HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-07-17Meridian City Council July 17, 2018.
A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:02 p.m., Tuesday, July
17, 2018, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Tammy De Weerd, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Ty Palmer, Anne
Little Roberts, and Treg Bernt.
Members Absent: Genesis Milam
Also present: C.Jay Coles, Bill Nary, Cameron Ariel, Caleb Hood, Chris Pope, David
Miles, Brian Harper, Joe Bonjiorno, Mike Barton and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll -call Attendance:
Roll call.
X Anne Little Roberts X Joe Borton
X Ty Palmer X Treg Bernt
Genesis Milam X Lucas Cavener
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: I would like to start tonight's meeting with welcoming all of you to our City
Council meeting. For the record it is Tuesday, July 17th. It's two minutes after 6:00.
We will start with roll call attendance, Mr. Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join us in the
pledge to our flag.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Community Invocation by Justin McMurdie with Park View Christian
Church
De Weerd: Okay. Item No. 3 is our community invocation. We will be led tonight by
Pastor Justin McMurdie with Parkview Christian Church. I will ask that you join us in the
community invocation or take this as an opportunity for a moment of reflection. Thank
you for joining us.
McMurdie: If you will bow your heads with me. Father God, first let me say thank you
on behalf of all who are gathered here today. Thank you for the many things that you
give us, the many blessings you give us in our lives. Thank you for all the wonderful
things that we have in this community and I thank you for these Council Members and
the Mayor and those are involved in government and bringing petitions to this Council. I
thank you that we all together can work to make a wonderful community to live in and so
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I thank you for the blessing of being able to be here in Meridian and in the Treasure
Valley and I just asked that tonight as the Council goes forward that you would, Lord
God, just give wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interests and issues of our times,
that you would give a clear sense of what is best for the citizens of Meridian, that you
would give a strong thirst for the Council to promote justice and compassion and that
you would help there to be harmony and clarity even when there is disagreement.
Thank you for this opportunity on behalf of Parkview Christian Church and those of the
faith community to give this invocation and I just pray that you would bless the
proceedings here tonight and it's in your name that I pray in my faith tradition Jesus,
amen.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: Justin McMurdie, is this Justin McMurdie, Class of '94, Pocatello High School?
McMurdie: Yes.
Bernt: Same guy?
McMurdie: Yes.
Bernt: Good to see you my man. It's been like 20 plus years. You look exactly the
same. Mine's a little grayer, so we are even. Good to see you.
Item 4: Adoption of Agenda
De Weerd: It's a small world. Item 5. Is there anything under this item?
Coles: Madam Mayor, Item 4, adoption of the agenda first.
De Weerd: I'm sorry. I was rushing this. Item 4, adoption of the agenda.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
Borton: We have two items on the Consent Agenda, K and L, which we are going to
remove and most likely address next week. So, K and L will come off for now. Item 8-
G, we will take it up when we get there, but that's going to be requested to be continued.
So, it will stay on the agenda for now, but that might get moved a week when we get to
it. So, with those two amendments to the Consent Agenda, I move we adopt the
agenda.
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Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as changed. All those in
favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Nary: Madam Mayor, before you vote, I thought on Items K and L Chief Butterfield was
going to be here to -- to talk about those, so you could put them on your Item 7 if you
wish.
De Weerd: No. I talked to Chief Butterfield --
Nary: Okay.
De Weerd: -- and we are moving it to next week.
Nary: Okay. Thank you. Sorry.
Item 5: Future Meeting Topics - Public Forum (Up to 30 Minutes Maximum)
De Weerd: Mr. Clerk.
Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. We had several sign-ups for Item 5. However, in
each of the -- each of the sign-ups indicated that they wished to address topics later on
the agenda, either 8-G or 8-H. Those were the discussion topics addressed within the
sign-ups in Item 5.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. And we apologize for anyone who was here for Item G
-- 8-G. The site was not posted, so we cannot hear any comments regarding this topic.
So, that will be continued. That will be heard on July 24th.
Item 6: Consent Agenda [Action Item]
A. Approve Minutes of June 14, 2018 City Council Budget
Workshop Meeting
B. Castlebridge Subdivision Emergency Access Easement
C. Hill's Century Farm No. 1 Sewer and Water Main Easement
D. Tree Farm Subdivision Sanitary Sewer Easement
E. Tree Farm Subdivision No. 3 Sanitary Sewer Easement
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F. Whiteacre Subdivision No. 5 Sewer Easement #1
G. Whiteacre Subdivision No. 5 Sewer Easement #2
H. Final Plat for Caven Ridge Estates West No. 1 (H-2018-0045) by
New Cavanaugh, LLC , Located South of E. Victory Rd. and
West of S . Standing Timber Way
for
High
I. Final Plat for Wells Subdivision (H-2018-0064) by Schultz
Development Located on the North Side of E. Amity Rd. Near
the NE Corner of S. Locust Grove Rd. and E . Amity Rd.
J. Interagency Mutual Aid and Memorandum of Agreement for
Peace Officer Training between City of Meridian and City of
Nampa Police Department
M. Award of Bid and Approval of Agreement to Post Drilling Inc.
the "WELL 33 Test Well - Construction" project for a Not -
To Exceed amount of $344,990.00
N. Resolution No.18-2086: (H-2015-0017 - Calnon Properties)
Comprehensive Plan Map Amendment to Change the Land Use
Designation on 33+- Acres of Land from Medium High and
Density Residential to Mixed Use Commercial and 22 +- Acres
from Medium, Medium -High and High Density Residential to
Mixed Use Residential for Property Located at 2215 Franklin
Road in the City of Meridian, Idaho.
O. Resolution No. 18-2087: A Resolution Designating The Primary
Records Custodian And Alternate Records Custodian For The
City Of Meridian For All City Departments Except For Law
Enforcement Records; And Designating The Primary Records
Custodian And Alternate Records Custodian For Law
Enforcement Records Of The City Of Meridian; And Providing
An Effective Date
P. AP Invoices for Payment 7/18/18 - $3,818,811.28
De Weerd: Okay. Item 6 is our Consent Agenda.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
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Borton: After the removal of K and L, I would move that we approve the Consent
Agenda as published and for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk attest.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda as amended.
Mr. Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 7: Items Moved From The Consent Agenda [Action Item]
De Weerd: Okay. There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 8: Action Items
A. Request for Contingent Approval of Beer and Wine License
for Potter's Tea House Located at 917 N. Main Street
De Weerd: Item 8 under Action Items, I just thought it would be helpful to talk about the
land use process. After the public hearing is open on any of these action items, we will
have a staff report that discusses the application that is to be considered by our City
Council. Each member of the public -- well, following that we will have our applicant's
response. They have up to 15 minutes to present their application. Following that we
have public testimony. There is a three minute limitation and it will be on the screen in
front of you, the timer, so you're able to also see how much time is left for the testimony.
For larger groups, if you have an HOA that is present that speaks for a larger group,
they will be given up to ten minutes to present on behalf of the larger group. The
applicant is the last to speak to address any issues that were -- that came up during
public testimony -- give them an opportunity to also answer anything that was brought
out from Council during that and, then, the Council deliberates and will make a decision
if they feel like they have all the information needed to make that decision.
De Weerd: So, with that I will -- will move to Item A, which is a beer and wine request
and ask for staff comments.
Coles: Madam Mayor, I think I will kick this off and Mr. Nary can address any details
that I may miss, but as noted on your agenda, Potter's Tea House, which is located at
1917 -- or 917 North Main Street is within 300 feet of a place of worship, which is
Harvest Church, and so as such the code requires that the applicant gets the governing
body's approval to start the process with the application and, then, it will come back for
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final approval once they go through the state process and, then, the county process.
The clerk's office did send notice to Harvest Church requesting if -- or asking them if
they wished to provide any comment on this application. Late yesterday our office did
receive a letter from them that was included in the web packet on -- on your agenda.
So, they did provide comment on that. But that is why it's on your agenda today is
because the code requires within 300 feet of a place of worship the applicant get the
governing body's approval to start the process and, then, end the process.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Nary, do you have anything you would like
to add?
Nary: No, Madam Mayor. I think that Council had requested previously that the
notifications be sent to the adjoining properties and we have done that. They did have I
guess a concern they have raised. The code doesn't really speak to what to do with
that information, other than to make you aware that they had a concern.
De Weerd: Okay. And is there are representative from Potter's Tea House here?
