Town Hall Meeting Five Mile Prairie Residents Discuss Concerns With County And City Representatives

A moratorium on development might be the only hope for Five Mile Prairie as residents seek remedies for severe growing pains.

In a first-ever town hall meeting of city and county elected officials and staff members last week, prairie neighbors outlined problems including inadequate streets, flooding and slow fire and medical response.

“We didn’t realize the extent of the problem up here, now we do,” said County Commissioner John Roskelley.

After the meeting, Rich Fink, president of the Five Mile Prairie neighborhood council, said the group made a strong impression.

“It will be awfully difficult for them to ignore us,” said Fink.

But there were few easy answers and no money to solve the problems.

More than 2,000 new homes are proposed for the prairie, which straddles the city-county line. There are just 500 houses now.

Two-lane roads, a volunteer fire department, wells and septic systems on the prairie were intended for a cozy agricultural community. There are no parks or schools or bus service.

Recently, widespread flooding in basements and yards was documented and added to the list of concerns.

With each new development, storm water runoff and basement flooding multiplies.

The prairie’s storm water committee has identified 70 homes with flooding problems - more than the 30 homes in Eaglewood and 10 homes in Moran Prairie also plagued by flooding.

“Obviously we are on the verge of a crisis caused by the cumulative effects of development,” according to the committee report read at the meeting.

“Come up with the money, or stop approving plats,” said one man, winning nods from most of the 100 neighbors attending the meeting.

“We’ve already moved in the direction of making some changes,” said Phyllis Holmes, City Council member.

She said her growth management subcommittee this week briefly considered the need for a moratorium on prairie development.

“It wouldn’t be of much use unless both sides (city and county) do it,” said Holmes. The county is considering proposals for three developments that will double the number of houses on the prairie.

“Those proposals will significantly change the character of the prairie,” said Holmes.

The city has agreed to provide water to the developments.

“Those commitments were made in the past and we have to honor them,” she said.

In 1994, a moratorium on development was issued to provide time to review transportation issues, but little was done.

The meeting last week came just as city and county officials are preparing to decide on several proposed developments next month, including Summerhill, a 183-home development in the city.

Willow Run, a 235-unit manufactured home park on the county side, was recently given staff approval, and is being appealed by prairie residents. Next it moves to the hearing examiner. A public hearing is also scheduled for Prairie Breeze, a 138-home development in the county.

City and county officials encouraged the community to continue to work together, to hire experts, implement ordinances and maintain a strong voice in government.

For decades, prairie residents have worked to preserve the prairie and control growth.

“The general feeling is that those efforts have been ignored and we’ve now reached a state of crisis,” said Fink.

The gathering last week was organized by the Five Mile Neighborhood Council, which includes 156 members.

“It was a great meeting,” said Phil Williams, city planning engineer. “It’s the kind of thing we really need to do more often, especially in areas with so much development pressure.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Who was there City and county representatives attending the meeting included: County Commissioner John Roskelley Brenda Sims, storm water planner Bruce Rawls, utilities director John Pederson, senior planner City Council members Phyllis Holmes, Jeff Colliton and Cherie Rodgers Ange Taylor, parks director Charlie Dotson, planning director Phil Williams, planning and engineering Don Ramsey, traffic engineer.