Letters: Surprise seems to be growing at too fast a pace

I’ve lived in Surprise since 2005. When I first moved here, I was a very quaint town/city of 75,000 to 80,000 people. At that time one could travel Bell Road either direction with the exception of the evening commute and morning commute with relative ease. 

Road rage was not the driving style of the day. One could easily get in and out of parking lots without having to jockey around, upset drivers giving you stink eye, etc.

In the last two years I have noticed on Bell Roa, regardless of whether it’s snowbird season or not, it’s cram packed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Road rage is a driving style of the day, parking lot too cram packed, and going to Lowe’s, Home Depot or Walmart on the weekends is virtually impossible.

Now, I read today in the Feb. 3 Surprise Independent newspaper that even more houses are being built west of the Grand Avenue, north of Deer Valley. It wasn’t until several weeks ago I realized they have been building like crazy out there.

I suppose my question is to the planning department and city council. How much water do we have? How much farther can you build without total gridlock on all the roads at all times of the day?

The police department tries to respond to what calls for service they get, but even I am disappointed at how long it takes for even a basic calls to get answered. 

What gives, or what does it take to finally say OK we have enough people in the city? 150,000, 200,000, 300,000, 400,000?