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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels November 2, 2004 Phoenix Home Depot stalled By Buffy Pollock For the Tidings Residents will have to wait another two weeks to find out whether the city will be getting a 103,000-square-foot Home Depot store and the jobs and tax base that would come with it. In stark contrast to recent near-four-hour meetings, City Council members spent only 10 minutes discussing rezoning of some 19 acres along North Phoenix Road, just north of the Fern Valley interchange. Department of Transportation officials Monday night submitted a letter stating their position on the traffic problems at the interchange - the single bone of contention between developers and the state. Mayor Larry Parducci opted to leave the record open seven more days for the council to review the new information and will revisit the issue at a Nov. 15 council meeting. While developers say traffic engineers have proven the first phase of the site development - the store itself - can be constructed before improvements are made at the interchange, officials from ODOT said they had not yet been convinced. According to the written statement, while ODOT supports the city's "effort on economic development and job creation," traffic capacity at the interchange was already beyond state standards. The statement further read: "JRH indicated they would submit additional traffic impact analysis (TIA) information after the Planning Commission public hearing of Sept. 13, 2004. To date, neither ODOT nor the City have received any written traffic study data sufficient to support a decision on rezoning." "We have met twice with the applicant's representatives over the last week," said Terry Harbour, planning manager for ODOT region 3. "We have the best available data ... and we haven't seen any evidence in a traffic impact study for the necessary analysis. They've not shown us it could work." While the Fern Valley interchange is on the Tier 1 funding list for improvement sometime between 2008 and 2012, Harbour has repeatedly informed the council that development should not be approved contingent on unfunded projects. Parducci, who said he wanted to review final information from ODOT before finalizing his decision, was frustrated by the deadlock between developers and ODOT. "I think it's very frustrating," he said today. "The traffic is never gonna get any better until ODOT steps up to the plate and corrects the problem. The improvements that were made over there did not help the situation from previously. One thing I'm gonna strive for, when we go through this second phase, is to make sure things are done right." Attorney and developer Bob Robertson was disappointed Monday night, he said, having been told by ODOT for six years that development of the site would not be a problem. "We've complied with all the requirements and discussions with ODOT are ongoing," Robertson said. "We've agreed that we'll do some traffic mitigation at the interchange at our expense. We're keeping the doors open and we're hopeful that they are, too. "For six years I've been trying to get through annexation and rezoning and ODOT has consistently told me, once the interchange went to a Tier 1 priority, that they would not oppose this project and yet they are still opposing it." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams