Dodge Drive gate remains. Pleas from Northpointe residents fall on deaf ears

News-Times reporter

By a 5-2 vote, city council members decided to keep a metal gate which separates residents who live on Dodge, Royal and Lancer drives from those in the Northpointe Estates neighborhood.

Nearly 30 people packed council chambers Monday evening and one by one voiced their opinions for or against the gate. In the end, the Northpointe Estates residents drew the short stick after Ward One councilman Steve Bukovac, Ward Three councilman Joe Gambish, Ward Four councilwoman Jennifer Wasilk, and councilmen-at-large Phil Van Treuren and Terry Traster sided with the residents of Dodge, Royal and Lancer drives.

"We brought a lot of good information to the table that they didn't seem really to care anything about," Northpointe Drive resident Diane Watson said. "They focused on certain things that happened years ago and I moved back to Amherst two-and-a-half years ago thinking that it was a fair and a good community and I'm find it's no different than anywhere else."

Craig Novak, a resident of Eastpointe Court, echoed Watson's sentiment.

"I believe the decision to kill our proposal was done a little abruptly and I think it was done based on more emotion and not necessarily on fact," he said. "I'm not 100 percent sure that all council members did their due diligence or a complete analysis of our proposal. It seemed to me early in the evening that there were some council members who were reviewing the proposal at the 11th hour."

Novak and fellow Northpointe Estates resident Carl Ondraka put together and distributed a 25-page proposal to all seven council members as to why they feel the gate should be removed permanently. They told council members all of the maps show Dodge Drive as a through street and it creates confusion for some drivers.

They cited a June 9, 2008 letter to council from Amherst Street Department foreman Jeff Barnes who stated the gate "is a problem in the winter, and a maintenance problem in the summer."

In a letter to council members dated June 11, 2008 Amherst police chief Lonnie Dillon stated the gate "creates an unsafe and potential liability situation for the city should the gate remain." Amherst fire chief Wayne Northeim told former councilman-at-large P. William VanderWyden "access is key for us." LifeCare Ambulance Service vice-president Herb de la Porte stated "I am wholeheartedly in favor of taking that down."

On the flip side, Dodge Drive resident Suzanne Traster couldn't be happier.

"I'm thrilled the gate is staying put," she said. "It's going to be much safer for families along these streets because we won't have to deal with the increase in traffic."

Safety was an issue both sides were able to come to terms with. Dodge, Royal and Lancer drive residents were concerned if the gate were to come down, drivers would use the street to go back and forth between Middle Ridge and Leavitt roads.

Northpointe residents were concerned their children either had to trek up mounds of snow piled up at the gate or wait at the intersection of Leavitt Road and Northpointe Drive to catch the school bus. Northpointe residents also stressed the hazardous conditions at the intersection, with motorists either turning into the development, the Sunoco Gas Station and J.D. Byrider. They said the 50 mph speed limit on that portion of Leavitt Road, makes turning onto Leavitt Road something of a hazard as well.

In June, Dodge Drive resident Susan Enzor and her husband discovered the gate was missing. Nearly two weeks later, the gate was found dumped in a retention pond behind the Moosehead Grill.

Both Watson and Novak said they may seek legal counsel to reverse council's decision. However that has not yet been decided.

"We might be back," Novak said.