03-12 Denny MooreFebruary 28, 2018
Costco Wholesale Corporation
P.O. Box 34535
Seattle, WA 98124-1535
Peter Kahn, Assistant Vice President Real Estate
Mr. Kahn,
Just received your letter dated February 19, 2018 regarding the proposed location for the Meridian, Idaho
Costco. I have been following this situation since its inception and I was very interested in what you had to say
and will take this opportunity to reply point by point. Your choice for the location of this store is strange at
best. It is right in the middle of a very dense residential area. Even looking at your own map you can see how
crowded this area is; and each of these residences equates to at least three automobiles. Add those to the
thousands of automobiles which travel East and West on Chinden Boulevard daily and you can see why so
many of us local residents already experience traffic jams getting out of our housing developments and then get
to sit in traffic which creeps along on Chinden and peripheral streets. Your plan to widen Chinden from
Lender to Highway 16 will only create a bottleneck at both the Highway 16 and Linder when traffic `jams'
back in to the two lane road. The term `highway' regarding Chinden is misleading and in fact it is a two-lane
country road with no median or turn lanes. Your plan to widen it will only facilitate people turning in to
Costco ... what a surprise. However, once those people are out on the road again they will very shortly be sitting
in a slow moving traffic jam. In looking at the map provided we are wondering just `how and when' the large
trucks which make nightly deliveries to Costco will do this without destroying the quality of life to the
neighbors who live within `sight and sound' of the trucks. As I recall they all have claxons and bells as a safety
feature when backing up. The question also arises as to where will these trucks park after they off-load their
goods. And what about the lights in the parking lot and on the exterior of the store ... I am sure the neighbors
will appreciate having the sights and sounds of the `Costco operation' so close.
If Costco has truly been looking for an appropriate location in Meridian for years, as your letter states, why
wouldn't the Ten Mile Crossing, a commercial park under construction on Ten Mile and I84 be a more logical
location? It is close to the freeway and two major four lane roads, Ten Mile and Franklin. It would provide
easy access for shoppers and delivery trucks without annoying the neighbors or congesting traffic. And it is
only a few miles from the Chinden/Ten Mile location. I have shopped at Costco stores in two states and what
they all had in common is this same type of location, a commercially zoned area close to freeways and/or
`major' highways.
We know why the administration of the city of Meridian is supporting this disruption to the community ... they
have dollar signs in their eyes as witnessed by the fact they give permits to every out of state builder to cram as
many houses as they can in to the plots of land they purchase without any regard to the infrastructure ... how
much traffic will a two lane road hold until it becomes a parking lot; how long do we have to sit waiting to get
out of our housing developments and on to roads to take us to work or appointments? While I like Costco
stores I, and my neighbors, are opposed to this particular location. It shows no foresight, thinking or pre-
planning and does not take the quality of life of all those who live and travel in this particular vicinity in to
account. I will be very supportive if you choose a more appropriate location.
Denny Moore
cc: Meridian Idaho City Planning Commission
Mayor, Tammy deWeerd