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Article Courtesy of The Pensacola
News-Journal
By Anne Delaney
Published January 28, 2017
For two years, residents of a Pace development say they have been trying to get
an entrance to their neighborhood closed.
Homeowners in the Cross Roads Homeowners Association will get a chance to make
their case to close the Berryhill Road entrance to Stratford Lane before the
Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners next month.
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In October 2015, 76 of
the 90 homeowners in the association signed a petition in
support of closing the road, which has been used for several
years by drivers as a cut-through route to avoid traffic
congestion at a series of stop lights in the Five Point
area.
“We’re all really excited,” said Nicole Hardy, a Stratford
Lane resident and president of the Cross Roads Homeowners
Association. “We all have children, and we want them to be
safe. My kids know they can’t ride their bikes unless I’m
with them.”
With assistance from new Santa Rosa County Commissioner Sam
Parker, who represents the Pace area, the residents’
proposal will be on the commissioners’ meeting agenda Feb.
6.
Parker met with Hardy and fellow homeowners association
member Phil DeProtine last week to look at the area. The
commissioner also did some canvassing of the neighborhood on
his own to get residents’ views.
“The fact is property owners in the neighborhood want it,”
Parker said. “Everyone I talked to in person was supportive
of (closing the entrance) because of their children or
grandchildren.”
Residents say the
traffic through the neighborhood will get worse with the
construction of a Publix supermarket scheduled to open later
this year. They are hoping to construct a gate at the
Berryhill Road and Stratford Lane entrance to the
neighborhood. The gate would allow for emergency vehicle
access only. |
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Residents of the Cross Roads subdivision in Milton
petitioning the county to close the Berryhill Road entrance to their
neighborhood. The residents are citing an increase in the through
traffic to Chumuckla Hwy. for the closure.
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“(The cut-through) has been a hazard for years,” DeProtine said. “And we expect
it to be seriously impacted by the market.”
Parker said Publix will contribute $1,500 toward the cost of closing the road.
Hardy said the homeowners association will chip in the difference and the
residents will raise additional funds, if necessary.
“We’re pretty relieved that this might be over soon,” Hardy said. “To have this
road closed off, it will improve the neighborhood.”
The 46,000-square-foot Publix is under construction on nine acres between
Woodbine Road and Chumuckla Highway. Jim White, president of White Development
Company that purchased the property in 2015, said vertical construction on the
building is expected to begin Feb. 15.
White Development Company is also doing off-site work surrounding the store on
behalf of Publix, including widening a road, making improvements to a water line
and drainage and installing two traffic lights. One signal will go in on
Woodbine Road at Cobblestone Drive at the entrance to Stonebrook Village. The
other light will be installed at Chumuckla Highway and Stratford Lane.
White said the cost of the traffic signals is about $1.5 million. He said he did
not know the total cost of the additional work, but called it “unusual” because
the development of this kind of retail store usually follows a previously
installed traffic signal.
“We think the store is going to do really well there,” White said. |
