Broadview Avenue and Gold Cup Drive, which would break up traffic and provide a crosswalk for pedestrians. “They could have probably already added a traffic light for what they spent on the traffic study,” Coe said.
Coe complained that Warrenton officials have failed to keep her informed. “As a property owner, I’ve received no notification from the town on any of the meetings and hearings, and would not have even known about this meeting had I not read about it in the Times Democrat,” she said. “Yet I have absolutely no trouble receiving my tax bills.”
Edwards worries that business owners' opinions won’t bear significant weight, anyway.
“They do a good job of getting the community involved by inviting them to meetings,” he said. “But in my experience the end result is never 50/50. They always do exactly what they want.”
Lowery said that the big problem for business owners in Warrenton is that most don’t live here, “so we have no vote.
“Ultimately, it’s the residents who determine what happens with our businesses,” he said.