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Pace residents look for help as new subdivision brings clay, clearcutting and congestion
Two years ago, residents of the Spencer Ridge West subdivision in Pace expressed concerns about what a 145-home subdivision planned for construction just to the west of their neighborhood would do to their quality of life.
Today, with several homes within neighboring Eagle’s Ridge standing if not complete, they’ve got their answer. And it’s not one they like.
“We’ve been eating dirt for months,” said John Harnish, whose Spears Street backyard butts up against the backyard of a soon-to-be Eagle’s Ridge neighbor.
Like so many subdivisions currently under construction in fast growing Santa Rosa County, Pace’s Eagle’s Ridge is bereft of trees. Lennar, the developer, has clear cut the entire 56 acres upon which Phase 1 of its project will go and hauled in red clay to raise the floor of what was once a tree farm by a foot-and-a-half, Harnish said.
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Jan Harnish, Harnish’s wife, said the clear cutting got so rampant while it was going on that she and her 87-year-old next door neighbor had to almost literally throw themselves in front of a crew looking to take down the trees all the way to her backyard fence.
A call to the county engineer got the women the assurances that a stand of hardwoods stretching back about 10 feet behind their homes were on their property, and today that thin stand provides Jan Harnish some sense of security against the growing development.
“I come out here to pick my okra and say ‘thank God for the trees,'” she said.
The two subdivisions are joined at the hip by Ridgeside Way, a short stretch of road running between them. To enter Eagle’s Ridge, the dump trucks that hauled in the clay were obliged to drive through Spencer Ridge West, and remnants of their passage lingers today, dirtying up Spears Street in front of the homes of Harnish and her neighbors.
“We’ve called code enforcement to come sweep the dirt out of the road,” said Bob Galasso, the president of the Spencer Ridge West homeowners association. “Got no answer.”
The red clay brought in for the project has been plaguing the Spears Street residents for some time now. One woman said her pool got so full of wind swept debris coming off of the Eagle’s Ridge project site that her daughter wasn’t allowed to swim for fear of getting sick from whatever contaminants were contained in the soil.
Trucks coming and going down Spears Street to Ridgeside Way – no longer dump trucks but those hauling roofing material or debris – have led to traffic congestion at the roadway’s intersection with U.S. Highway 90. Galasso said these days it’s not uncommon to see 20 vehicles lined up at a stop light that turns from green to red after about a quarter of those vehicles get through.
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As they endure the current headaches, the residents of Spencer Ridge West are again looking into the future with a sense of dread. Analysis the Harnishes have done tells them that 145 new homes, taken together with the 64 homes in their own subdivision, will amount to about 290 more vehicles driving up and down Spears Street to get in and out of the two neighborhoods, bringing the total number of vehicles utilizing the narrow road to 418.
Relief is not immediately in sight. Santa Rosa County Planning and Zoning Director Shawn Ward said that until Lennar moves into Phase II of the Eagle’s Ridge development, the county cannot require a new exit-way out of the neighborhood.
“Any additional subdivisions will be required to make connections,” Ward said.
In an article written in 2022, Ward said East Spencer Field Road to the west and Carlyn Drive to the north appeared to be viable options for alternate routes out of the Spencer Ridge West and Eagle’s Ridge subdivisions.
Jan Harnish said that she and her neighbors had approached the county about providing access down Boone Lane, at the southern side of the Eagle’s Ridge subdivision, to allow another relief valve road connecting directly to U.S. 90. She said the county had not responded to inquiries about the possibility.
Ward said Wednesday that a private owner holds land between the end of Boone Lane and other roadways, which at the present time rules out providing access to U.S. 90 via that route.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pace Eagle’s Ridge subdivision causes Spencer Ridge traffic woes
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