Tim and Nancy Heldt 08-14-171
Christopher Johnson
From:Morgan Andrus
Sent:Monday, August 14, 2017 2:36 PM
To:C.Jay Coles
Subject:FW: Proposed Costco
Please add to the Costco emails.
Thanks-Morgan
From: Tim Heldt [ mailto:tim@theheldts.org ]
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2017 2:24 PM
To: mayortammy
Cc: citycouncil
Subject: Proposed Costco
Dear Mayor deWeerd,
My wife and I are concerned about the decision of Meridian to investigate the possibility of
changing the zoning at Chinden and Ten Mile from MU-C to MU-R and to annex the Bainbridge
North Residential property with zoning of R-15 and the Costco/Gasser Comm ercial and Residential
parcels with zoning of C-G and R-40 respectively. We believe this is a terrible mistake and needs
to be abandoned immediately before it proceeds any further.
We chose Spurwing Greens to build a house (a Brighton Home, by the way) as we liked the area
due to its family friendly neighborhoods and Spurwing Country Club. We understood that the
plot of land under discussion would eventually have commercial enterprises on it, such as a strip
mall with assorted stores and restaurants. However, we never imagined that the City of Meridian
would consider putting a Costco in that location.
We are puzzled why Meridian would choose to change the zoning from mainly residential to
commercial, not just at Chinden and Ten Mile, but in any other existing subdivision. There must
be other locations that are already zoned for commercial that would be acceptable
alternatives. We urge you to consider those instead. It would be most troubling if the City of
Meridian is being bullied by Costco and is agreeing to their demands to rezone so they can put the
Costco where they want it. You as city officials have an obligation to put your citizens first, not
large enterprises. If your motivation is to increase the taxes collected then shame on you.
We understand there will be a traffic impact study, which we expect will shut this proposal down
as the current infrastructure won’t be able to handle the addition of Costco. (We’d like to invite
you to drive along Chinden between Eagle and Ten Mile in morning and afternoon rush hour, if
you haven’t already, to experience the traffic.) At the Information Meetings held last week, the
2
Brighton representative made the statement that putting in the Costco “will result in improved
roads sooner than planned.” This is utter nonsense – we are all smart enough to know that road
improvements are many years behind development. We would have to endure traffic jams and
delays well into the 2020’s when US26 is widened. Wherever Costco goes, please ensure the
roads are set up to handle the increased traffic before approving development.
In the event the City of Meridian, including the Zoning Commission and ADHD approves the
continuation of this plan, we along with our neighbors will fight it. If you persist, we will demand
that Costco be limited in making deliveries to their warehouse until after 7:00 AM, not 4:00 AM as
they require. We would expect you to support us in the request. The Costco representative said
that this would not acceptable to their company; that would be fine by us as they would have to
find another location that would not have this requirement.
Please reach out to the communities around this plan to hear our concerns including Spurwing,
Spurwing Greens and Bainbridge. A Town Hall to discuss this proposal with you and your staff in
attendance would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Tim and Nancy Heldt