Would you like to make any comment? Okay. Thank you. Council, any questions
regarding the item in front of you?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
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Borton: Just for clarity, the -- it looked like the application was for a beer and wine
license. There was a response back from the church that referenced a liquor license,
but this would be beer and wine only without liquor; is that correct?
Nary: Yes, sir, that's correct.
De Weerd: Again this is the first part of it, but we are seeking direction.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: When I checked the packet the information from the Harvest Church wasn't there
yet, so clarification on whether Harvest Church responded to -- what was their -- what
was the response? Where they -- other than the liquor --
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, so, yeah, the letter refers to a liquor
license at the -- at the -- at the location for the Potter's Tea House and, again, the
church has expressed as their own personal concern with it being near their facility.
There are three other liquor licenses within the same distance from the Harvest Church.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: In some context, have we -- have we recently approved a beer and wine
license --
Nary: Yes.
Borton: -- downtown within 300 feet of another church? Not liquor, but --
Bernt: One. The Vault.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Borton, yes, the Vault
received recently a beer and wine license there immediately across the cross from the
Methodist Church and I think that was the -- the license that prompted the Council to
request that we send notifications to those businesses so they are aware of it. But,
yeah, they -- we have granted that and, I apologize, there is one beer and wine license
across the street from the Harvest Church -- or on the next block and, then, two liquor
licenses within 300 feet.
De Weerd: Okay. Any further questions for staff? Do we have direction from Council?
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we approve the request for a beer and wine license for Potter's Tea
House, located at 917 North Main Street in Meridian.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: And I don't know, maybe this is semantics. Beer. Wine. Liquor. If anybody
has too much of it the end result is the same, but I wonder if it's worth continuing this a
week to at least provide the clarification to Harvest Church as a downtown stakeholder
and see if in light of that if that changes their stance. I'm not sure if anyone else feels
that's warranted or necessary. I think I'm generally in support of the -- of the -- the
request. I just wonder if it's worth doing a little bit additional customer service with the
Harvest Church to make them aware.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Yeah. I certainly agree. And as we have had these come before us in the past
I have been the one that's been asking did we seek comment from the organization that
existed that required us to even have the -- the thing on the agenda. So, I -- yeah, I
would love to make sure that they are understanding what it is and -- and that way we
can understand exactly what it is that their comments are.
De Weerd: In the letter to Harvest Church it does say that Potter's Tea House is
seeking to obtain an alcohol license to serve beer and wine at their location. So, it -- it
was in the letter as to what the intent would be and also as to why they were being sent
the letter to -- to begin with.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: I totally understand the level of respect we have for our neighbors and especially
those of the faith community. I don't know -- I get what Council Member Cavener's
comment was in regard the end result being the same whether it's beer, whether it's,
you know, liquor, whatever. My only concern -- there is already -- like Bill had
mentioned, there is already places downtown Meridian that are within the 300 feet that
have liquor licenses and beer license. So, it seems to me like the precedent has
already been set for the most part and we have -- so, I guess maybe a little guidance,
maybe a little discussion in regard to the precedent that's already been set. I don't
know.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor. I think --
De Weerd: You want to pull your --
Little Roberts: I think by proceeding we can still hopefully accomplish that and have
Potter's and -- and Harvest Church have a more thorough discussion regarding what
their intent is and -- and what they are looking for regarding having a beer and wine
license and just encourage that dialogue to continue.
De Weerd: Well -- and I -- I believe that to walk into Potter's Tea House -- it's not a bar,
it's -- it's more of a lounge type of environment that it's -- it is different from a bar.
Coles: Madam Mayor, if I may provide some clarification as well, Madam Mayor and
Members of the Council, and to Councilman Cavener's specific request and question.
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So, right now on the agenda is the contingent approval for Potter's Tea House, which
simply gives them the approval to start the process. So, now they could go to the state
tomorrow, if the Council decided to approve this application, or just contingent approval
and they could start the process with the county, start it with the state and, then, they
have to come back before this body for final approval and so in the intervening weeks or
days we certainly would be more than happy in the clerk's office to reach out to Harvest
Church, again, to ensure that they understand the intent of the application and at that
point if they wish to provide additional comment or not, have that opportunity, so once it
comes back before this body for the final approval Harvest Church has all the
information if that's necessary.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Question for -- for C.Jay. C.Jay, those typically come back to us on the
Consent Agenda.
Coles: Typically, yes. However, they do not -- they do not need to.
Cavener: I think it would be appropriate that -- if this were to be passed by Council, that
when it came back we would have it under a Department Report or Action Item.
Coles: Absolutely.
De Weerd: Okay.
Cavener: I'm fine with that.
De Weerd: Any further discussion?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Now I have got the letter in front of me, I think that they -- they do understand -
- I mean they use the word liquor, but I don't think that's from the lack of understanding
of what it is that's going to be there given the rest of their language in the letter. So, I
think that if -- if Council is even contemplating not approving this later, that it might be
worth the discussion and -- or maybe what you intend your final vote to be -- hopefully
today rather than let them go through the process to find out. No later. Unless there is
more information you would like to gather between now and then, of course, you could
change your minds, but I do think they understand what the intent is and are asking us
not to approve it.
De Weerd: Thank you. Mr. Clerk.
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Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, nay; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: Okay. The ayes have it.
MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE NAY. ONE ABSENT.
B. Public Hearing for Program Year 2018 Community
Development Block Grant Annual Action Plan
De Weerd: We will move to Item B, which is a public hearing for our Community
Development Block Grant annual action plan. So, I will ask Chris to take the mic.
Pope: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, so today we will kind of initiate one of
the concluding parts of the public process for the review of the 2018 Action Plan for the
city's Community Development Block Grant program or CDBG program. For those of
you who are here in the public and not familiar with some of the acronyms, Community
Development Block Grant will probably be referred to as CDBG throughout the rest of
this -- and program your 2018, which reviews the -- the time period between October 1
of 2018 and September 30th of 2019, will be probably referred to as PY-18, just for
clarification there. So, this is -- again, I'm going to go through a pretty quick review of
the amount of funding that we have available for these projects through the grant and
those projects that are being recommended for approval. These have been reviewed
with both the Council and the public and have been available for public comment for the
last month or so. So, there shouldn't be any new information, but I want to review it
really quick. This upcoming year -- or program year we are receiving an increase in our
grant allocation of 73,017 dollars, up to 422,148 dollars for some of the public service
projects that we are recommending for approval. We are recommending 13,000 dollars
be given to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Ada County, which is aimed at their scholarship
program, which will, hopefully, help at least 50 low to moderate income families provide
services to children who are in need of their programs. Another 30,000 dollars to the
Meridian Food Bank, which with his money will target around 2,000 needy, hungry
individuals in the -- in the community. Another 10,000 to the Education Foundation for
West Ada School District for their Housing Plus High School Equals Success program,
which is hopefully going to help at least 15 unaccompanied homeless youth mitigate
some of the housing and other needs that they have. And, then, 10,000 dollars to
Jesse Tree of Idaho, which provides emergency rental assistance and homeless
prevention programs, hoping to reach out to at least ten families through this program
with this money this year. That's our public service projects that we are recommending.
There is another four projects. One is a public facility project that the money will be
given to the Department of Public Works to install streetlights along East Chateau
Avenue in the amount of 61,178 dollars. You can see on the map the -- the length of
that street and where those lights will go. This is a prime pathway to school for those
who are attending on Chief Joseph Elementary, as you can see here on the map, which
it kind of makes this a priority project. In addition another 180,000 dollars to be
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leveraged through Meridian Development Corporation to improve right of way -- the
right of way along East 3rd Street in the downtown core and also assisting some of the
core and key infrastructure changes that will facilitate ProBuilds on expansion. In
addition to that, we have a couple of other projects. The Meridian Library District has
asked for 77,970 dollars to raise their restrooms to be ADA compliant and around
30,000 dollars for the Ada County Housing Authority to help with home buyer assistance
programs, helping at least three families on this year. In addition, we are
recommending 35,000 dollars for the grant administration and fair housing activity cost
for this upcoming year. So, those are the ones that we are recommending for funding
and their amounts. We have kind of vetted those and we have -- more than happy to
have another conversation. Just as a note that today is a public hearing only. The
public comment period will continue after today until next Tuesday. At that point I will
come before you again and -- and offer any revisions, take any final comments, and ask
for approval of the plan. Just, again, to note, we will not be seeking any approvals
today, just the public hearing. And kind of getting back -- some backup projects, there
are three lighting installation projects similar to the one along East Chateau throughout
the community that we have as backup projects in the case that there are others that
have been recommended that follow through -- that fall through rather. To give you a
quick update of where we have come with this, on June 15th the plan was published to
the public and was noticed online and in the newspapers and the Meridian Press
Tribune and also in the Idaho Statesman. There were a couple of other articles online
as well where this was circulated. Last week there was a presentation by some of the
new sub recipients that we are recommending for approvals, so you can kind of get
more information on the new projects and, then, today we will undergo the public
hearing and take any comments and next week we will seek approval at that point and,
then, submit to HUD assuming it all goes well and that there aren't any changes that
need to be made after that point. I do want to -- before we get into taking public
testimony today, there was only one comment that was received over the last 30 days.
