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Home My WebLink AboutCC - Petition / Public Testimony - 12/20" 7 T I ry �. . h 1 V e Y OF q'�: 3 s "'#"'-KS FELL `stE &� ' Please note: You will be receiving this letter a second time. The 45 signatu attached represent one day's work by a single volunteer. Additional volunteers are assisting with canvassing the Tuscany development and garnering more signatures. They will be forwarded to you early next week with a second copy of the letter. We have also enclosed copies of an earlier petition, with 90+ signatures, stating much the same thing - -please do not bring roads from the mixed-use development through to Tuscany. Also, you may be interested in the website which has been set up to coordinate efforts to protect the children in our development and to keep all the residents informed. The address is: www.12rotectingtuscany.weebly.com Contacts: Warren and T.L. Cays - 2595 E. Mount Etna Drive, Meridian, ID. 83642 208-887-6911 Ken Mutell and Kathleen Gallagher - 2747 E. Mount Etna Drive, Meridian, ID. 83642 208-854-7042 November 29, 2016 Tammy de Weerd, Mayor City of Meridian 33 E. Broadway Avenue, Suite 300 Meridian, Idaho 83642 Re: Proposed Firenze Plaza at the corner of South Eagle and Amity Roads Application H-2016-0102 Mayor de Weerd: We are residents of the Tuscany development. The proposed Firenze Plaza will allow Commercial properties, i.e. a Grocery store (purportedly Albertson's, which makes no sense since they have an existing store open 3 miles from this location, at the corner of Lake Hazel and Cloverdale), fast food restaurant with drive thru, bank with drive thru's, gas station/convenience store, and various shops & restaurants to be built on land which is currently shown as Low Density Residential on the Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map. Application H-2016-0102 also references the potential for attached housing in the area behind the shopping center, along Amity, and backing up to Montague, which currently borders the Tuscany development - a subdivision of single- family homes priced in the $250,000 to $500,000 range. Attached housing most definitely does not reflect the aesthetics of the community. Allowing a commercial plaza with all the retail properties, food services and drinking establishments listed in the application, plus attached housing, will increase traffic into and out of the plaza. South Eagle Road will not be widened for at least four more years, and neither it nor Amity Road will be able to handle the additional traffic. There is currently a lot of traffic at that intersection when people are going to or coming from work, even though a traffic circle was implemented to ease congestion. The applicants' proposal to extend four streets from their Commercial Plaza into the Tuscany subdivision, to connect with South Eagle Road, is their way of solving the problem. Four streets within Tuscany (Mount Etna Drive, Taormina Drive, Santo Stefano Drive, and S. Burgo Way), all with homes, sidewalks and driveways on them, will be used to support the existing Arterial (Major) roads which can't handle the traffic. One of them even has a community pool on it. This increase in vehicle traffic is potentially dangerous to the families living in the development and our hope is that ACHD will not allow it. A traffic study commissioned by the developer, The Land Group, is designating these streets in the Tuscany development to function as Commercial Collector roads. The Ada County Highway District "Livable Street Design Guide" defines Collector roads as connecting to arterial roadways, which they don't currently do, having posted speed limits between 25 and 35 mph (they are currently posted as 25 mph) and NOT providing direct access to individual residences, which the streets currently do provide. We are extremely worried about the safety of our children if any roads in the development are turned into "feeder" roads for a commercial plaza. We have children who toss a ball back and forth in the street and smaller children whose bikes sometimes get away from them on their driveways — which all slope downhill, toward the street. We enjoy washing our cars in the driveway on summer weekends, with neighbor children and their friends playing or riding bikes around us. We LOVE all the Trick or Treaters we get - literally hundreds