Wendy McKinney 1.161
C.Jay Coles
From:W McK <wmckinnus@gmail.com>
Sent:Saturday, January 13, 2018 12:29 PM
To:Joe Marshall
Cc:City Clerk; Sonya Allen
Subject:Re: Submittal for City council consideration on January 16 2017
Dear Mayor and City Council,
I know this is late in coming, but now that I've heard the developer is insisting on continuing this
discussion instead of waiting until he has the ACHED report as you requested, I'm sending you a
short note.
The development for the corner of Linder and Chinden is a massive one. 80 acres is nothing to
overlook. What will it look like? What will Chinden look like next year, in 5 years, in 10?
These decisions are being made in the next few months. You are a big part of that and I appreciate
your time and expertise in these decisions.
It's not easy and never is there a group of people that are totally happy with your decisions.
As servants of the people and an elected body, you have a different role to play than your
commissioners. Don't make this a political decision that is based on partial information.
This is why I support either Denial of the Linder Village project or for you to remand it to the
Planning and Zoning Commission.
One of Commissioner Bird's last statements was on this project. He said - I've seen a lot of
developments and something doesn't look right about this. I agree.
1- Timing : This developer has been consistently inconsiderate to everyone involved.
Don't take the burden of this decision without letting those you have asked to review it do so.
Let them (P&Z) do their job. Let ACHD have time to do their analysis.
Let the citizens have time to work with the developer (if he will actually do that, so far he's really just
informed us of his "better" ideas).
2- Incomplete and note yet appropriate for the site:
I believe there are many good things about the development that have just started to be put in place
in the last month, but there aren't enough to move forward at this time. And there's not enough
information for the City to use to make a wise decision.
I like the fact that there are more buildings facing each other in two spots. I like the idea of having a
mixed area with offices, theater, small stores, homes, townhomes, and a small park. These things
only started being put in place after a unanimous denial from the P & Z Commission, though. And
instead of listening to the commissioners on what needed to be changed, the developer finally looked
the staff recommendations and started adding a few changes listed there (that should've been done
before the P&Z hearing).
There are a few problems with the proposed development. I won't go in to all of them. The biggest
concern I have is the elephant in the room. He's cute, but let's just say tha t he will not be easy to live
with if his pen is too close to my open window.
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Winco is just too close to homes to let us get a good night's sleep. Period. And they won't change
their hours. It's a sad truth, but it's there.
This is an industrial sized building that runs for 24 hours. That should not be built near homes. It
seems obvious to us. We have nothing against Winco. We shop there now and will be glad for the
convenience of having one nearby.
But it needs to be built in a spot that does not cause health issues and push us out of our homes so
we can sleep.
The stores in the rest of the valley are either much closer to the corner or so far away from existing
homes that these are not issues.
3- Give hope to the entire City of Meridian that this is a fair process and everyone's voice is heard.
I went to the area of homes just east of the Craft Warehouse on Eagle and asked them what it was
like to live behind large stores like they do. Mind you none of them are 24 hours. I thought it would
be a good way to wrap my head around what my future might be like. I spoke with three people on
Christmas Eve. They had given up. They didn't feel like the City cared one bit about them. They may
not have the money to move but they wished they didn't have to live in a neighborhood behind an
industrial zone. It's not why they bought their homes there. People cut through their neighborhood to
go from the Eagle stores over to the Walmart. One lady asked me when she gave permission for the
two story bank to be put up on the street around the corner (Presidential Drive). I told her there
must have been a hearing on it that she missed. She basically said - "What's the point? The
developers get what they want. We never do."
I have heard that sentiment time and time again in the last 3.5 years I've been working with the city
and developers for my neck of the woods. It really turns my stomach and makes me sad. I believe in
you and a fair process more than that.
By denying this application, you can give a clear message to the citizens of Meridian that you listen to
them and they should keep coming to you. You can show that you want a balance between both
reasonable development and happy residents.
After looking at the site for 2 years, teaming up with nearby neighbors to learn what's happening and
following the situation closely for almost a year, I prefer to send the developer back to the drawing
board to do it correctly. A denial will put this on hold for a year. That is how long it'll take for this
developer to come up with something appropriate. Look and see how little has changed in 10 years
and then in the last year. This is also what the Planing and Zoning staff is also recommending.
Each step of the way has been long and tedious. It doesn't have to be. I hope with a denial on
Tuesday, we will see a reasonable developer who is willing to stick to the well thought out Long Term
Plan for development in this city.
If you don't want things to wait that long, then remand it to P&Z and ask that they wait until early
March so they have the ACHD info in hand before proceeding.
Unfortunately, I don't need a crystal ball to know anything but a denial will inconvenience everyone
for another year.
Thank you,
Wendy McKinney
1225 W. Bacall Street (one home away from the field)
Meridian, ID 83646
Paramount HOA Advisory Board
On Thu, Jan 11, 2018 at 5:14 PM, Joe Marshall < marshalliv@msn.com > wrote:
3
I would respectfully like to submit my written testimony for the City Council hearing date of January 16, 2017
concerning the Linder Village Project Proposal.
Joe Marshall