I received the e-mail from Rob Porter, who is a Meridian resident living in Bridgetower. I
-- I need to read his comment on the record and it is -- it's a little lengthy. Feel free to
time me, but I will read this to you really fast, just so that we have it on the record.
These are word for word what Rob had sent me in an e-mail. He said: I appreciate the
work you do for our city and the families who live here. I saw an article in the Meridian
Press about how the city was seeking public comment on the use of 422,000 grant
dollars from the Community Development Block Grant program. I would like to submit
we create a signaled pedestrian crosswalk near the Bridgetower neighborhood on
Ustick. The crosswalk would benefit hundreds of people, encourage families to walk
more and drive less and address an access barrier for our community -- for our
community members to use the Five Mile Creek pathway and Reta Huskey Park. As we
know with increasing population many of our roads have become quite congested,
especially through -- especially those with single lanes. Such is the case on Ustick
between Linder and Ten Mile. Neighborhoods along the street must go to the major
intersections to cross safely or to cross Ustick or dart between cars going 40 plus miles
per hour. There is a chapel on the southside of Ustick between Ten Mile and Linder that
services four congregations and hundreds of families. There are more than 600
individuals in the Bridgetower and Velano Creek neighborhoods that are assigned to
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that chapel. Over 300 individuals consistently use the chapel on a weekly basis,
sometimes two or more times a week. All these individuals live less than a mile from
the chapel and many choose to drive themselves and their children, because it is safer
than to cross Ustick. A signaled crosswalk would encourage us to walk more and drive
less, less driving equals less impact on our environment and more time for families to
enjoy the best of Idaho's weather in a safe manner. Additionally, Meridian, with a
tremendous amount of foresight, is trying to develop pathways off the main streets of
four -- or Five Mile Creek pathway is one of the longest community pathways currently
in development. The easiest access for neighborhoods on the southside of Ustick is
Tower Bridge Road. If we are honest about safety, there is no safe bike path along Ten
Mile north of Ustick to access the Ten Mile -- or the Five Mile Creek pathway. Signal
pedestrian crossing on Ustick would open up access to the Five Mile pathway and
benefit hundreds of families in those neighborhoods. We love this area. We are glad
we moved here. But we know there are headaches that come with growth. We are
thankful for the public comment request and urge you to consider this project as we try
to maintain a family friendly community. Would you, please, let me know if there is an
application or signatures I need to obtain for our community. I would love to know how
to proceed if this project could be considered with these grant funds. Thank you. Rob
Porter. Just so that Council is aware, this comment is -- has been accepted and will be
included in the action plan, but the content and the -- of the request cannot be -- does
not really change anything that is -- that is in our action plan as the project itself is -- is
an ineligible project given its nature and its location. I don't really want to get into all the
details of why it's not eligible, but that was explained to Mr. Porter and he was -- he was
okay with that, as long as we got this on the record. So, that -- that is a suggestion by
this community member. That is the only public comment that has been received and I
would entertain opening the public hearing on any other comments that might -- or
testimony that could be given today in person.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions for Chris at this time?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Chris -- and I likely missed it, but I just was curious -- if I remember correctly,
the Boys and Girls Club was the recipient of a similar amount last year. Just curious.
Did they expend the entire fund balance allocated to them or was it a reduced amount?
Pope: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, so they received 10,000 dollars I think
for the last four years. They have expended the entirety of it all four years. This last
year they have not expended it yet. Generally speaking how it works is they will ask for
reimbursement for the scholarship money, which is in the entirety of the amount that
they have been allocated at the end of August or the beginning of the school year. So,
at this time, technically, no. We have every expectation that they will over the next two
months and that this year we are -- there is an increased amount of 3,000 dollars year
over year of what we have seen -- what we have given them before due to the need and
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we have every amount of confidence that they will be able to expand it within the time
period that they are contractually obligated to do so.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, additional questions.
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Cavener: Chris, any concerns about any of the applicants' ability to provide
communication or work with the CDBG administrator with any type of reporting,
timelines, et cetera, like that that we need to be aware of?
Pope: Madam Mayor, Council Member Cavener, this year, no, we do not. As part of
our application process this year we did a pretty robust risk assessment of all of the
applicants, both of their project and their program and support the institutional
capacities. In addition, we intend to make sure that every subrecipient is made aware
of all of the requirements and hold them pretty -- pretty strictly to the fire when it comes
to that and in terms of their contractual obligations and also the expectations of the city
and Council.
Cavener: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who wishes to provide
testimony on this item? Okay. Well, we will continue this until next week and I would
entertain -- do we need a motion to continue this? Yes, we do.
Pope: Madam Mayor, we -- we don't -- from an administrative standpoint we don't need
to continue it. The public comment period is kind of an informal thing that is underway
and it can be continued if needed. But the public hearing portion of this is not mandated
to continue until next week, if you would like --
De Weerd: In our meeting protocol, because it is a public hearing, we do need a motion
to continue, so -- or to close.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Appreciate the comments, Chris. Again, because we have so many members
of the public here, I just want to share to our citizens Chris Pope is an incredible
employee for the City of Meridian who does great work looking out for all of our citizens
of both those underserved and our average taxpayer citizen and this process is --
comes across very simple, very fluid, and it's due in no small part to your great work.
So, thank you, Chris. I appreciate that. I do think that for the sake of the public, to give
them the opportunity to provide additional comment is needed is warranted, so I move
that we continue the public hearing for the program your 2018 CDBG annual action plan
to next week.
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Palmer: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to continue this. All those in favor say aye.
All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: So, this was continued to the 24th and at that time we will seek action by
the Council.
C. Public Hearing for Parks and Recreation Proposed
Updated Sports Fees
1. Resolution No. 18-2088: A Resolution Adopting Fee
Schedule Of The Meridian Parks And Recreation Department;
Authorizing The Meridian Parks And Recreation
Department To Collect Such Fees; And Providing An
Effective Date.
De Weerd: Okay. Item 8-D is a final plat on H-2018 -- oh, boy. I really want to skip
over things. I apologize.
Cavener: You're the chair.
De Weerd: 8-C is a public hearing for Parks and Recreation proposed updated sports
fees and there is the sports guy. You're not Garrett.
Barton: I will be quick. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we are requesting a
fee update to four of our adult sports programs. These fee updates -- these increases
are to keep up with some of the rising cost of the program. We have had the increases
reviewed by the Finance Department and published -- published these on July 6th and
July 13th and we are asking for your approval this evening. With that I will stand for any
questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions for Mike?
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: Are these increases normal? Do we increase these amounts every year for the
most part?
Barton: Madam Mayor, Councilman Bernt, it's -- these -- these programs specifically
have not been increased for a couple years and it's primarily due to -- it's just pass -
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through items, so we are -- we are being charged more for umpires and referees so --
so, it's a pass through.
Bernt: Perfect. Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions at this time? Okay. Thank you, Mike.
Barton: Thank you.
De Weerd: This is a public hearing on our Parks and Recreation fees for sports. Is
there any public testimony? Okay.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: I move that we approve resolution number 18-2088, adopting a fee schedule of
the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department, authorizing the Meridian Parks and
Recreation Department to collect such fees and provide an effective date.
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt, I first need you to close the public hearing, but I thought I wouldn't
interrupt you.
Cavener: It was a great job, though.
Bernt: Did you like that?
De Weerd: It was really well read.
Bernt: I move that we close the public hearing.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing on Item 8-C. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Bernt: Do I have to do it again?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt. You did it so well.
Bernt: Okay. Do I -- I'm going to do it a little bit quicker this time.
De Weerd: Okay.
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Bernt: I move that we approve Resolution No. 18-2088, a resolution adopting the fee
schedule mentioned previously.
