Randy Bloom - Linder Village 7-261
Charlene Way
From:Sonya Allen
Sent:Wednesday, July 26, 2017 8:39 AM
To:Randy Bloom
Cc:Barbara Shiffer; C.Jay Coles; Charlene Way; Machelle Hill
Subject:RE: Linder Village Zoning Concern - Commercial Over Allocatoin
Randy,
Thank you for your email; it will be entered into the public record as testimony.
Sincerely,
Sonya Allen | Associate City Planner
City of Meridian | Community Development Department
33 E. Broadway Ave., Ste. 102, Meridian, Idaho 83642
Phone: 208-884-5533|Direct: 208-489-0578|Fax: 208-489-0578
Built for Business, Designed for Living
All e-mail messages sent to or received by City of Meridian e-mail accounts are subject to the Idaho law,
in regards to both release and retention, and may be released upon request, unless exempt from disclosure by law.
From: Randy Bloom [ mailto:randybloom@hotmail.com ]
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2017 10:30 PM
To: Sonya Allen; Caleb Hood; Bill Parsons; citycouncil; mayortammy
Subject: Linder Village Zoning Concern - Commercial Over Allocatoin
TO:
Meridian City Zoning and Planning Commission,
Meridian City Council,
Mayor Tammy De Weed,
I want to convey my concerns about the proposed development at Linder & Chinden.
I know you have heard many arguments about traffic and congestion and I agree that the “development”
raises significant concerns in these areas. The thing that I would like you to consider relates to the potential
impact of overbuilding of “commercial” in this area and the potential ramifications.
The area surrounding Linder Village is currently served by two major large mulit-line and grocery retailers,
Fred Meyer and WalMart. I have shopped in both stores often and have not observed significant lines,
overflowing parking lots or lack of merchandise on the shelves. I’m sure that both stores are profitable but I
don’t believe that either store is significantly over-performing vs other stores in the region.
2
My concern is that if two additional major stores are located in close geographic proximity to these stores,
there is a potential that all four may not be profitable and one (or more) of the owners may elect to
eventually pull out.
You have to look no farther than Fairview Ave and the former K-Mart parking lot to see what happens when a
large store closes . There are not a lot of companies that are willing to re-invest in a failed location and the
surrounding community suffers . The K-Mark parking lot is now the home a small storage-shed seller. Hot
tubs, used cars, transient vendors selling rugs, wood carvings, flags, etc. become a staple in the lots of these
empty stores. The physical stores decay and become a blight on the area.
I am not opposed to development on this parcel, however, large box retail is on the decline. Retailers are
facing significant pressure from online providers and many retail stores have closed all across the country in
recent years. I know it is not the responsibility of government to protect business from making poor
investment decisions, but it is the responsibility of government to protect the greater community and its
citizens . One of the tools to do this is thoughtful zoning. I think that rezoning this property to accommodate
uses that were not part of the original plan is shortsighted. The long-term interests of the adjacent
communities and Meridian would be best served by holding to the existing zoning plan.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.
Randy Bloom
1174 W Barrymore Dr,
Meridian, ID 83646
208/938-9363
randybloom@hotmail.com