It was announced last week that three more Fountain Hills businesses are closing – the Walgreens, Taco Bell, and StatClinix urgent care center, all located near Shea and Saguaro.

The problem is that Fountain Hills doesn’t have enough population to support all the businesses we would like to have here.

That issue was one of the topics discussed at a Town Council retreat a few months ago, with council members asking what can be done to increase the population.

Nonetheless, when MCO recently proposed a planned area development (PAD) to increase the density of MCO’s Adero Canyon development, neighbors who live in Scottsdale complained that more houses would mean more noise.

The Planning and Zoning Commission in effect told MCO to adhere to an out-of-date plan weighted toward building big custom homes on big lots. The commission shot down modifications that would have allowed additional smaller housing units and thus would have fostered more population growth.

Soon the Town Council will consider the same proposal. It needs to do what Planning and Zoning didn’t – approve an increase in density that will help our town to grow. That might mean more traffic for those neighbors in Scottsdale, but restricting housing construction to curb traffic noise could keep Fountain Hills pretty silent forever.

MCO’s proposed changes would also foster development of a public trailhead in the McDowell Mountain Preserve, and provide an opportunity to save the financially stressed CopperWynd Resort. Those are two additional reasons why MCO’s proposed PAD should be approved.

Otherwise, we could lose our last best opportunity to build the trailhead, and waste what may be the only opportunity to prevent CopperWynd from becoming a bankrupt hulk that would significantly detract from our community.

Town Council members, please think about Fountain Hills’ future.