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Home My WebLink About2-17.3-17.Addendum Tree Farm Reconsideration Request - 3/6/17LYNN Wm. SOUT14AM 6408 North Salvia Way Meridian, Idaho 83646 (303) 916-1009 lwslawkgmail.com March 3, 2017 The Honorable Mayor Tammy de Weerd and Members of the Meridian, Idaho, City Council 33 East Broadway Avenue, Suite 300 Meridian, Idaho 83641 Received MAR 0 6 JUf-7 Legal Department City of Meridian Re: Addendum to the Appeal regarding Tree Farm Subdivision (H2O16-0128) filed February 16, 2017 Dear Mayor de Weerd and Members of the Meridian City Council, The following is presented as an addendum to my letter of February 16, 2017. On behalf of the Advisory Committee to our HOA and residents of SpurWing Greens, I respectfully request that you review the following items and then reverse the Council's prior decision to approve the Tree Farm Development referenced above. 1. The preliminary plat that the City of Meridian relied upon in its consideration of the application for the Tree Farm Subdivision DID NOT address construction traffic and only accounts for homeowner Average Daily Trips which, with current construction activity in SpurWing Greens, has increased on a regular basis with every new home completed. 2. Traffic on Tree Farm Way has continued to increase almost daily since the last traffic study conducted by ACHD. With the approximately 100 lots remaining in SpurWing Greens, and the existing neighboring communities, the Average Daily Trips will exceed 4,000 trips per day before the first phase of the first phase of the proposed Tree Farm Development is completed. That will add another estimated 350 Average Daily Trips bringing the total to 4,300 on a street that ACHD has stated in their policy should not exceed 3,000 Average Trips Daily.. 3. The City of Meridian Fire Department, it appears, concluded that the developer's project would not impact emergency vehicle access to the Tree Farm Subdivisions by use of Tree Farm Way based on the ability of Fire Department and Emergency Services to use the "secondary" access to SpurWing Greens. It did not disclose that this "secondary access" is through a locked, privately gated (requiring an access code to open), single lane unimproved non -city street, through a private golf course, between SpurWing Greens and the SpurWing subdivisions. 4. Further, it appears this approval was granted with knowledge that the Average Daily Trips had already been reported by ACRD and that this decision was made prior to consideration of the ACHD staff recommendation that Tree Farm Way already exceeded the maximum Average Daily Trips for a secondary street and that access to the Tree Farm Subdivision should be from Black Cat. 5. Attached are two written requests (Exhibits 1 and 2 to this letter) sent by Sue Fillman, a resident and member of the SpurWing Greens Advisory Committee, to the contact named by Mark Tate at the November meeting. These requests asked for information on traffic counts and additional information from Mr. Tate or his representatives. Both of these requests were ignored and never answered? 6. Current traffic on southbound Tree Farm Way, while waiting for signal operations to turn left onto Chinden Blvd. at peak traffic hours, 7:00 a. m. — 9:00 a. in., have exceeded seven (7) vehicles on numerous occasions. When that happens, it places the seventh vehicle in the intersection of Tree Farm Way and Tree Haven Way thus preventing access to Tree Farm Way by vehicles coming from Jayker. 7. Elementary and High School buses stop on north bound Tree Farm Way at Jayker. That causes northbound traffic behind the buses to backup to Chinden Avenue. On occasion this has prevented additional traffic from making right hand turns from Chinden onto Tree Farm Way. The Middle School bus stop was moved to the stop sign on the southeast corner of Tree Haven Way and Tree Farm Way last year apparently to avoid this very type of congestion. S. Recently one of our residents, Gary Walker, encountered a large construction truck driving on Gary's side of Tree Farm Way forcing Gary to stop his car. Gary asked the driver what he was doing on the wrong side of the road. The driver responded that his truck could not make the proper right turn from Tree Haven Way onto Tree Farm Way and therefore had to drive on Gary's side of the road. Gary told him he could not do that. The driver simply got in his truck and started to drive south and Gary had to back his car down Tree Farm Way to Jayker in order to clear the roadway. Gary, a retired sheriff commander, called our Meridian police and reported the incident. 9. In light of the foregoing, there is a glaring omission of any trust fund requirements for the purpose of the developer installing the signal light or required improvements (AT ANYTIME) in the future for the intersection at Blackcat & Chinden, - even after Phase II of its project is completed. 