ORANGE : Panel to Consider Plan to Widen Roads

A $26-million street-widening plan, the largest public works project the city has ever undertaken, is drawing vehement opposition from Old Towne residents.

About 100 residents of the Old Towne historic district are expected to attend a meeting Monday of the Planning Commission, which will consider the plan to widen La Veta and Chapman avenues, and Glassell and Main streets. Opponents say they will distribute flyers this weekend urging residents to attend the 7 p.m. public hearing.

The most troubling aspect of the extensive plan, opponents say, is the widening of La Veta, which would require the demolition of about 20 homes, including 17 buildings on the city’s historic register, said Dan Slater, a city realtor and owner of a 1920s bungalow on the street.

The widening plan would change La Veta from a primarily two-lane road to four or six lanes in some areas.

The project would also essentially isolate the Nutwood Tract, an early subdivision, from the rest of Old Towne by containing it between La Veta Avenue and W.O. Hart Park, opponents said.

Homeowner Mike Mabry said residents have gathered more than 400 signatures protesting the project.

“I’d be one of those with a front door facing five lanes,” Mabry said, adding that the situation would be unsafe for his three young children.

City traffic and engineering officials say the street widening is critical to accommodate an anticipated increase in cross-town traffic caused by expected high-rise and commercial developments on the city’s west side. Even now, La Veta is crammed with cross-town commuters at rush hour, Assistant City Engineer Bob von Schimmelmann said.

“Whenever you widen a street and do major undertaking like this there’s going to be some impacts and we’re trying to lessen them as best we can,” he said.