Johnston residents may soon have an additional choice for grocery shopping. Fareway Inc. has proposed to build a 29,735 food store on the northeast corner of Merle Hay Road and NW 60th Avenue. The Johnston Planning and Zoning Commission considered and approved the site plan for the grocery store during their meeting on June 29th. In addition to site plans a preliminary plat has been submitted that would subdivide the existing 4.604 Acre lot 1 of Kevin Place Plat 4 and two adjacent parcels into two lots.
A traffic study was previously conducted by Foth Infrastructure and Environment in 2007. The traffic study has been updated, and the study concluded that more daily trips will be added to the surrounding road network. The additional traffic generated in the AM peak hours is less than the additional traffic generated in PM peak hours. The intersection of NW 60th Avenue and Merle Hay Road is still expected to maintain the current level of service without the need for a signal, however it will continue to be monitored in the future.
In addition to the traffic studies a portion of the pedestrian trail from Lawson Elementary Trail to the Inter/Urban trail east of Van Dees was considered. As part of the City’s NW 60th Avenue improvements, this section of trail will need to be replaced. During preliminary design of those improvements it was determined that relocating the trail to the south side of NW 60th Avenue, with a midblock crossing would be safer than reconstruction on the north side of NW 60th Avenue. This alignment would eliminate the existing mid-block crossing which is located close to Merle Hay Road. The Johnston City Council will consider the Site Plan and Preliminary plat at their meeting on July 6th.