AGENDA #5c
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Response to a Petition Requesting Installation of Pedestrian Connection Between the Glenwood Village Shopping Center and Prestwick Road
DATE: April 14, 2004
This report responds to a petition from Ms. Valerie Broadwell, 16 Rogerson Drive, requesting that the Town pursue installation of a pedestrian connection between the Glenwood Village Shopping Center and Prestwick Road, in the vicinity of Glenwood Elementary School.
Attachment 1 is a copy of the petition.
We recommend that the Council take no action on this request.
In November 1985, the Planning Board approved a Site Plan for Glenwood Village Shopping Center. The site plan review approval included the following stipulation:
Subsequently, the shopping center developer constructed sidewalks on Prestwick Road and Hamilton Road as stipulated, and installed chain link fence along the shopping center property adjacent to Prestwick Road to eliminate the potential for pedestrians to cut-through the parking lot rather than using the sidewalks that were provided. Attachment 2 shows the fence location.
In November 2002, Ms. Broadwell requested that the Town Engineering Department prepare a conceptual plan for a pedestrian connection, including an opening through the shopping center fence, that she could present to parents, school officials and the shopping center property owner for consideration. The Engineering Department provided a sketch as requested (Attachment 2) and informed Ms. Broadwell that, before any changes could be made in the fence, the shopping center owner would need to apply for and receive Town approval of a modification of the shopping center’s approved site plan.
At its January 12, 2004 meeting, the Town Council received and referred a petition (Attachment 1) from Ms. Broadwell requesting that the Town pursue the installation of a pedestrian connection between the Glenwood Village Shopping Center and Prestwick Road. In her petition, Ms. Broadwell expressed the following purposes for the pedestrian connection:
Currently, there is one existing approved pedestrian connection between the shopping center property and the State Employees Credit Union property to the east.
DISCUSSION
After receiving Ms. Broadwell’s petition, we again advised her that her proposal raises an issue involving access to and through private property (the shopping center), and that the Town generally would not become directly involved until we received a request from the shopping center owner for approval to create an opening in the fence adjacent to Prestwick Road.
We do not think that it would be prudent to route pedestrians off of public sidewalks and through a shopping center parking lot as a matter of convenience. Reasonable means of pedestrian access to and around the shopping center property are available, without creating the additional pedestrian connection requested by the petitioner. We are also concerned that the proposed pedestrian connection would require installation of a mid-block crosswalk on Prestwick Road at a location that experiences significant traffic congestion before and after school, creating potential safety problems for pedestrians trying to cross at that location.
CONCLUSION
We suggest that the Council take no further action on this petition unless the owner of the shopping center property files an application for a modification of the approved Site Plan requesting approval of a pedestrian access opening in the shopping center fence adjacent to Prestwick Road.