03-19 Nancy A. Heldt1
Christopher Johnson
From:Morgan Andrus
Sent:Monday, March 19, 2018 3:03 PM
To:C.Jay Coles; Charlene Way; Christopher Johnson
Subject:FW: Rezoning for Costco - OPPOSED!!!!!
From: Nancy Heldt [ mailto:nancy@theheldts.org ]
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2018 2:16 PM
To: mayortammy
Cc: citycouncil
Subject: Rezoning for Costco - OPPOSED!!!!!
Dear Mayor deWeerd,
We need your help to stop the plans to change the zoning and build a Costco and other
inappropriate apartments and retail at Ten Mile and Chinden. Apparently, the Zoning and
Planning Commission did not understand the impact that this development will have on the area.
1. There is no reason for changing the zoning at Chinden and Ten Mile for this area from MU-
C to MU-R and to annex the Bainbridge North Residential property with zoning of R-15 and
the Costco/Gasser Commercial and Residential parcels with zoning of C-G and R-40
respectively. Leave the zoning alone! Deny the zoning change!
2. It is expected there will be an increase of 17,000 car trips per day on this 3-way street. Can
you imagine the traffic nightmare?! There is no way that this area can handle this
increase. Yes Costco says they will improve the roads but in all likelihood, they won’t do
anything until their store is open. This is unacceptable! Regardless of the promise to
improve the roads, this alone is a good reason to deny the building proposal.
3. My understanding is that there is only one Costco in the middle of a residential community
in all of the United States and that one is in Florida. Costco almost exclusively wants their
warehouses in commercial areas and why they want to change this policy now is beyond
me. Please encourage them to find a more appropriate location in Meridian that is already
zoned for commercial.
4. This change in zoning will impact the quality of life in the Spurwing area. We have a crown
jewel in the Spurwing Country Club and surrounding developments. Please do not put a
Costco and high-density housing in that location.
If you cannot bring yourself to deny this zoning change, then you must ensure the project has
minimal impact to the community. Some suggestions include:
2
a. Do not allow Costco or any other retail stores to open until the roads have been improved
and widened. Please don’t let Costco to tell you “we’ll improve the roads after we open,
trust us.”
b. Require Costco to only allow deliveries between 7 am and 7 pm to give some peace and
quiet to the residents that are near the shopping center in the evenings and during the
night.
c. Make sure that the whole area looks like a high-end development not an industrial,
commercial site. Require beautiful buildings and lots of green space. Costco is ugly enough
without making the whole area trashy.
Please, Mayor deWeerd, don’t make a mistake in our area that will negatively impact this area for
decades. Your lea dership and strong position in ensuring Merdian does not become like California
is vital right now. I hope you’ll do the right thing.
Sincerely
Nancy A. Heldt