Borton: Second.
Little Roberts: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-C-1. Mr. Clerk, will you call
roll.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
D. Final Plat for Bainbridge Hess Subdivision No. 2 (H-2018-0058)
by Dallas Hess, Inc. Located '/4 Mile South of W. Chinden Blvd.
and East of N. Black Cat Rd.
De Weerd: Item 8-D is a final plat on H-2018-0058. I will ask for staff comments.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. The next item on the
agenda is the Bainbridge Hess Subdivision No. 2 and, really, the primary reason why
this is on the agenda this evening is staff did not receive comment from the applicant in
a timely manner to get it pulled off and put on the Consent Agenda, but we did receive
written testimony from the applicant. They are in agreement with all conditions of
approval of the staff report and I will conclude my -- my presentation and just ask for
your approval this evening.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions? If not, I would entertain a motion.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I move we approve Item H-2018-0058.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-D. Mr. Clerk, will you call
roll.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
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De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
E. Final Plat for Baraya Apartments Subdivision (H-2018-0065) by
Schultz Development Located Near the SW Corner of S. Ten
Mile Rd. and W. Franklin Rd.
De Weerd: A final plat for H-2018-0065 also falls under the comments that the previous
item was. They -- they turned their comments in too late for the agenda, so they were
published under Action Items. Council, any questions on this item? If not I would
entertain a motion.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I move we approve Item H-2018-0065.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-E. Mr. Clerk, will you call
roll.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
F. Final Plat for East Ridge Estates Subdivision No. 1 (H-2018-
0062) by DevCo, LLC Located North of E. Lake Hazel Rd. and
West of S. Eagle Rd.
De Weerd: Item 8-F is a final plat H-2018-0062 and I will ask for staff comments.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. The next item on the
agenda is the East Ridge Estates No. 1 final plat. Again, the applicant did provide
comments on the staff report, but there is one issue with one of the conditions of
approval. It's really not an issue, it's more of a procedural process that they need to go
through. So, in the staff report that we have proposed, if you look at the purple arrow
here on the graphic, there is actually an irrigation easement along the buildable lots of
the subject plat. The code is very clear that that has to be in a common lot when it's
wider than ten feet, unless waived by Council through a public hearing process and
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because a final plat is not a public hearing, but a public meeting, the applicant, if he so
chooses to desire to go the easement route -- common lot route will have to bring forth
a miscellaneous application and conduct a public hearing in order for you to take action
on that specific request. But I would share with Council and the Mayor that there is a
condition to do either/or. So, you are more than welcome to make -- approve the final
plat this evening and just leave that condition and the applicant just understands that he
will not receive city engineer signature unless that condition is satisfied, either through a
common lot or the miscellaneous application to keep it on the buildable lot.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you for that clarification. Is the applicant here tonight? Do
you have any comment? Okay. But understanding. Okay. Council, any questions?
Okay. If not I would entertain a motion.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I move that we approve the final plat H-2018-0062, with staff and applicant
comments and particularly to the flexibility described within Condition 5-E.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-F. If there is no
discussion, Mr. Clerk.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
G. Public Hearing for Costco Wholesale (H-2018-0066) by
Costco Wholesale Located generally at the southwest corner
of W. Chinden Blvd./SH-20/26 and N. Ten Mile Rd.
1. Request: Modification to the Development Agreement to
include conceptual building elevations
De Weerd: Item 8-G, a public hearing for H-2018-0066, has been requested to continue
to July 24th. The site was not posted, so we cannot take comment. We apologize for
any inconvenience if any of you were here for Item G.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
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Cavener: I guess a question. If my memory serves me right, this is the fourth time in a
short series of months that we have had this same issue. I guess maybe -- and I don't
know if it's worth the conversation to Council in the future about business practices and
if Council is getting in the way or what's causing this issue to occur -- it seems
somewhat frequently.
De Weerd: Bill, can you comment as to the posting and verification?
Parsons: Madam Mayor, I'm happy to chime in on kind of what our process is from our
department, so that applicants -- how they are notified as to when to post the site. So,
right now what -- what typically happens is we receive an application, we process that.
We schedule a hearing. An e-mail is auto -generated out of our Accella Enterprise
software to the applicant notifying them of their hearing date and the posting
requirements are attached to that e-mail, so they click on a link and it tells them when
they need to post it and what the sign needs to look like, but that's the -- that's the
process at this point. So, it's typically 30 days out and, then, it's -- I know when
speaking with Sonya on this particular application she even sent a courtesy e-mail to
the applicant reminding them of posting the property and it still was missed. So, we
went above and beyond to make sure that this didn't happen, so we wouldn't have these
situations where we know there may be some citizens in the audience that want to
testify on the application, but in this particular case I think the system works, I don't
know what else we can do it -- do anything better, except maybe I can talk with the team
and staff and see if we can go back to providing that courtesy e-mail to the applicant
and just say, hey, you're ten days out, have you posted the site or give them a week's
notice saying to post the site before your -- you missed a date and you can continue to -
- we certainly don't want to have these projects continued either.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Well -- and the problem, too, is that once we post this in the paper that it --
you can't -- you can't unpost it. Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Madam Mayor and Bill, that's -- that's good to know that it sounds like it -- the
issues are happening on the applicant's side and not on the city's side. I also really
appreciate the use -- and your team will go back and look and see if there is an extra
level of customer service that we can do -- not necessarily for the applicant, but for our
public to come with a certain set of expectations and I can appreciate that on that side
that if I come planned and prepared, I have built my week around coming to testify and
because of an error I can't do that and now I have got to replan for a week later, it can
be very, very frustrating. So, appreciate you and your team trying to find other solutions
to encourage the applicants to make sure things get posted on time. Much appreciated.
De Weerd: I think many of the people sitting in this room know about the posting and
-- and mailing issue, so you can see we have some refining to do. But, certainly, I will
apologize in advance one more time.
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Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Just to get in the weeds just a sliver to that question, the fact that it was
identified as a request to continue seems to imply that there is discretion to open and
conduct the hearing, perhaps not I'll make a decision, or if that discretion doesn't even
exist.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, there is no discretion. You cannot open
a hearing if it hasn't been noticed properly. So, it does have to be continued.
Borton: Without the request -- Madam Mayor? Without the request from the applicant
to continue it, it would be a request by our staff to continue it based upon improper
noticing?
Nary: Yes, sir.
De Weerd: Okay. I do need a motion to continue this.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I move we continue project -- file H-2018-0066 to July 24th.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to continue this item to July 24th. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
H. Public Hearing Continued from June 19, 2018 for Timber Creek
Recycling (H-2018-0042) by Michael Murgoitio located at 7965
S. Locust Grove Rd.
1. Request: Amendment to the Development Agreement to include
the following : expansion of the existing recycling business to allow
a commercial composting component; recycling of additional
materials (i.e. food waste, garden waste, demolition debris, and
other materials in the same category); utilization of equipment (i.e.
loaders, excavators, conveyors, trommels, hopper boxes, air
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systems/compressors, generators, windrower, crusher, grinder,
watering trucks, loaders, graders, tractors with implements, fork lifts
and other heavy equipment) and activities (i.e. crushing, grinding ,
screening, windrowing, unloading/unloading trucks , etc.)
necessary for composting; modification of the property to include
a weather station, scale house, bathroom with a septic system,
storage shed (approximately 40'x 8'), leaching ponds and berms;
parking of delivery trucks and heavy equipment; and marketing and
sale of processed recycling materials including but not limited to
mulch, compost, bark, playground chips, sand, stone, etc.
De Weerd: And our next item 8-H was appropriately posted, we just didn't get the
mailing piece right. So I will open this public hearing on H-2018-0042 with staff
comments.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Tonight's presentation
I'm going to structure it a little bit differently for the -- the audience and the Council,
so --
De Weerd: Oh, I'm sorry, Bill, before you get started, Mr. Nary, I know you had a
comment.
