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Sally Reynolds - 9.8 - Continuance Comments1 C.Jay Coles From:Sally Reynolds <sally_a_reynolds@hotmail.com> Sent:Friday, September 8, 2017 10:35 AM To:Sonya Allen; Caleb Hood; Bill Parsons; C.Jay Coles Cc:Barbara Shiffer; Charlene Way; Machelle Hill Subject:RE: Linder Village Sept 7th Continuance Hearing Feedback Hello Jay, Thank you for responding to my letter. I'm glad to know the commission received the petitions. I did hear that they asked the applicant why he needed a continuance. He stated that they had some changes to make and some were in response to neighborhood concerns. Our position was two fold- the applicant has known since BEFORE the original application was submitted in July that the large retailer B would not be locating there. They were already granted one continuance from Aug 3rd to Sept 7th (due to a clerical error) and made no attempt to modify the site plan within that month to reflect this change. It would have been nice for the commission to ask why this is just now getting addressed. Secondly, in the last six weeks, (not to mention the last eleven years), the developer has not reached out to any residents in the area to hear concerns or address them. The neighborhood meetings have not been a dialogue, but a "here is what we are going to do" session. And that is fine. It is their right. But to base a continuance on something that has not happened is misrepresenting their intentions. Finally, what the public wanted to address was the continuance ITSELF, not the project. One of the petitions has 525 signatures and while that addresses the project, we submitted it to show how many people have been trying to follow this application. The next petition has 57 signatures and DIRECTLY addresses the continuance itself. The public was asking the commission to make this the final continuance granted to this developer because the continual rescheduling of these hearings creates a hardship on the residents who want to participate in the public process. There were also at least two resident letters written in regard to the continuance. It would have been nice to hear the commission acknowledge that this is now the second continuance they have granted. And even if it did not limit any further continuances as the public requested, they could communicate to the developer that any further continuance request would be heavily scrutinized. At the very least, acknowledge and discuss the public voice that came in regarding the continuance. We are trying to follow the proper channels to make our voice heard, but from the actions of the commission yesterday, it is hard to believe anyone actually read what was submitted. I realize that the staff and commission are not elected officials, but they are still there to serve Meridian residents and in this instance many of us were left without a voice. Thank you, Sally Reynolds From: C.Jay Coles Sent: Friday, September 8, 8:22 AM Subject: RE: Linder Village Sept 7th Continuance Hearing Feedback To: Sally Reynolds, Sonya Allen, Caleb Hood, Bill Parsons Cc: Barbara Shiffer, Charlene Way, Machelle Hill 2 Ms. Reynolds, Thank you for your email and I will do my best to answer your questions and address your concerns on the process. The petitions you sent were entered into the record and available for the Commission’s consideration and review. They were put into the record and available to them shortly after you sent them to us. The Chair and the Commission did ask the applicant to provide some explanation for the continuance request and the applicant provided sufficient explanation for the Commission to grant the request. From my understanding, the proposed site plan is changing significantly and will require a re-notice of the project so any testimony or deliberation on the project does not yet make sense as the proposed plan is changing. For more information on that part of the process, please contact Planning directly. Last night, the Commission did direct the appli cant to host another neighborhood – so the applicant should comply with that directive prior to the next public hearing. I hope this helps to answer some of your questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us further with any others. Sincerely, C.Jay Coles City Clerk | Cit y of Meridian 33 E. Broadway Ave., Meridian, Idaho 83642 Phone: 208.888.4433|Email: cjcoles@meridiancity.org 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: Sally Reynolds [mailto:sally_a_reynolds@hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, September 7, 2017 8:48 PM To: C.Jay Coles <cjcoles@meridiancity.org>; Sonya Allen <sallen@meridiancity.org>; Caleb Hood <chood@meridiancity.org>; Bill Parsons <bparsons@meridiancity.org> Cc: Barbara Shiffer <bshiffer@meridiancity.org>; Charlene Way <cway@meridiancity.org>; Machelle Hill <mhill@meridiancity.org> Subject: Linder Village Sept 7th Conti nuance Hearing Feedback Sally 3 Reynolds has shared OneDrive  files with you. To view them, click the links below. Limit Continuance Petition 1. pdf Limit Continuance Petition Signatures 1. pdf LV Online Petition COMMENTS 1. pdf 4 Full LV Petition 2017 09 07 1. pdf Hi Bill, Caleb, and Sonya, The below e-mail and two petitions were sent to city hall yesterday around 3pm and I was informed they would be entered for the P&Z commission's consideration. Did they receive them and/or consider them irrelevant? I realize that no public testimony can be given at a continuance hearing, so that is why the documents were submitted before the meeting. I attended this evening and would have expected the commission to discuss with the applicant in further detail this need for continuance, or at the vert least, acknowledge that they received and considered the public's submission on the subject (they wouldn't have even had to say what we were asking) - just something to acknowledge it was received and considered. Can you please comment on the process and what happened? I am unsure of what to say to the many unhappy residents who are upset the city is not even acknowledging the public's submission (when it directly pertained to the subject they were addressing) in a public forum. Thank you, Sally Reynolds From: C.Jay Coles <cjcoles@meridiancity.