The 2018 master plan featured multiple concepts all with a significant N/S road connecting wealthy and lakeside (at Reeds Lake Blvd) which would simplify traffic flows. The new concepts don’t have a road like that. Instead, they have a narrow road that heads north through a parking area, and then west through another parking area and then north again on Shopping Center Road which has been described as primarily for DW truck deliveries, and does not provide access from the north to DW. People coming from the north to go to Gaslight are not going choose that complicated path and will continue to drive all the way around to Wealthy because it will still be easier. It doesn’t solve the problem we have today and it deviates fundamentally from the 2018 plan which considered this important.
The 2018 master plan showed 5 buildings and the proposed Gaslight Investors project is denser with 7 buildings…which I believe will create traffic, parking and other problems, including additional pressure on Wealthy where the access points emerge.
Today’s DW parking lot (as one example in Gaslight Village) is 800 feet from Collins Park, but is a 2000 foot walk because of previous developments that separated our Village from Reeds Lake. People visiting Roses or Collins Park have no visual connection to Gaslight and would likely choose to drive over if they even knew it was there. This new Master Plan had the opportunity to reimagine Gaslight by improving the the connection to Reeds Lake/Collins Park, our greatest asset. Perhaps a walkway through the Lakeside Condos across from Collins could provide easy access to new ground level retail in the Gaslight Investors development? Instead it seems our Master Plan for Gaslight is limited to DW Plaza and a bike path, and that’s not going to do it. And since DW has a 20 year lease that limits any development between their parking lot and Wealthy, the ideas seem to be destined to sit on a shelf.
Of the 4 concepts, I prefer C1 and C2 but only if the Shopping Center Road is done in a way that can safely support N/S vehicle traffic from Lakeside to Wealthy, and not just truck deliveries.
If the new parking structure is meant to support Gaslight, there should be a safe way for pedestrians to cross from the structure to DW and the village.
Finally, I believe Gaslight needs successful businesses, these businesses need foot traffic, and most foot traffic will arrive by car. Car traffic needs to be able to get in/out easily without congestion and have easy, free places to park. Others in our community want to “calm” traffic (or even turn Wealthy into a pedestrian-only zone!) which increases congestion, and some of these new concept plans actually decrease parking, which will reduce customer traffic. The new Ada development is successful because they decided what they wanted to be, and the same is true for Breton Village. Gaslight businesses won’t be successful until we resolve this fundamental disagreement in what we want to be.