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. I think for the public's
benefit I wanted to make a comment before Bill started. There was a recent story in the
Meridian Press that I think needed some clarification what was reported in it in regards
to this hearing tonight and I would like to at least, for the record, correct any -- any
misperceptions that might have been left by that article. The application before the
Council tonight is for Timber Creek. It has not been heard previously by the City
Council. The news story in the paper -- the news story in the paper in the online version
implied at least to me and to others that the purpose of the hearing tonight was to grant
this application. It does allow the applicant to begin a composting program with the City
of Meridian. That's not correct. The city Solid Waste Advisory Commission in February
of this year asked for our service provider Republic Services to provide the commission
with information on the composting services -- service for our citizens. That service
might include this site. It also could include others. No additional discussions were had
by the city, the commission, or Republic Services about this since that request in
February. I did speak with Rachele Klein of Republic Services today and she did
confirm that they are still exploring that type of program and how it could be handled
and managed by Republic Services, but no commitments of any kind have been made
with the city or with Republic Services or with the applicant in this case in regards to this
application tonight. There was also a comment in the public records -- the city's Public
Works Department had met with the applicant to discuss a business relationship with
the city and Timber Creek. That discussion is not related to this application, it was not
related to composting, it was related to a different use by the city and no additional
discussion has occurred since that -- that one visit and it's not related, again, to this
application. So, the city hasn't engaged with the applicant in any way. The city doesn't
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have a business relationship with the applicant. And even if a composting program
were to occur with the city, there is a number of steps that has to occur before that
happens and the cities relationship would only be with its provider Republic Services
and not the applicant. I think the story, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council -- I was
concerned that it left a different impression to the public prior to you hearing this
application tonight and I wanted to at least clear that up before you start.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Bill.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor. As I was saying, tonight's presentation is going to
be structured a little differently than what the Council has been used to in the past. I
think in our hearing outline this evening we have kind of addressed what the summary
of the application is, let you know what staff's concerns are with the proposed use and,
then, conclude with some written testimony and a summary of what that written
testimony entailed, so that you can make an informed decision on this application this
evening. I would also mention to the public that this application was continued from the
June 19th hearing due to some noticing issues, but we had those resolved, as Mayor
stated, and also wanted to let the public know that because of the industrial nature of
this use staff has actually went above and beyond the noticing requirements of 1,000
foot radius, in lieu of the 300 foot radius required by the ordinance. So, that applicant is
here this evening to discuss a development agreement modification before City Council
this evening. The site consists of 156.5 acres of land currently zoned R-4 and it's
located on the northwest corner of Locust Grove and Columbia Road on the vicinity
map on the left-hand side. To the right of that is the exhibit of the concept -- concept
plan that shows what they are proposing to do if the proposed expansion is allowed to
happen. If Council remembers, this particular property was part of the 2015 annexation
that the city processed. At that time there was a development agreement that was
executed between the city and the current owner, the applicant, that specified certain
requirements for this use and how it was to operate. The applicant is here this evening
to discuss changing those requirements as described in the current DA. I would also
make note to the Council that the subject property is designated low density residential
and medium density residential on the city's comprehensive plan. The applicant --
again, I'm going to what their request is. As I stated earlier at the beginning of my
presentation, go into staff's concerns and, then, conclude with written testimony from
the adjacent property owners. So, basically, the applicant is proposing to amend the DA
and add a commercial composting component and retail sales to the existing recycling
operation. As I mentioned to you, the -- the concept plan was submitted which depicts
the layout of the site and location of specific operations. Currently material, such as
wood, grass, leaves, sheetrock and other materials received from the Ada County
Landfill and miscellaneous contractors are recycled and used for the purposes of
farming and sold wholesale. There are no established hours of operation for the current
operation. Additional materials are proposed to be composted that consist of food and
garden waste. Activities associated with the proposed use consist of grinding,
screening, wintering, bagging, use of tarps for covering and storage of material and
delivery trucks parked on the site. When the application was originally submitted to
staff, the applicant did include the crushing of asphalt and concrete, recycling of
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demolition debris and biosolids and that request has since been -- since been removed
from the applicant's request. The use of the site will increase -- will include the use of
noise generating equipment and heavy equipment to conduct the recycling activities.
The applicant is also proposing to construct a scale house, a bathroom with a septic
system, a storage shed, weather station, leaching ponds and berms are also proposed
to be constructed on this site. And, then, the process -- recycled materials, such as
bark, mulch, playground chips, etcetera, are proposed to be marketed and sold as retail
to the public. The DA currently restricts the daily number of truckload deliveries to the
site from different materials. Wood are limited to 20 trips per day. Grass five and
leaves five trips a day -- or, excuse me, ten trips a day and sheetrock deliveries are five,
for a total of 40 truckloads daily. These restrictions are proposed to be removed entirely
from the -- the current DA. Traffic in -- traffic will increase significantly beyond that
generated by the current use with the proposed commercial composting activities. The
applicant's proposal is -- is -- the applicant is proposing to impose their own hours of
operation on the site, which are between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Monday
through Friday and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. An area will be designated where
the general public can drop off their wood products and pick up recycled products. The
proposed composting facility is planning to operate a total of ten years. During the last
five years the applicant intends to conduct an impact study in conjunction with
surrounding developers to determine if -- if after the ten years they need to relocate their
recycling and composting activities to another site. So, basically, the applicants are
proposing a ten year sunset clause with the current DA modification. In our staff report
staff did note some concerns. As I mentioned earlier in the presentation, this site is
currently zoned R-4 and as such that is primarily a residential designation for single
family homes and the app -- and the current use of industrial uses are prohibited.
Again, the applicant has the ability to amend the future land use map, to change it to an
industrial destination to allow for such a use to occur, but staff would not recommend
that would happen given what's currently planned with the FLUM. It's all residential
around it. We don't want to create an enclave of industrial property surrounded by
residential uses. Further, the city does -- the city services are not available to serve the
property. That makes it a little problematic to develop the site. Staff is also -- a quick
example. Back in I would say 2010 the City Council, Planning & Zoning Commission,
we approved a UDC amendment that allowed gravel mining within our jurisdiction. That
was part of South Ridge Development. That applicant was allowed to operate under a
sunset clause with a conditional use permit. During that entire time frame staff received
numerous complaints -- code enforcement and planning had to deal with that on
multiple -- for multiple years to get that issue resolved. We believe doing the same
situation here and expanding an industrial use surrounded by residential could create
the same situation for us. Ultimately what staff decided to do was to amend the UDC
and remove mining from our jurisdiction. So, a quick note. When you look at the UDC,
the primary purpose of zoning is really to segregate uses that are incompatible and
prevent new development from interfering with existing uses and/or to preserve the
character of a community. Proposed use would create just an incompatible use
adjacent to existing and future low density residential properties and impact the rural
residential and agricultural character of this area. Therefore, staff is recommending
denial of the applicant's requested modification to the DA based on the use being
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prohibited in the R-4 district and not being consistent with our current Comprehensive
Plan. So, in closing staff has received many letters of testimony, some for and some
against. The primary concerns included pros and cons submitted with that public
testimony included increased truck traffic entering and exiting the property, increase in
dust, increase in noise, size and height of recycling material piles and potential fire
hazard of compost piles, unpleasant odors, unsightly landscape of the site, limitation of
business hours that the recycling operation is open to the public and that recycling
activities occur to reduce impacts of light pollution and noise on neighbors. Require
fencing around the perimeter of the site, reduced residential property values and less
desirable location with proposed use, concern for pertaining to the water quality on the
site, negative impact on the quality of life for adjacent residents. Some letters of
testimony were in support of a proposed recycling operation there. Also having a
successful composting program in the city of Boise and how that would also help the
City of Meridian residents. Emissions of bio aerosols, needed improvements for
infrastructure to support homes that are currently underdeveloped in the area.
Increased commercial use -- use does not belong in a residential area, that is in an area
that has continued to grow with families. High winds in the area blowing trash and
debris on adjacent properties. Potential for insects to be drawn to the site and, then, in
closing, potential contamination of soils. So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council,
as I alluded to you, staff is recommending denial of this application. I will conclude my
presentation and stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Bill. Council, any questions at this time?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Just one question for Bill. I just want to make sure that my bearings are right.
This -- the 2015 south Meridian annexation, that was the city initiated annexation of a
significant amount of land in south Meridian; is that correct?
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, that is correct. It was city initiated.
De Weerd: Great. Thank you.
Parsons: In conjunction with working with the -- the property owners.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: While we are on that, what -- why did we do that and were there any promises
made on our part as ability to develop that in the future with regard to utilities and
whatnot?
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Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Palmer, part of the
annexation we realized that this use was occurring and that's why we were specific --
had so many specifics in the development agreement to make sure that if anything were
to expand this site would have to come back for Council for approval. As part of those
agreements I know the property owners worked with our Public Works Department to
come up with a plan to provide services. There was a two year plan and a four year
plan that currently services aren't available. I wasn't part of those negotiations, so I
don't know what was discussed as part of that application. All I can do is -- is provide
the insight to you as based on what we are looking at this evening. I don't know if Mr.
