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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ - Public Testimony by Bill Humphries with Attachments - 12.51 Machelle Hill From:Peggy Gardner Sent:Monday, December 05, 2016 5:20 PM To:Bill Humphries; kgoldthorpe@achdidaho.org; bwong@achdidaho.org; mwallace@achdidaho.org; chood@mieridancity.org; Joshua Beach Cc:clerk; mayortammy; citycouncil; Machelle Hill; C.Jay Coles Subject:RE: Letter with Concerns re: Firenze Plaza (Eagle and Amity) Dear Bill: Your email has been received by the Mayor’s Office. We appreciate you contacting us to let us know of your concerns for the proposed development in your area. You have forwarded your comments to our City Clerk for the public record and they will be included in the packet the Mayor and Council members receive for the public hearing. Once an application is made, Mayor and Council are only able to make comments during the public hearing. I see you have included ACHD Commissioner Kent Goldthorpe on this email, as well. This is a great start as they are also part of the public approval process Josh Beach, the staff member assigned to this project, will be able to answer any questions you may have regarding the proposed development. Thank you for your comments and being part of the public process. Peggy Gardner | Administrative Assistant to Mayor City of Meridian | Office of Mayor Tammy de Weerd 33 E Broadway Avenue, Meridian, Idaho 83642 Phone: 208 489-0529| Fax: 208 884-8119 Built for Business, Designed for Living All e-mail messages sent to or received by City of Meridian e-mail accounts are subject to the Idaho law, in regards to both release and retention, and may be released upon request, unless exempt from disclosure by law From: Bill Humphries [ mailto:bill_humphries24@yahoo.com ] Sent: Monday, December 05, 2016 4:24 PM To: kgoldthorpe@achdidaho.org ; bwong@achdidaho.org ; mwallace@achdidaho.org ; chood@mieridancity.org ; Joshua Beach; clerk; mayortammy; citycouncil; Machelle Hill Subject: Letter with Concerns re: Firenze Plaza (Eagle and Amity) President Goldthorpe, Mayor Tammy, ACHD, and City of Meridian: Please see my attached letter (and attached photos) containing my concerns regarding the proposed Firenze Plaza on the corner of Eagle and Amity. Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope you will read this before the meetings on December 14th (ACHD) and 15th (Planning & Zoning). Postponing those meetings to January 2017 may be a good idea to allow more people to attend because many people are gone in December. I oppose the extension of the neighborhood roads of Tuscany into this new development, especially because of the commercial portion of the development. Sincerely, Bill Humphries (425) 280-0895 Bill Humphries 2725 E. Mount Etna Dr. Meridian, ID 83642 December 5, 2016 Ada County Highway District (ACHD) Kent Goldthorpe, Commissioner Bruce Wong, Director Mindy Wallace, Planner III 3775 Adams St. Garden City, Idaho 83714 kgoldthorpe@achdidaho.org bwong@achdidaho.org mwallace@achdidaho.org Meridian Planning & Zoning Committee C.Caleb Hood, Planning Division Manager, chood@mieridancity.org Josh Beach, Associate City Planner, jbeach@meridiancity.org RE: Eagle and Amity Proposed Development (Firenze Plaza) – Concerns about the Project Dear Ladies and Gentlemen: I am a concerned resident of Tuscany, and more importantly, a concerned resident on East Mount Etna Drive (“Mt. Etna”). The proposed project on the northwest corner of Eagle and Amity (Firenze Plaza) raises a number of issues. The current proposal, specifically the roads extending from Tuscany to the new development, requires modification to address the issues and concerns. Issue 1 – Mt. Etna Extension (endangers children) The first issue is the extension of Mt. Etna to Eagle Road. The extension’s purpose is to support the proposed commercial development. Such an extension will make Mt. Etna a main connection between the two main roads of Eagle and Amity. Mt. Etna will also be the main access to the new commercial development and high density dwellings (i.e., townhomes or apartments). The August 2016 Kittelson & Associates, Inc. “Transportation Impact Analysis” expressly states that Mt. Etna “is expected to function more like a commercial access or commercial connector road as opposed to a typical local street with residential homes and driveways.” The problem is that Mt. Etna is a quiet family neighborhood street within Tuscany that already is a local street with residential homes and driveways. Extending the quaint residential street of Mt. Etna through the proposed commercial development endangers children. Mt. Etna is a neighborhood street within Tuscany that connects to Montague. Mt. Etna is not designed to be anything more than a residential neighborhood street. Our homes face Mt. Etna and are very close to the street. There is no “buffer” landscaping and our children play on the sidewalks and streets. My wife and I have three children ages 5, 3, and 6 months. Our two oldest children play on the sidewalks and with friends on both sides of the street. Many times this includes crossing the street and even playing on the street. Our family is not abnormal. On our block there are approximately 22 children. These children frequently ride bikes and play basketball on the ACHD Meridian Planning & Zoning December 4, 2016 Page 2 of 5 street and even hit tennis balls and kick soccer balls across the street. In fact, in the summer we had a “block whip cream fight” where all the kids on the block ran around with whipped cream and water guns and played for about 45 minutes. Of course this included running into the street. What I have just described is only on our block of Mt. Etna. There are over 100 kids