A new housing development in the East County, now in early stages of construction, has some neighbors worried about a traffic nightmare.
The Castlerock housing development, headed by Pardee Homes, will bring 415 new homes to an area of land just west of Mast Boulevard, across the street from West Hills High School.
Pardee Homes held an open house Tuesday night at the school to give nearby residents the opportunity to discuss grading and construction activities with members of the project team.
However, most of the atendees showed up with traffic concerns.
“To add 415 new residences, which means 900 more drivers every day affecting Mast, we can't sustain it," resident Jodi Britton said.
Many of the concerned neighbors had hoped the project would contain more upgrades to surrounding infrastructure but say they’ve been underwhelmed.
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“Traffic is the number one issue everyone seems to ignore,” said Bradley Herring, who brought a copy of the project’s environmental impact report. “It states in the EIR report ‘significant changes’ to traffic."
While most people showed up to the meeting with concerns about the project, some interested buyers did inquire about the lot sizes and upgrade options.
Steve Blankenship lives nearby and says his family is quickly outgrowing their current home. He is excited about having a new and bigger option without having to move to another area.
Blankenship says he's not worried about traffic.
“I know they're going to make some amendments to the road itself to perhaps help with traffic, but I don't think it's going to be much different than it is right now really," he said.
Pardee Homes is aware of the traffic concerns and plans to add two additional stoplights along Mast Boulevard to help.
But some critics say that will only add to the congestion, especially during the school year with West Hills High School directly across the street.
Pardee Homes plans to build the homes in phases with the first models ready for move-in by late 2017.