Nary can maybe shed some light on that for you or if the applicant can -- can elaborate
on their presentation to Council.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary?
Nary: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Palmer, so
the city made a decision back in 2014 and '15 to expand to the south Meridian south of
Overland and south of Victory. The idea was to move some services further south, but
wanting to find out what interest property owners may have in eventually connecting
services to the city. There was a great deal of interest. We held a number of public
meetings about that and there was a great deal of interest of property owners, both
along the corridor of Highway 69, as well as both on the east side and the west side of
that road for future services. So, the decision by the Council was made to expand the
services. We did do -- and it was approximately 1,300 acres of land had all voluntarily
consented to annex to the city, this being one of them. Each of those properties had a
development agreement attached to it that would allow them to remain doing the same
types of activities they were doing at the time. A designation for a low density
residential would be designated on the property, because the zoning was required at the
time of annexation to be determined. The city did allow them to maintain the existing
uses. There was no agreement to allow them to expand uses without this process
going forward that we are hearing tonight. The city basically committed to building the
infrastructure to the south and each property was identified individually as to what they
were doing. Many were simply open tracts of land that were used for primarily
agriculture and so they were just remaining with the same use as then. This one
uniquely had other uses on the property at the time and that's why you see in this
agreement, different than the others, so truckloads and the amount of -- of waste that
could be brought and the types of traffic that was occurring. All of it was to categorize --
basically catalog what was occurring at the time of annexation. So, the intent of the city
was to annex the properties under a consent request by the property owners was
initiated by the city. The properties could continue to perform and do what they were
doing at the time of annexation until such time they wanted to either change the use that
would be required to either come back for a modification of the development agreement
to do something different than what they were doing or to change the use, expanded the
use, or do something else. Again, this modification process was what was
contemplated at the time. No other commitments to granting them, not granting them of
any of that was ever made, it was simply a contractual agreement between the property
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owners to continue doing what they were doing and if any change were to occur this is
the process it would follow.
Palmer: Madam Mayor? So, is this property part of the deal about making sure that we
ran water and sewer south?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Palmer, so this -- that
particular Public Works project doesn't touch this property. So, yes, this -- that was the
impetus for the city's project to move the services south through the corridor along
Victory, south of -- south of Victory. It doesn't get all the way to this. The idea was as --
as development occurs the to and through process would occur, so that's why right now
this probably doesn't have access to city services. They haven't reached that far yet.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. So -- so, we are -- we have met our obligations of our
promises with regard to being able to provide, as far as we were going to I guess at this
point.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Palmer, yes, the project
isn't complete, but, yes, it's underway for the water and sewer services that are being
moved to the south. That was part of the city's commitment. So, they aren't completed,
but, yes, they are underway.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. But we are behind.
Nary: Yes, sir, I -- oh, sorry. Yes, sir, Council Member Palmer, I think the -- the idea was
to have them done by the end of 2018. I'm not sure what the timetable is for
completion. I know it's not far off of that, but I'm not certain if it's going to be done right
at the end of 2018. It actually was two years from the date. So, I think it's actually
January or so of '119, so --
Palmer: Madam Mayor, one more question. So, if -- if this property hadn't been
annexed into the city, if it was still in unincorporated Ada county, would the application
before us today be necessary for the Commissioners to -- to look at or -- or would he --
the applicant be able to move forward with his plans without government approval?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Council Member Palmer, I honestly can't
tell you what would be allowed in the county or what their process would be to change
or expand or -- or do anything different than what he's doing now. It would be all
through the county. That is correct. I don't know what would be allowed or not.
Palmer: Thanks.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
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Cavener: One additional question, then, for Mr. Nary. Bill, if I remember correctly, it
was a blanket R-4 zoning for all of those properties that participated, with the
understanding that if they had a change of use, then, they would come back to us. Is
that -- is my memory serving me correct?
Nary: Council Member Cavener, you are correct. That is exactly what we did.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I want to say, I don't want to get in trouble by looking up things myself, so I was
wondering if we could get an aerial shot -- maybe of even this same size, but of what
exists there now. Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: So, if Google's date down here at the bottom right is accurate, it looks like this
imagery is from 2018. Are there any residential subdivisions under construction or have
been applied for? Is there anything in the process to be developed around here?
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Palmer, not directly near
the vicinity, but the park is under construction just northeast of it and we can zoom out
and show you, but there might be some in the county or Kuna. Residents out -- that live
in the area know more, but nothing -- other than East Ridge, everything is primarily
extending along Lake Hazel for south Meridian at this point or farther along the Eagle
Road corridor.
Palmer: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: So, Bill, since the city designated all of that R-4 and allowing current uses to
continue, that might be non-compliant, how is -- is the appropriate land uses being
considered during this Comprehensive Plan update or how were these property owners
supposed to come in with anything other than R-4 to be considered?
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I don't know if Caleb has this on his
radar for a change, but I know -- I don't believe it is, because we envisioned this being
an interim use and that's why there were specifics in the DA. It wasn't always meant to
be here and that's why the applicant is proposing a sunset clause, because I don't think
it's his long-term vision to have issues here forever. I think his long-term vision is to sell
this and have some kind of residential subdivision in the future. But I know when we
pre-app'd with them we did encourage him to go speak with the adjacent property
owners, even the developers that own residential land or were planning to develop
residential in the future and see what their thoughts were as part of that -- this
expansion. It wasn't explained in the staff report to you. I don't know what kind of
conversations he's had with the development community, but it's certainly something
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that maybe he can shed some light on as part of his public testimony as to where they --
they see this use fitting in with the adjacent or their long-term vision for this area of
Meridian. But I'm certainly -- staff is not anticipating changing this to an industrial
designation with any comp plan update.
De Weerd: I would understand that, but I guess I just want to make sure that that big
annexation is considered as you look at the Comprehensive Plan and you work with
property owners in this entire area, what is the long-term vision, so --
Parsons: Certainly will. We will have those conversations as we get deeper involved in
that -- that process, Mayor.
De Weerd: Very cool.
Parsons: Thank you.
De Weerd: Any further questions? Mr. Borton.
Borton: Madam Mayor. Briefly. You might have answered it, Bill. Was the reason this
wasn't -- the application wasn't a rezone is because it contemplates a ten year sunset
and extinguishment of this expanded use?
Parsons: Well, originally -- Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Borton,
originally it's -- it's low density and medium density that we mention on the future land
use map, so we can't rezone it to an industrial zoning. They would have to do a comp
plan amendment.
Borton: They would have to do a map amendment.
Parsons: Yes, they have to do a map amendment concurrent with that. That's -- that's
an option we talked about with the current owner and that's why in my presentation we
still don't feel it's appropriate to do -- designate a commercial or industrial use there
when we have -- everything primarily out there is either low density residential or
medium density residential. We still feel the plan is valid at this point. The land use is
appropriate for this particular property. We recognize that the DA does kind of control
what is currently happening on there and that's why we want to really bring it to your
attention and let you know that, you know, we have some concerns with the expansion
of a heavy industrial use on this particular property through a development agreement
process.
Borton: Madam Mayor. That's -- that was some of the initial question at least was if the
intent is to go forward and expanded the use and, appropriate or not, if -- I wasn't
certain why a rezone application with the map amendment. If you want to get to a
certain spot, is that not the right process to get there?
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Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, President Borton, that is the process.
That's the process we have. You process a comp plan amendment and a rezone and
amend the development agreement, because it's tied -- so, there is a -- it's a three
prong approach.
De Weerd: Okay. Any further questions from Council? Okay. Would the applicant like
to make their comments. Good evening.
McKay: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Becky McKay. Engineering Solutions. Business
address 1029 North Rosario. I'm here representing the applicant. We are going to do
kind of a three -pronged presentation this evening to kind of give you an overview of the
legal perspective, the land use perspective, and the operation and no one knows the
operation better than Mike Murgoitio and so he will begin. Thank you.
Murgoitio: Thanks, guys.
De Weerd: Good evening. If you will, please, state your name and address for the
record.
Murgoitio: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, my name is Mike Murgoitio. I am
the managing member of Timber Creek Recycling. We do business at 7695 South
Locust Grove, Meridian, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Murgoitio: We are here for the modification of a development agreement. So, kind of
background of who we are, we have been farming for about a little over a hundred years
in Ada county. I currently farm about 800 acres right here around that site and I have
1,200 head of cattle just north of there about a mile and -- about a mile and a half.
