Apartments boost traffic worries for Prescott Lakes, Willow Lake Road area | The Daily Courier

City Council considered on Tuesday is a 200-unit multi-family apartment complex (shown with a green border) near the intersection of Willow Lake Road and Highway 89; it’s currently the Dells View Mobile Home Park." />

Photo by Tim Wiederaenders.

One of the housing projects that the City Council considered on Tuesday is a 200-unit multi-family apartment complex (shown with a green border) near the intersection of Willow Lake Road and Highway 89; it’s currently the Dells View Mobile Home Park.

PRESCOTT – Traffic concerns dominated much of the discussion this week on a 200-unit apartment complex planned near the Willow Lake Road/Prescott Lakes Parkway intersection.

Several residents voiced worries at the Tuesday, Sept. 13, Prescott City Council meeting that Prescott Lakes Villas, a seven-building apartment complex planned at 2051 Willow Lake Road, would increase traffic congestion on Willow Lake Road – especially at the busy intersection with Prescott Lakes Parkway.

Even so, maintaining that the project would be an improvement over the “distressed” mobile-home park that currently occupies the space, the City Council approved the project’s site plan.

City Community Development Director Tom Guice led off the discussion by noting that the existing mobile-home park is not connected to city water or sewer. He added that the park, Dells View Mobile Home Park, is included on the city’s “distressed mobile parks list.” A city memo notes that 32 sites exist in the park, “many of which are vacant.”

Pointing out that leaking septic systems contribute to the pollution in Watson Lake, City Councilman Steve Blair voiced support for eliminating some of those systems. “This is a good project all-around,” he said.

While agreeing that the apartment complex would be an improvement, Phil Goode, a member of the Prescott Planning and Zoning Commission, said he had concerns about the impact the complex would have on traffic, and he suggested that the city should take a longer-term look at how it deals with the traffic generated by new developments.

City Manager Craig McConnell responded that the city has a general plan with a transportation element, and also participates in the Central Yavapai Metropolitan Planning Organization, a regional transportation-planning group. “All of the major thoroughfares are monitored,” he said.

City Traffic Engineer Ian Mattingly added that the city Public Works Department has done “periodic warrants studies” on the Prescott Lakes Parkway/Willow Lake Road intersection to determine if a traffic signal is warranted.

But, Mattingly said, “Up to this point, it hasn’t met a warrant.”

The council also heard from two residents of the Dells View Mobile Home Park, who emphasized that the apartment complex would be displacing long-term residents of the park. They urged the city to take more time on the matter to ensure that the residents have time to relocate.

The council ultimately voted unanimously to approve the site plan.

The parcel is contiguous to Temple B’rith Shalom synagogue to the east, Basis School to the south, and the Prescott Lakes Commerce Center to the west. The primary access would be from Brohner Way.