10. Posting of the required "Notice of Public Hearing" signage appears to have been done so that they would not be visible to residents of SpurWing Greens. A. One sign was posted at the end of a dead-end street off Pira on where there are no homes or traffic and which was obscured by a huge mound of snow during the critical period just prior to the hearing. A photo of that sign was attached to my earlier letter to you. B. The second sign was posted two tenths (.2) of a mile, more than a thousand (1,000) feet, north of Chinden at the end of the dead-end extension of Black Cat. This is the very road the developer has claimed it could not use for construction traffic as it is not easily accessible. 'Yet it is where M3 chose to place a "Notice of Public Hearing" sign. There is only one home on this street and it is at the furthest point north of Chinden where no traffic goes. Exhibit 3 is a photograph of the stop sign on south bound Black Cat where it intersects with Chinden. This photograph shows street signs for Black Cat and Chinden plus a yellow sign that has an arrow on it pointing north and warns travelers that this is a "Dead End street." No residential traffic uses this street. C. The last sign was not posted on a public road. Rather, it was placed on a narrow dirt strip connecting Tree Farm Way and Black Cat. The public does not use this dirt (often extremely muddy) route to get to Black Cat. These three signs were discovered by residents of our community as a result of a serious search to find them after they learned of a possible subdivision project west of SpurWing Greens. And no sign was ever placed at or near the single entrance to SpurWing Greens so that the affected residents might see it. 11. Finally, the City could invite Deputy Fire Chief Palmer to share his present thoughts about the developer's request to use Tree Farm Way as its access route to the construction area rather than requiring it to improve Black Cat as it will have to do if it is to complete the project as submitted to the City for approval. Copies of correspondence, including emails, between his office and the developer, as well as any other person or entity concerned with this project, may be very beneficial to the City in the resolution of this appeal. On behalf of our community, I respectfully ask that you reconsider your previous decision and require M3 to develop Black Cat and install appropriate intersection signage permitting ingress and egress to the proposed development and to not use Tree Farm Way for its construction traffic. Otherwise, foreseeable hazards will be visited on the residents of SpurWing Greens as M3 uses their neighborhood to its sole advantage. Sincerely, cc: Office of the Meridian City Attorney 3/4/201.7 Fwd: meeting November 2- iwsiaw@gmail.com - Gmai[ From: Susan Fillman <SueFlllman live.com> ent: Tuesda ,November 1, 2p16 1:p4 PM To: I�tivatl<insPiub.com Subject: meeting November 2 Hello --- I serve on the advisory board for the SpurWing Greens HOA and also the Brighton HOA Board transition team. Lots of concerns have been expressed to me regarding the proposed residential development to the west of SpurWing Greens. You may have a good turnout on Wednesday, November Z. I am hoping that on November 2 you will be able to address the extension of Black Cat Road, its timing, and how this development while under construction will impact the intersection of Tree Farm Way and Chinden Blvd. We are rapidly approaching (from what ACRD told us earlier this year) the maximum threshold for daily trips at this intersection. We were told that reaching the threshold will trigger the requirement far the extension of Black Cat Road. Was the recent traffic count done by your folks? Do you have those figures available? Will construction crews use the existing Black Cat Road to gain access to the property for pre -development work? Residents in here have expressed great concern about additional congestion at Tree Farm Way and avoiding Tree Farm Way during construction will go a long way in alleviating those concerns. Thanks for your time. Sue Fillman EXHIBIT 1 3/4/2017 Fwd: meeting November 2- Iwslaw@gmall.com - Gmail From: Susan Fillman <SueFillman@live.com> Sent: Wednesday, Novem er 16, 201611:11 AM To: kwatkins@iub.corn Cc: Bob Neufeld Subject: Re: meeting November 2 Hello - Your email address was provided as the contact for questions regarding the proposed development to the west of SpurWing Greens. If you are not the correct person to address my questions, would you kindly forward my email to the proper individual or provide me with their contact information? I'm hoping that by now you have some information you can share with the SpurWing Greens homeowners regarding the traffic count you completed at our Tree Farm Way entrance in October. How many daily trips were there please? Thanking you in advance for a reply, Sue Fillman ■ EXHIBIT 3