Closer to the sewer line. And what really kind of pushed us into the recycling is our
need for cattle bedding and the -- the mulch that we are recycling holds up a lot better
than straw. Straw breaks down typically under really wet conditions, so we kind of have
been moving forward to try and get more mulch and at a cheaper, more fair price.
Mulch is a lot more humane to the animals. It keeps them a lot drier, less tag, which is
mud and other things that they acquire in a pen. It kind of provides dual process. You
have some of the manures that kind of have some of the high nitrates, which is a lot of
the odors you smell and the -- the carbon inside the mulch pulls that away and ties it up
and it also kind of works for a dual purpose, because, then, you have the nitrates
breaking down the carbon for -- you know, to be available when we apply it in our fields
for our crops. So, this isn't something I started. My grandfather started this about, oh, I
don't know, 25 years ago or more hauling from the sawmills and, then, my dad kind of
came up with the concept of having a grinding deal mixed with this mulch and having
that provide our wood waste. We have kind of a great opportunity, because we -- we
could never get enough mulch. We were always buying straw and straw is just kind of
like a necessary thing, because there is nothing else better. So, when we had a great
opportunity come up, I had a local developer friend of mine had an opportunity to grind
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a bunch of trees up, so we started grinding those up and we thought, man, this is a hot
ticket, you know, we are able to save some money, you know, in grinding it ourselves
and, then, we had a bigger opportunity come up, which was the Ada County Landfill and
when -- when that contract came up we were really looking forward to it, because it was
going to really secure us having a good mulch source for our animals and what's really
even better, too, that contract was in big jeopardy. It about went away, because there
was the -- the previous contractor, who decided he was unable to take and process
enough for that material, he just said, hey, guys, I can't take it. So, they were in a panic.
We were the only one in the state of Idaho to bid on the contract. The other one who
bid on it was trying to go for boiler fuel. When the Balkan hit, the price of natural gas
shut down, there was no opportunity. That's why we really had this closed loop
partnership with -- with the ag world and the community and their waste. Last year we
recycled about a hundred million pounds and what that consists of is food waste. We
kind of have a funny deal. We feed our cattle corn and flour tortillas. They kind of pick
through it and nose through those first. They love them. We also recycle organics,
wood, leaves and the leaves kind of channel this really into the -- the need for -- the
idea for composting. The leaves have kind of a high carbon content and you probably
don't know this, but when you put a soil amendment into a field you really got to have a
good balance of your carbon -- available carbon for the plant and nitrogen. If you had
that you have a great combination. If you just put -- grind up straight leaves and throw it
in the field real quick, it's going to tie up your fertilizer available to the plant or what you
put in. So, it's a good deal over time. You know, it -- it doesn't leave. It still stays there.
But it -- it kind of hurts it over the long run. One thing about what we have here is kind
of a capacity analysis for some of the stuff that we envision on composting and as you
can see the box stores, which we -- we sell to -- directly from the landfill, they have a
low -- very low capacity and this in some of the peak times. Same with wholesale. So,
that's like your nurseries and municipalities, so that's like your -- you know, your Parks.
We currently don't sell there, but that's kind of what we envision through other
communities, what they use. So, you can see the farm is really where it takes it. We
need it. We could take a ton more. This is just what we kind of have been doing, but it
doesn't even touch a fraction of what we need on our farm. So, the risk is in -- when
you have these big box stores, the economic cycle hits, it goes down. You have no
place to go with this stuff and it really puts a security risk to the recycling process, but
when you tie that to a farm -- and that's what my business model tells -- you got to have
the farm tied it up and have a secured use. So, I have studied sites from -- anywhere
from Hawaii to New York, up to Canada. In fact, I was on my honeymoon in Hawaii and
I decided I better go check out a composting facility in LA, so I took a red eye out --
thank God my wife forgive me for that. I feel like it was necessary for what my long-
term vision was. They had some information there that I really wanted to see, so that
kind of explains my dedication to what my vision is for my farm. So, my team is -- my --
my guys, I am very lucky to have the people I have on board and I could not do it
without those people -- I think between my team and my -- our process -- DEQ really felt
like we were a good partner for their -- their -- well, they gave us a pollution prevention
championship award and I'm very proud of that and they really had that to -- or gave it to
us because of our time with the farm and our -- our -- kind of our creativity with how to
implement that into the farm. We have the equipment necessary already for most of
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what we need to do. We have two grinders, we have five loaders, a water truck, two
excavators, screen plant -- you know, we already have the scaled down farm. A couple
things we probably would need is a windrow turner, a couple more conveyors, some
tarps and stuff, but, majority, all that really heavy equipment is already on site. So, it
would be a pretty small deal and we threw in a bagger, just because we are like, you
know, it might be optional for -- if we end up doing something with that retail, that we --
you know, instead of loading up and, you know, some gal's Saturn, we will give her an
option to throw in a bag and do something with it. So, kind of in summary, what our
whole goal is is to, you know, to get the landfill capacity, it has a 76 year window right
now. We want to lower the fertilizer cost of our farm and lower our overall carbon
footprint. Something I'm very proud of is this year we had a -- we -- we did a big study
on -- on no -till farming and upon that there is a no till drill you can use, which has spikes
-- it spikes the ground and aerates it and studying what I have studied, really, your soil
consists of three things. It comes from soil structure, your elements, and your biology
and I kind of looked at my leaves and all this stuff and I'm kind of going -- I don't think I
need that type of drill. So, we -- we did a test plot and it turned out it hit and I was -- I
was like man, we are going for it. We did all of our wheat in this no -till application. We
literally harvested our corn, cut it off, came right behind it with a drill, drilled it in the
ground and put fertilizer on it. We did no till it and that grain -- I urge you to go out there
and take a look at. I am very proud of it. It will -- the yields are great and I think the 20
percent bump in what we would have on cost and no till is something I'm very proud of.
Something I'm definitely disappointed in is, you know, my neighbors are, you know, not
always sharing as I have kind of come to realize, my enthusiasm to this type of deal, but
I feel like it's something that I have a vision for and it's something I really want to do and
Becky's going to talk more about some of the things we are going to help with those
neighbors.
McKay: Becky McKay with Engineering Solutions. If you just hold on a sec. There we
go. Oops. Where did it go? Is that it, Bill? Are you controlling it or am I? Right there.
Yep. The blue one. Okay. Here we go. I am technology challenged. I admit it. So,
Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, like I said, Becky McKay with Engineering
Solutions. Mike Murgoitio called me and -- and asked if -- if I could assist him on this
application and when he first told me what the application was I was puzzled and he
said, well, don't make a rash judgment, I'd like you to come out to my site and tour it and
I grew up on a farm. My dad farmed 1,800 acres. Still farms between Marsing and
Homedale and so I went out and I spent two hours out at the site and I was impressed.
What is going on out there is remarkable, innovative as far as agriculture is concerned,
and I kind of put this aerial map together, kind of shows you one of the things that -- that
was brought up at the neighborhood meeting. I did attend the neighborhood meeting,
the second one, was -- you know, the application is 156 acres, but exactly what acreage
is this processing going to be taking place on. Well, as you can see from this aerial, the
area where the processing takes place is approximately 39 acres. Now, they do store
some material, they do have some stock piles over on the east side of Locust Grove
and, then, I went and took -- we did measurements from the boundaries of this 39 acres
to all the adjoining homes and so, basically, the closest home is approximately 391 feet
and the farthest home is 2,224 feet and that is to the -- to the west. I recommended to
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Mike -- because, obviously, as a land use planner, you know, we look at impact, we look
at mitigation, we look at uses and I said, you know, Mike, my recommendation would be
to get with a landscape architect, because, obviously, one thing that you could do to
improve the aesthetics of the site would be to install landscaping along your perimeter.
