Starting on Sept 25, heavy machinery such as excavators, dump trucks, and bulldozers were spotted on the vast polo fields along Highway FF. This construction will result in 101 homes built on 39.1 acres of land that used to be polo fields.
The new neighborhood, named Polo Grounds, will consist of three sections: The Enclaves, The Estates, and The Manors. Along with the homes, McBride Homes has chosen to utilize the original barn on the fields as a clubhouse, which will contain an indoor playground. Similar to the nearby neighborhood Windswept Farms, Polo Grounds will have a lake and a fountain.
In the spring of last year, this conceptual construction was a hot topic. Many people were strongly opposed to it, signs were posted all along Highway FF that read “No McBride Polo Field” and “No Construction Traffic.”
Many people attended conferences speaking out on their conflicts with the new houses to the Jefferson County Council. Now that McBride Homes has actually begun the building process, people are becoming more mad than ever.
Highway FF is a two-lane road. A new neighborhood could potentially cause an excessive amount of traffic along this road. McBride Homes performed a traffic study on the road, and will most likely be adding a turn lane. Even though this turn lane will be beneficial in the long run, the construction will also cause traffic delays.
Recently, drivers of Eureka and Wildwood have been suffering through heavy traffic along Highway 109 due to construction and road work. This traffic causes delays, often impacting students and staff members with long waits on their way to and from school. This will soon also be a problem along Highway FF, causing more students to encounter traffic problems.
Families living along Highway FF are finding themselves asking questions about traffic and overcrowding in the area. Along with those issues, flooding can also be detrimental to these homes.
Makayla Morris, 11, lives extremely close to the construction site. She has seen first-hand some of the devastation from the construction, such as the impact on animals near the construction site since they lost their homes.
“I used to keep my horses on that land,” Morris said. “We are not able to keep horses on that land anymore. We had to build a fence super quickly so we were able to bring our horses to our land instead of where they were staying. Another thing that this neighborhood is taking away is the polo field. There are not many polo fields around anymore and now that is being lost.”
McBride Homes justifies the building of these homes by bringing up the housing crisis and the fact that people are in need of homes that cannot be produced. They are hoping this neighborhood will be beneficial to the housing crisis.
Even though there are things that this new neighborhood will bring, many people are struggling to see the good in it.
