A great project

Thumbs up to Ted Anderson, and three other members of the Blue Springs Planning Commission, who questioned the need for an access entry off of Adams Dairy Parkway for the proposed new Parkway Place retail/office development.

The proposal passed through the Planning Commission on a 6-4 vote, with Anderson, Lynn Banks, James May and George Abbott, voting no because of their opposition to the developer’s insistence of an entry access directly off the Parkway.

The Parkway Place development is a great project, bringing long-awaited office space to the Parkway, while also leaving some room for a couple of restaurants and other businesses on the ground floor. It’s just the kind of project the Parkway needs, and the city and commission members who voted in favor of it are right to be enthusiastic about getting the deal done.

However, we would hate to see the Parkway turn into another Mo. 7, with entry points to businesses every few yards, and traffic slowed to a crawl in aggravating bumper-to-bumper traffic. Some of that is going to happen anyway, with all the retail going in there as part of the Landing project, but the city should do what it can to keep the access points limited to the stoplights, where drivers can quickly turn onto outer roads that would take them to their destination points. This will help keep traffic moving a little better, and reduce frustration of drivers.

Anderson and others voiced similar concerns at the commission meeting along with their support of the project in general. The attorney for the project, Greg Grounds, called the entry access “essential” to the project. But city officials should try to work with these local developers to work out a solution that everyone will be happy about in the long run.

Because once a precedent is set with this entry access, how can the city deny other projects the same wish in the future? It is a slippery slope.