Rachel Murillo 1.171
C.Jay Coles
From:Anne Little Roberts
Sent:Wednesday, January 17, 2018 2:02 PM
To:R M
Cc:City Clerk
Subject:Re: Linder Village, Last Night's Council Meeting
Thank you, Rachel. I appreciate your testimony and taking the time to send an email. The Council always appreciates
hearing from our citizens, especially when a meeting runs as long as it did last night.
Your input is greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
Anne Little Roberts
Meridian City Council
Sent from my iPad
> On Jan 17, 2018, at 1:36 PM, R M <rrs17586@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Mayor & Council,
> I want to thank you for your time and patience last night. Last night, I attended my first ever city
council meeting and must say I'm impressed with the leadership in our city and grateful to have a voice. I did testify
briefly on just a few points- perhaps not as well as I would have liked as addressing a roomful is a bit nerve wracking. I
wanted to follow up. I came in last night ready to press for approval on Linder Village. I think it will be a wonderful asset
to the city. After hearing testimony from others in the community, I did hear a valid point brought up regard ing access to
the development through Arliss being disruptive and unsafe- I do agree this is a concern and should be addressed.
Otherwise, I believe this development should continue as conceptualized with one additional caveat- IF access to the
development can be made at Fox Run, avoiding an additional light at Bergman, then it absolutely should. If it turns out
that it still is not possible, then I believe the concept should continue as planned, save for changes to/removal of the
Arliss access. I would propose perhaps a sidewalk access at that point, but not a through street.
> We also heard a lot of concern about a 24 hour store and potential noise. I want to commend the
developer and WinCo for making appropriate concessions such a moving and rotating the store, creating landscaping
barriers and multiple walls. They have absolutely done their due diligence in negating the impact on the surrounding
neighborhood in that regard, and I feel they should proceed as planned. I heard a few residents cite video of loading
dock noise at area stores and concern with 24 hour operation, but what I did not hear was that these residents had
bothered to set foot in a WinCo at 3am to see what actually goes on. With the demographic in the area, I believe this
looks a whole lot like a parent picking up tylenol for a sick child at 3 am, a family coming home from vacation late, after
midnight, and restocking the fridge for the next week, a soon to be father running out at 1 am for a crazy pregnancy
craving. Otherwise, it is their freight crew, busy filling shelves. In my opinion this is a wonderful addition to the
community, convenient and incredibly affordable for growing families. Meridian needs this additional WinCo to support
the explosion in growth we are experiencing. Meridian can use the jobs this will bring. On average, I believe a WinCo
store has about 140 employees. Having worked in the insurance industry, I know that these employees are receiving
some of the absolute best benefits in the state-coming neck and neck with State of Idaho and Federal coverage. That's
pretty amazing. Who in their right mind would turn down such an asset to our community? WinCo is a strong anchor for
other successful businesses as well, again bringing more jobs and more amenities to the area.
> Development happens. With all due respect, I hear several people who bought backed to a field,
knowing the parcel was zoned for MU-C, complaining. Might I suggest that had they been so strongly concerned with
how the MU-C would look and what businesses it might bring, they should have looked elsewhere to purchase? I have
2
owned a home backed to a field with an unknown factor to it, and I have passed up home purchases due to uncertainty
as to what might back to the home. That was my prerogative based on the knowledge I could access at the time, which
is never set in stone. Furthermore, the developer is willing to bring long overdue expansion to Chinden, far before it is
planned by local entities entrusted with this responsibility.
> In closing, I would urge the council and/or P&Z committee to get this approved this next go around-
before a strong anchor business like WinCo decides to look elsewhere. I'm hopeful that we will see this development
happening sooner rather than later.
>
> Respectfully,
> Rachel Murillo
> 2077 N Devlin Ave
> Meridian, Idaho
> 208-283-6847