of them! - their parents watching from the streets and sidewalks, visiting with other parents and those of us handing out candy. We watch the little children dress up in their snow gear and head outside, hopeful that wearing their snowsuits will actually bring the snow (!) and, when it finally does so, they bring out their snow saucers and sled down their driveways ... into the street. They're kids - what do they know of Commercial Collector roads going through their neighborhoods. They're used to other community residents who drive 20 - 2S mph through these streets, always keeping an eye out for them, for balls or wayward pets who might be chased by children, our most precious treasures. The developer is recommending that Tuscany be the one exception in the whole Treasure Valley to have four of their residential streets turned into Commercial Collector roads. We may be the first but, if this is allowed to go through, we can assure everyone moving to Ada County in the future that we will not be the last. Other cities in the country will not allow proposed developments if the major roads in the area cannot handle the increased traffic; many of them require the developers to build new roads or pay for enlarging them. If this is the way the cities of the Treasure Valley are going to solve the transportation issues that come with high growth, we can say goodbye to all those "Best Places to Live" recognitions. Mayor de Weerd, we wanted to bring this to your attention and to the attention of the City Council, as this is a dangerous precedent to set. We are also copying some of the media on this communication because we can't help feeling there are some "movers and shakers" behind the scenes forcing this development through. It doesn't make sense otherwise. The Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map designation of Low Density Residential for this property indicates that those tasked with planning thought single-family homes were the best outcome for this property. We agree with that. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to express our concerns with this proposed project. Sincerely, cc: Meridian City Council City of Meridian 33 E. Broadway Avenue, Suite 300 Meridian, Idaho 83642 Keith Bird, President Joe Borton, Vice President Luke Cavener, City Council Member Genesis Milam, City Council Member Ty Palmer, City Council Member Anne Little Roberts, City Council Member Machelle Hill, Deputy City Clerk, City Clerk's Office 33 E. Broadway Avenue, Suite 104 Meridian, Idaho 83642 cc: Meridian Planning Staff and Planning and Zoning Commission City of Meridian 33 E. Broadway Avenue, Suite 102 Meridian, Idaho 83642 C. Caleb Hood, Planning Division Manager Josh Beach, Associate City Planner, Current Planning Group Rhonda McCarvel, Planning and Zoning Commission Member Ryan Fitzgerald, Planning and Zoning Commission Member Steven Yearsley, President, Planning and Zoning Commission Gregory Wilson, Planning and Zoning Commission Member cc: Ada County Highway District 3775 Adams Street Garden City, Idaho 83714 Bruce Wong, Director Kent Goldthorpe, President, ACHD Commission & District 4 Representative Mindy Wallace, AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners), Planning Review Section cc: C. L. "Butch" Otter, Governor, State of Idaho Office of the Governor State Capitol P.O. Box 83720 Boise, Idaho 83720 KBOI TV (CBS, Channel 2) 140 N, 161h Street Boise, Idaho 83702 KIVI TV (ABC, Channel 6) 1866 E. Chisholm Drive Nampa, Idaho 83687 KTVB TV (NBC, Channel 7) 5407 W. Fairview Avenue Boise, Idaho 83706 Holly Beech, Reporter Meridian Press, edition of the Idaho Press -Tribune hbeech@my_meridianpress.com Idaho Press -Tribune Mailing address: PO Box 9399 Nampa, ID 83652 Idaho Statesman newsroom@,idahostatesman.com. 1200 N. Curtis Road Boise, Idaho 83706 Valley Times PO Box 166 Star, Idaho 83669 Mr. Bob Miller Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Albertson's LLC 250 Parkcenter Blvd Boise, ID 83706 Letter to Tammy de Weerd, Mayor, City of Meridian requesting changes to Firenze Plaza Development Nsme (print) signature Address << - Meridian, Idaho 83642 ti Meridian, Idaho 83642 d y f ,.. _�. Meridian, Idaho 83642 �U07 fel yt �I Meridian, Idaho 83642 Ise, L Meridian, Idaho 83642 Meridian, Idaho 83642 C1(� C7 -Tc� ,rrt�U -PG'. �. 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