Neighbors Fight, Prevail Over Subdivision Plan Developer Proposed 48-Lot Housing Project Near University And 10th

A group of Opportunity residents managed Thursday to stop a 48-lot subdivision proposed for their neighborhood.

Developer Ken Tupper planned the development on about eight acres between Pierce and University, 10th and 12th.

Tupper asked the county’s hearing examiner committee to upgrade the residential zoning on the land from 3.5 houses per acre to as many as seven.

Upset neighbors said seven houses per acre would be way too many.

The rest of the neighborhood doesn’t have anything near that density, some said.

“You’re trying to cram five pounds of garbage into a two-pound bag,” said Jerry Parker, who lives on 12th Avenue near the proposed development.

Others complained that 48 homes would add too much traffic on 12th Avenue, which would provide the only access to the development.

Resident Mark Whitney said a lot of kids walk to and from school on 12th.

“If you allow this, you’re going to have a death, hands down,” Whitney told the committee. “Somebody’s going to get hit.”

Dick Mason, who represented Tupper at the hearing, said a four-way stop at the entrance to the development would help slow cars on 12th and make the street safer for drivers and pedestrians.

He added that Tupper’s development would bring sewers into the area onto which neighbors could connect.

Committee member Michael Schrader, who moved that the proposal be denied, called it “spot zoning” and recommended that Tupper “go back to the drawing board to come up with something more compatible.”

The vote to deny was 3-0.

Tupper has 10 days to appeal the decision to county commissioners.

Argonne-Bigelow convenience store approved

On a 2-1 vote, the hearing examiner committee approved a convenience store at the southwest corner of Argonne and Bigelow Gulch roads.

Steve Smart, a landscape architect, asked for permission to build the store on an acre of land he owns at the intersection.

The project received mixed reviews from residents in the area.

Some argued at the hearing that the 2,400-square-foot store and six gasoline pumps would just add to the traffic woes at the intersection - one of the most notorious in the Valley.

Others said allowing the store would set a precedent for increased development in the mostly rural area.

Kelly Clothier said he could see a strip mall running from Millwood to Hillyard if Smart’s project was approved.

But others said the project was sorely needed as a place where people could go for gas, water or help when their cars break down.

Dozens of breakdowns occur near the crossroads each year, they said, and the drivers invariably show up at the doors of nearby homes looking for help.

Don Hauschild estimated that he has given out 600 gallons of gas to people seeking assistance over the years.

Another resident has erected a sign warning stranded motorists not to ask for help.

Resident Lorna St. John, who opposed the project, rejected that as a valid argument for approval.

“If that is the case, we’ll have to have a convenience store every mile,” St. John said. “I wouldn’t find that convenient at all.”

Committee members Schrader and Verona Southern thought otherwise and gave the project their approval. Brenda Bodenstein voted no.

, DataTimes