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Home My WebLink AboutPZ - Public Testimony by Karter Raine - 12.71 Machelle Hill From:Karter Raine <karterraine@gmail.com> Sent:Wednesday, December 07, 2016 10:01 PM To:Warren Cays Cc:mayortammy; citycouncil; Machelle Hill; Caleb Hood; Joshua Beach; bwong@achdidaho.org; kgoldthorpe@achdidaho.org; Mindy Wallace; Clittle@achdidaho.org; Tamara Thompson; hbeech@meridianpress.com; newsroom@idahostatesman.com; christine.wilcox@albertsons.com; Cays Warren; Kenneth Mutell; Kathleen Gallagher Subject:Re: Required Changes in Albertsons and City of Meridian Slogans caused by Proposed Firenze Plaza Development Hello, I too would like to echo the concerns of my neighbors here in Tuscany. This has been a frustrating process to say the least. This is a subdivision. Period. Why is it our neighborhoods responsibility to alleviate the traffic concerns of this new development? I am finding it hard to understand why this is debatable. We want to protect our children and the investment in our properties as well as the peace and comfort of the neighborhood environment we are accustomed to. We will stand with our other neighbors to make our very valid concerns heard and understood. Sincerely, Karter Raine Sent from my iPhone On Dec 7, 2016, at 5:41 PM, Warren Cays < warrenc@reagan.com > wrote: I am writing this email to express some of my feelings and frustrations I’ve had in trying to understand and then communicate with all the parties involved with this proposed development, Firenze Plaza, that is being forced on our Tuscany subdivision. First, trying to communicate with any elected official and being told that they cannot discuss a proposed project because a public application has been filed and is now public record and therefore any discussions or meetings have to be of public record with proper notifications etc. is not in my mind any way to be successful in trying to work out disagreements and arrive at mutually agreeable solutions. We are told to write our letters and comments and they will be included in the package that goes before the commissions and City Council, but we will not respond to your questions until the public hearing and you get 3 minutes to tell all. What chance do we, as dutifully taxpaying and voting citizens of Meridian, have against a major local corporate entity like Albertsons? Second, we have discovered many troubling items reviewing a Traffic Study contracted for and paid for by the developer, Albertsons. We had to file a public records request just to get the report because it was not openly shared with Tuscany residents, only the developer Albertsons, their agents The Land Group and ACHD had seen the report. In reading through the Traffic Study we noted that in several areas in the study the property location is not even correctly identified, that does not give you great 2 comfort that you can rely on the accuracy of the rest of the data in the study. We also noted that the original study did not address the impact of obvious increases in traffic that Tuscany residential streets would experience if the proposed streets would be allowed to enter our subdivision. Especially making Mount Etna Dr. a commercial connector to relieve traffic on Eagle Road. After making this an issue at our neighborhood meeting with ACHD an amended study was provided which shows, per the engineers estimate, that the increased traffic on Mount Etna Dr. would only amount to an additional 25 ADT’s (Average Daily Trips). Obviously, no one at Kittleson and Associates, Inc., the engineers that prepared the study for the developer Albertsons, used any common sense, or real life estimates in determining that connecting a subdivision’s existing residential street, with 1,170 homes and four adjacent subdivisions with another 300 plus homes, to a commercial development would only increase ADT’s by 25. But make no mistake, this is the report that is provided to ACHD for their staff to review and which the staff will use in their recommendation to approve or reject the proposed project street designs. Eagle Road and Amity Road are not built to accommodate the increased traffic that will necessarily result if this commercial project is allowed to be built. The Traffic study says that. That is why the Traffic Study diverts traffic into our Tuscany subdivision. Those two arterial roads might be more functional in the future after ACHD widens and improves them but that is years down the road. In the ACHD 5 year plan the required improvements are at least four or five years out. Any proposed development should be put on hold, or just not approved, until after these improvements can be made. In addition the intersection roundabout at Eagle and Amity was not built to accommodate a commercial center. There has never been a roundabout built where there is a commercial center for obvious reasons. They do not work well with that kind of development or the increased traffic both in volume and delivery trucks etc. We have been told by two other engineering firms that in preparing a Traffic Study for a large developer it is sometimes common for the study to favor the developer. After all it is the developer that is paying for the study. We do not suggest this is the case with this study but it does give you pause. Third, there has been very little mention of what a commercial mixed use development, including a large grocery store, gas station, fast food etc., as well as higher density zoning for residential will do to our home values. Let me share some numbers with you. Of all the homes in Tuscany only about 25% are directly affected if the proposed streets are allowed to be connected to Tuscany. This 25% represents about 300 homes on the following streets, Mount Etna, Taormina, Stromboli, Santo Stefano, DaVinci, Marsala, Burgo, Tybalt, Montague and Deerhill. I didn’t count them but I’m being ultra conservative. If the average home value is only $300,000, again being ultra conservative, that’s total property value of $90,000,000 dollars. ($300,000 X 300 = $90,000,000). If our home values were negatively impacted by as little as 2% that would be $1,800,000 in lost equity. If the impact was 5% it would be $4,500,000 in lost equity. This is lost equity out of everyone’s pockets. The developer, Albertsons, or their engineer agents, The Land Group will not even discuss that aspect of this proposed project. They are only interested in their profits and their stockholders and investors. That certainly does not seem to jive with Albertsons slogan of “Dedicated to bettering the lives of people in our neighborhoods.” They obvious do not believe their own slogan and only use it for marketing propaganda. Fourth, with the above being said, you cannot put any amount of value on the lives and safety of our children . This proposed project as designed, and the increased traffic that will result if this project is approved by ACHD and by the City of Meridian City Council, and City of Meridian Planning and Zoning will put all of our children at risk, period. This also does not show others that the City of Meridian is the #1 City to live in when it comes to family friendly residential neighborhoods. Another misleading slogan. If this project is approved people must be held accountable. We respectfully request that ACHD not approve this project and the City of Meridian City Council not approve this project . We the residents of Tuscany have expressed our concerns over and over and will continue to do so. 3 Thank you for giving me an opportunity to vent just some of my frustrations. It gives me no comfort to know that many, many other residents of Tuscany feel the same way, and we are all losing sleep over the negative impact this proposed commercial development will have on our lives and our childrens’ lives. Respectfully yours, Warren Cays 2595 E. Mount Etna Dr. Meridian, ID 83642 warrenc@reagan.com 208-887-6911 602-619-5151