Forest Acres residents want council to postpone Forest Drive rezoning decision

Four hundred people have signed a petition asking the Forest Acres City Council to postpone a rezoning decision that could allow a new commercial facility on an overcongested stretch of Forest Drive.

Council is scheduled to hear a second reading of an ordinance that would rezone 3731 Forest Drive, near the intersection with Beltline Boulevard, from residential to commercial to make way for a new dental office.

Petitioners are asking council members to wait for the full recommendations of an ongoing Forest Drive corridor study, which is likely to point the city toward solutions including medians and re-timed traffic lights to mitigate the increasingly dangerous flow of traffic along the growing commercial stretch.

Some 27,000 vehicles travel the stretch between Beltline and Trenholm Road each day, with the volume expected to grow to 30,000 in the next eight to 15 years as commercial development continues. Unsafe traffic conditions, from speeders to badly timed traffic lights to risky left turns, are well-known to those who frequent the corridor.

Renewed attention has been brought to the plight of Forest Drive travelers after the recent death of 81-year-old William Carroll, who suffered severe injuries in a crash in front of Trader Joe's.

Council meets at 5:15 p.m. today at City Hall, 5205 N. Trenholm Road.

This story was originally published March 11, 2015 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Forest Acres residents want council to postpone Forest Drive rezoning decision."