on Mt. Etna. The number of children in Tuscany overall is astounding. If you doubt me, come to our neighborhood kid triathlon and see the numbers. In sum, extending Mt. Etna would ruin our street and the ability of our children to play! I have attached photos from a random walk down the street. That day, like most other days, kids were playing on Mt. Etna. Thus, the extension of Mt. Etna appears to help only the developers, while disproportionately harming residents such as me, my family, my neighbors, and all of the children in the neighborhood. The August 2016 Kittelson & Associates, Inc. “Transportation Impact Analysis,” while paid for the developers and likely biased in their favor, even supports the conclusion that traffic would significantly increase on Mt. Etna if the extension is allowed. Page five of the Kittelson study states: The average daily traffic (ADT) on the proposed connection of Mt Etna Drive to Eagle Road is projected to have an ADT of approximately 4,200 at buildout of the development. While the local street ADT threshold is expected to be exceeded on Mt Etna Drive, the roadway is expected to function more like a commercial access or a commercial collector road as opposed to a typical local street with residential homes and driveways. (emphasis added). Strangely, the sentence directly after the underlined portion above states, “Therefore no changes are recommended.” That makes no sense! How can no changes be suggested when the ADT threshold will be exceeded and Mt. Etna will function like a commercial access and commercial collector rather than the “local street with residential homes and driveways” that it already is? Mt. Etna’s traffic will drastically increase for multiple reasons, all caused by extending it to the commercial development, the high-density housing, and Eagle Road.  The first is because it will be connected to Eagle Road. Zaldia is the most southern road connecting to Eagle. It is used by a large number of people to access Eagle Road and to enter Tuscany. Because of this, the entire street has landscaping on each side and the homes are not facing Zaldia, instead they have backyard fences. Thus, it is designed for higher traffic volume than other streets in the neighborhood and the accompanying higher speeds traveled by vehicles on the street. The design is to reduce the impact on residents and avoid potential injury to children.  The second reason Mt. Etna traffic will drastically increase is because of its access to the commercial development. Instead of people within Tuscany using Zaldia (the street designed for traffic) to go from the west side of Tuscany to the east side, people will use the road that goes directly to the commercial establishments: Mt. Etna. Furthermore, the traffic flow (or shortcut) will likely be used by others living close to Locust Grove or even heading south on ACHD Meridian Planning & Zoning December 4, 2016 Page 3 of 5 Locust Grove so that they can cut through Tuscany on Mt. Etna to go directly to the commercial development. Lastly, people seeking an “easier” way out of the commercial development and the high-density residential area other than trying to turn on to Eagle (which can be impossible at some points of the day) will instead use Mt. Etna and Montague. While not expressly stated within the proposals for the Firenze Plaza, I believe that funneling traffic through Tuscany is one of the main reasons the developers want Tuscany roads connected so that they can reduce the impact on Eagle and Amity and get this project “pushed through.” All of this endangers the children of Tuscany. Lastly, Mt. Etna does not have a sign at the end that indicates that the street is planned to be extended in the future. This is significant because all the other streets that abut the empty land on the corner of Eagle and Amity have signs warning of future expansion. Therefore, the residents that purchased or built homes on Mt. Etna did not expect its extension. Why else would every other street abutting the empty lot have the warning signs and not Mt. Etna? Residents on Mt. Etna, thus, had the reasonable expectation that Mt. Etna would be safe from extension. Issue 2 – Montague Way Extending the Tuscany neighborhood streets of Mt. Etna, Taormina Dr., and Santo Stefano Dr. will create extensive use of Montague. While Montague is designed for more traffic than Mt. Etna, Taormina, and Santo Stefano, it is not designed for the same traffic levels as Zaldia. Zaldia has center islands with trees and vegetation for the first portion of that street until there is a round-about in order to handle the volume of traffic. Montague does not have the same favorable design. Furthermore, if Mt. Etna is extended to Eagle, Montague will be the connection from Amity. Therefore, commercial customers coming from Amity (whether from all the new development south of Amity or from people come from the west) will use Montague and Mt. Etna to enter the commercial portion of the development. Commercial trucks, such as semi-trucks, will also likely use Mt. Etna and Montague. Once a commercial delivery truck is finished unloading, it will want to head north on Eagle to go in the direction of the interstate. However, turning on Eagle, especially north, is very difficult even for regular vehicles. These large trucks will be tempted and will likely find it much easier to go down Mt. Etna, even in the residential portion, to get where the driver needs to go. What a shame it would be to allow and essentially encourage commercial trucks to use a quiet neighborhood street all hours of the day and night! Plus, if multifamily dwellings such as townhomes are constructed, Montague and Mt. Etna will be used extensively. Zaldia, while designed much better than