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
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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
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All e-mail messages sent to or received by City of Meridian e-mail accounts are subject to the Idaho law,
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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
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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'
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lives.