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 5:03 PM To: Sally Reynolds; Sonya Allen Cc: Barbara Shiffer; Charlene Way; Machelle Hill Subject: RE: Linder Village Sept 7th Continuance Hearing Both are entered into the record for the Commission’s consideration. C.Jay Coles City Clerk | City of Meridian 33 E. Broadway Ave., Meridian, Idaho 83642 Phone: 208.888.4433|Email: cjcoles@meridiancity.org From: Sally Reynolds [mailto:sally_a_reynolds@hotmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 5:00 PM To: Sonya Allen <sallen@meridiancity.org>; C.Jay Coles <cjcoles@meridiancity.org> Cc: Barbara Shiffer <bshiffer@meridiancity.org>; Charlene Way <cway@meridiancity.org>; Machelle Hill <mhill@meridiancity.org> 5 Subject: RE: Linder Village Sept 7th Continuance Hearing Hi, This petition is a separate petition. It is to ask the commission to limit any further continuances for this application/developer . The letter is included on both petitions so you can tell the difference in what each petition addresses. We would like the commission to receive both of them because the first petition shows the level of public interest in this corner - with over 525 signatures. The second petition was just over the last three days. So, we would like both petitions to be entered into the record for tomorrow's hearing since they are both pertinent to the developer's request for continuance. Thank you, Sally Reynolds From: C.Jay Coles < cjcoles@meridiancity.org > Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 3:07:37 PM To: Sally Reynolds; Sonya Allen Cc: Barbara Shiffer; Charlene Way; Machelle Hill Subject: RE: Linder Village Sept 7th Continuance Hearing Ms. Reynolds, To help make sure the Commission has the most up-to-date info available, will you let us know if this petition is the same as previously submitted or if it is different and needs to be added to what we already received? Thanks, C.Jay C.Jay Co les City Clerk | City of Meridian 33 E. Broadway Ave., Meridian, Idaho 83642 Phone: 208.888.4433|Email: cjcoles@meridiancity.org From: Sally Reynolds [ mailto:sally_a_reynolds@hotmail.com ] Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 2:46 PM To: Sonya Allen < sallen@meridiancity.org > Cc: Barbara Shiffer < bshiffer@meridiancity.org >; C.Jay Coles < cjcoles@meridiancity.org >; Charlene Way <cway@meridiancity.org >; Machelle Hill < mhill@meridiancity.org > Subject: Linder Village Sept 7th C ontinuance Hearing 6 Sally Reynolds has shared OneDrive  files with you. To view them, click the links below. Limit Continuance Petition.pdf Limit Continuance Petition Signatures.pdf Hi Sonya, Will you please make sure the P&Z Staff/Commission receive the letter below and the attached petition BEFORE the hearing tomorrow? With three days notice, it's not a lot of time to ask people to sign a petition, but hopefully, the residents' voice can be heard, as I understand there is no public testimony or commentary allowed when the application is opened for continuance. Obviously, there is no way we could have submitted this 7 days prior to the hearing. I hope that will be taken into consideration. Thank you, Sally Reynolds Dear P & Z Staff and Commission, The corner of Linder and Chinden is surrounded by many residents who have an interest in how this land is developed. Many of them would like to see it developed in line with the current Meridian City Comprehensive Plan and Future Land Use Map. However, the developer has a different idea. They submitted their application in July 2017, knowing full well at the time that one of the big box retailers on their site plan would not actually be locating there. Instead of revising the plan right away, they intended to let the hearing proceed until a mistake in their application was found by the city attorney, so the application could not be heard. The developer could have used the first continuance to revise the site plan, make any necessary changes and be ready for the Sept 7th hearing. However, they did not. They have seen/heard the substantial opposition to the proposed plan and instead of reaching out to us and working WITH the community on a site plan we can all be proud of, they continue to delay the hearing. This is a mockery of the public process and sends a message to residents that when it comes to zoning and planning, it's an uneven playing field with the developer dictating the rules of the game. Please make this the last continuance you grant to the developer. (One side note: If you look at the site plan they proposed for this corner ten years ago, in 2007, you will see it is almost identical to what they submitted in 2017. They have had over 10 years to revise this plan.) On a personal note, these two continuances have affected my family, as we altered a summer trip to WA when the Aug 3rd hearing was supposed to happen and had family fly in a day AFTER the Sept 7th hearing was supposed to occur. The Oct 19th hearing will now happen while my husband is going in for surgery. Many other families have similar stories - they want to attend and participate in the public process, but cannot continually accommodate the new hearing dates. I realize the date won't always be perfect for anyone, but people rely on credible information to make family plans and these continuances are disruptive to residents' 7 lives.