Montague, is not even used for such high volume traffic. Both streets are meant to be residential entrances, not high density residential and commercial thoroughfares. Issue 3 – Burgio Way and Zaldia Extending Burgo Way to the planned extended Mt. Etna will increase traffic significantly on Burgo and Zaldia. This is a problem, like Mt. Etna, because of the increased traffic on a road not designed for such traffic. Similar to Mt. Etna, Burgo has homes facing the street. Increased traffic will ACHD Meridian Planning & Zoning December 4, 2016 Page 4 of 5 endanger children and drastically affect the lives of those people with homes facing that street. There is a Tuscany community pool on Burgo and Zaldia. With numerous kids frequenting the pool each summer, imagine the increased danger when the traffic on Burgo and Zaldia surges because of the new commercial development. Allowing such a situation makes little sense to me, unless the developer, owner, and perhaps even the city care only about money. Issue 4 – Increasing Traffic on Eagle Road Commercial development on Eagle Road will increase traffic on Eagle Road and Amity. This is a problem for various reasons.  Bus stops for children in Tuscany are at the corner of Zaldia and Eagle and at the corner of Montague and Amity. There are so many kids at these stops that the buses almost (or do) fill up completely in one stop. Increased traffic due to commercial development will increase the risk of harm to the children waiting for and entering buses at these locations.  Eagle Road traffic is already terrible at peak times. It is already extremely difficult to go northbound in the morning on Eagle Road. Commercial development will add to the problem and likely make it impossible to turn north onto Eagle Road from Tuscany.  The current round-about will continue to be extremely busy at peak times and with the added traffic from the commercial and high-density residential developments, there will be a line of cars from Victory likely past Amity. The planned expansion of Eagle Road and the round-about will help but will not do enough to stop the steady flow of traffic as developments with hundreds of homes are moving forward south of Amity Road combined with the proposed commercial development. Issue 5 – Unauthorized Use of Tuscany Common Areas and Increased Risk of Theft The planned residential developments and commercial stores will create unauthorized use of the Tuscany pools and other common areas. This is not fair to Tuscany residents that pay high homeowner associations dues for these amenities. This problem can be curtailed by fencing off Tuscany from the new development. While fencing off Tuscany will not stop all unauthorized use, it will likely reduce it. Building high-density dwellings and commercial establishments will also likely increase theft in the Tuscany neighborhood. Tuscany already has been a target of out-of-neighborhood thieves. Tuscany homes are expensive homes that attract thieves. Having an entrance and exit to a large grocery store and other commercial establishments increases the risk of theft because of the exposure to more people and because of the increased number of “escape routes” and places to hide (i.e., park at the grocery store and not look suspicious because many people frequent a grocery store). Currently, the occurrence of people walking or running down Tuscany streets to get to a parked vehicle is odd, but with the existence of commercial stores and high-density dwellings, it will seem more normal and reasonable, thus, allowing thieves more opportunities not to look suspicious as they case out homes in Tuscany. ACHD Meridian Planning & Zoning December 4, 2016 Page 5 of 5 Issue 6 – School Impact The schools in the area are overcrowded even after new elementary schools and a middle school have been built. With the new single-family home developments similar to Tuscany (e.g., Sky Mesa and Century Farm) still in progress, the stress on the local schools will increase. While it may seem that all residential development in the area will exacerbate the problem, building high-density residential dwellings such as townhomes or apartments has a disproportional negative impact without the benefits associated with single-family homes. One of the benefits of single-family homes versus high-density dwellings is that there is more property tax paid per child. Conclusion In short, the proposed development, as currently planned, is irresponsible and appears to flout ACHD policy and normal implementation of commercial development next to large residential communities. It does not make sense from a safety (e.g., children) and neighborhood well-being perspective. The planned street extensions are inappropriate because neighborhood streets will be turned into commercial thoroughfares. Combining higher volumes of traffic on neighborhood streets in a subdivision with the number of children like Tuscany is unsupportable. Furthermore, the unique characteristics of the Eagle/Amity area warrant reluctance in approving commercial development. Lastly, although high-density residential dwellings are appropriate in some locations, the corner of Eagle and Amity is not that location. Thank you for considering the points presented in this letter. I hope the points herein, and raised by other concerned residents in the area, convinces you to so the following (in order of importance): 1. Reject and deny approval of any extension of the Tuscany neighborhood roads, especially the Mt. Etna extension; 2. Require Tuscany to be fenced off from any proposed development (unless it is purely single- family homes); and 3. Deny the zoning changes for commercial and high-density residential development. Sincerely, /s/ Bill Humphries Bill Humphries