Moscow City Council OKs Woodbury development

The Moscow City Council on Monday narrowly approved a proposed 21.7-acre subdivision on the town’s northeastern edge, just north of Slonaker Drive.

Referred to as the Woodbury Subdivision, the plat consists of 74 lots ranging from 3,794 square feet to 17,973 square feet on what is mostly farmland. Measures approved included shifting the area from an agriculture forestry zone to a combination of single-family residential housing with a small neighborhood business zone.

The project is the first phase of a plan to convert 82 acres of farmland north of Slonaker Drive and Youmans Lane and south of Trail Road into what developer Mark Wintz called “low-density residential” housing.

During a public hearing portion of Monday’s city council meeting, residents living near the proposed development shared concerns with councilors. Chief among these concerns were water conservation and traffic, mirroring remarks made in a meeting of the city’s planning and zoning commission last month. Measures approved by council Monday were in line with recommendations the commission passed on as a result of its August meeting.

While many residents voiced concern about the development’s impact on water availability in the region, multiple councilors said Monday they feel confident in steps the city has taken to reduce water use.

Wintz and city officials said the Woodbury development takes significant steps to minimize its water use footprint like eliminating yards for most units in favor of a shared green space.

Other residents weighed in with concerns that construction and the new development, once built, would create potentially dangerous traffic conditions on nearby roadways.

A major complaint voiced by residents was that data used in a traffic impact study done to assess the effect the project will have on nearby traffic was taken from research done in 2006.

Deputy City Supervisor Bill Belknap said because the traffic study was done in the summer, they used older data collected during the school year to help approximate data for when school is in session. However, Belknap said numbers drawn from those older data were adjusted to a relatively conservative estimate to approximate more current data.

“We pulled our most current turning-movement data that were collected during a school year, and then had them forecast 1 percent growth per year on top of those numbers to estimate current values,” Belknap said. “We have not grown at 1 percent in the last 20 years, we’ve grown at less than 1 percent.”

Included with the planning and zoning commission’s recommendation was an additional condition that traffic on Slonaker Drive be restricted while city infrastructure like roadways, sidewalks and sewer are constructed in the area.

With the closure of Slonaker, some residents worried construction traffic would be driven to other nearby residential streets, however Wintz said they will recommend contractors take a route through Mountain View Road to access the work site and will check up with them regularly.

Some residents asked that council consider extending the closure of Slonaker until the sale of the first home in the Woodbury development, but a motion by Councilor Brandy Sullivan, seconded by Anne Zabala, to amend the measure failed.

The proposal was ultimately approved with councilors Sandra Kelly, Gina Taruscio and Maureen Laflin voting in favor of all measures. Sullivan voted against the unamended measure closing Slonaker, and Zabala voted no on all measures. Councilor Art Bettge was not in attendance.

Editor's note: This article was corrected to accurately reflect which councilors proposed and seconded an amended motion regarding the closure of Slonaker Drive.

Jackson can be reached by email to sjackson@dnews.com.