Mike took my advice. He went to a landscape architect, they drafted up this landscape
plan, showing plantings of different types of vegetation, quick growing vegetation. I
recommended vegetation that has foliage year around, not just deciduous trees and so
he came up with this detailed landscape plan. Here is kind of another look at the
operation, how it is entwined or internalize between the Rossen Lateral and, then, this
other sub lateral to -- to the south. The other thing I noticed when I was sitting in his
office -- he's got a very nice office on site. There is a secretary there, so there is
somebody there all the time -- on the wall was this certificate of recognition from the
DEQ and I said, wow, that is impressive and he said, yeah, he said DEQ has referred to
our site as an example for other composting sites in Ada county and even in other
counties to come and tour and take a look at what we are doing and how we are doing it
and use our process as a model and so I was pretty impressed with that. I also kind of
got a crash course in composting, recycling and how things work and, Mike, he's been
to seminars and conferences and -- and he was a wealth of knowledge and I spent
multiple hours with him kind of going through it and he provided me some information
from the EPA as far as, you know, what we can do as far as recovery of our food
sources, our -- our waste and how that can be utilized in composting to feed animals, as
landscaping, and how we can reduce our carbon footprint and how as a community we
can become a more sustainable community and I know that's a buzz word now, but I
mean I don't think I have ever seen an operation that came closer. I mean people throw
it out, but this is really an example of sustainability, not only in some of our urban waste,
but using it in the agricultural industry, which is under significant pressure right now with
the reduction in commodity prices and the trade wars that are taking place on a national
basis -- or world basis. One of the things that I was impressed with were -- I said what
is that? He said those are tortillas. They -- he said they are wasted, they are expired,
they got moldy, we take those -- we take bagels, we take bread, he said we grind them
up and we take those nutrients and, then, we mix it with corn silage and we feed it to
our cattle and our cattle, when they are sent to the slaughterhouse, are rating on that
prime level far higher than anybody else's cattle due to this being a supplement and I
said, wow, what a great idea. These were in secured bins out of sight, in the middle of
the site, and I wouldn't even have known they were there. Then I read an article that
CH2M Hill did an analysis at the Ada County Landfill and what this tells you is the
amount of cubic yards of material, wood waste, for example, and how if you can see
from 2007 to -- over the past ten years, the amount of wood waste volume going into
our landfill has decreased significantly and that's important, because we have finite
space in our landfill. Ted Hutchison is at the landfill, he's a landfill -- or he's a planner
that I have worked with since I got out of college, since 1990 -- I will wrap it up. These
are just some pictures of the facility and it shows exactly how they water their -- as they
are grinding -- I mean it was -- it was an amazing operation to see. Impeccable safety.
It was incredible and I'd like to, obviously, give the attorney -- he wants just one minute
to close.
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De Weerd: You don't have time left unless the Council would like to extend that.
McKay: He has already submitted his testimony in writing. He said he just had a
couple --
De Weerd: Okay. You have one minute.
Cranney: He said I had no minutes.
De Weerd: No. I would love to see an attorney use just one minute. Right, Mr. Borton?
Cranney: Justin Cranney. Hawley Troxell. 877 Main Street, Boise, Idaho. A couple of
clarifying points in the minute I have remaining. One, the scope of land under the
application is too far. It's -- it is what is allowed under the DA. The westernmost parcel,
the larger parcel, 77 acres, I believe it is, should not be under this application. We are
withdrawing any request on that portion, because it does not apply. Two, there is an
argument made that M&G Murgoitio, LLC, the owner of the land, was not instated or
was initially dissolved. That has been corrected. The correcting documents have been
submitted back. Three, what we are requesting is a clarification of what is already
permitted under the DA. The DA allows -- allows certain uses for Timber Creek,
specifically we have the right to involve -- to engage in agricultural operations under the
Idaho Code. This includes composting, grinding, preparing, bedding, anything that's --
soil amendments, something to help the -- for the farming -- the farm portion of his
business. I'm speaking too fast. And I'm out of time. And close just real quick, Idaho
Right To Farm Act provides lots of remedies and protections, allow this used to occur.
The amendment is a clarification of what is already permitted. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions of the applicant?
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: Mr. Lawyer? Have you caught your breath?
Cranney: Give me two seconds I will get it back.
Bernt: Okay. Can you -- you were speaking so quick. I have a follow-up question in --
Cranney: Please.
Bernt: -- in regard to what -- the portion of property that you're taking out of this
application, can you expand on that, please?
Cranney: So, if you look at the subject -- do I have a mouse that works? So, there is --
there is three parcels that are listed in the DA.
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Bernt: Right.
Cranney: The application. I believe it's one -- is that correct?
Bernt: I know which one you're talking about.
Cranney: Two. And, then, this large one right here, this third parcel, that is not
described in the DA that we are seeking to amend, applicant would withdraw this
request at the amendment to the DA applied to that large parcel right there. It's a clean
up.
Bernt: Just the parcel -- follow up questions, Madam Mayor. Just the parcel that's on
the corner of Columbia and Locust Grove, is that the one you're talking about?
Cranney: No. Right -- it's on the west of the -- where it says processing area. That's
where it's green. Basically the green area. It's actually agriculture. Any further
questions I may answer?
De Weerd: Council, any further questions for the applicant at this time? So, is -- is this
nicely drawn red circle --
Cranney: That's it.
De Weerd: Okay.
Cranney: Whoever did that, thank you.
De Weerd: Good job, Mr. Palmer.
Cranney: Thank you, Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: So, I got a couple questions for you. Maybe Mike or yourself or whoever. So,
the 39.03 acres is what is not currently being used for what you're doing?
Murgoitio: Say again now. Over here on the 30 -- right here? Is that what you're talking
about? Yeah. So, that's where all our recycling area is currently going on right now.
Palmer: So, then, where -- how many acres do you plan on using beyond the 39?
Murgoitio: I think we were going to stick to it.
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Cranney: We were going to propose staying within the two canals and that's 39 acres.
Murgoitio: Yeah.
Cranney: We were processing a portion of it.
Cranney: And, then, on the southern and south of the canal, storage of processed
materials.
Palmer: Madam Mayor. So, that you're planning on using the same space that you are,
just doing more of it?
Murgoitio: Correct. Well, over here on -- kind of in the center section of where that --
it's hard to describe -- kind of on the top left there, that was where we had cattle before
and we decided it was a better use for where our compost is stored, because we had
our leaves stored south on the property and that particular neighbor asked that I move
them away from his house and I said, okay, no problem. We will -- as soon as the cattle
are gone I will go ahead and move those windrowed leaves up into this area up here
where the cattle are. So, we went ahead and did him a favor and moved them up and
kind of as a favor, too, we had that Snowmaggedon, that emergency deal over in
eastern Idaho with all those onions and that was one of the things where we hadn't had
any complaints since we started and, then, we had a couple complaints -- friendly
neighbor complaints saying, hey, you know, we understood what was going on, but, you
know, definitely that was the only time we ever smelled anything. So, we thought, yeah,
it's probably a better location up here than down there. Storage would probably be okay
down there, but not product that has an odor.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Palmer: So, you mentioned in your presentation, Mike, that you currently farm 800
acres. Are they all connected? Are they all here?
Murgoitio: The majority of them are basically here and --
Palmer: If you hit the square on the top right you can draw.
Murgoitio: Can we zoom out?
Palmer: If you switch over to the Google Earth again.
Murgoitio: So, just kind of do it with this guy? Oh, yeah. Okay. So, really, we are
farming -- if I can scroll out some more. Oh, no. Okay. Well, I'm trying to find the
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deal. That's not all of it. I own -- I have some more over here. We are farming Marty
Hill's place. I think you guys know where that's at. And, then, here. Farming those two
pieces. So, pretty -- pretty big chunk of land and that's kind of what we envision is, you
know, this has to be kind of tied to that farm ground. I mean I lose the farm ground, I
lose my kind of sustainability, you know, aspect and have a home for this. So, I'm not
going to put myself in a position to where I'm going to accept material, as some of the
other -- my competitors do. I actually had one of my competitors that's hauling to me,
because he can't take the amount of material, so I really don't want to move. I want to
tie this to a farm one way or another.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Mr. Murgoitio, in the staff report staff notes that the proposed use includes
grinding, screening, windrowing -- which I don't know what that is -- bagging, use of
tarps for covering and storing material and delivery trucks on the site. Which of those
items would be new and which of these items are you currently doing?
Murgoitio: So, I think bagging would be the only one and, then, there is a -- I will let you
take it from there as far as what the -- the conversation is for what the composting and
all that. We would probably be adding more windrow turning, more monitoring, more of
a balance of that carbon and nitrogen ratio. We are not really allowed to do that right
now with DEQ. So, we are with -- with our development agreement with you guys we
are allowed to mix those materials, but we are really not allowed to, you know, turn,
monitor, control odor, you know, we are not really allowed to do that right now. With
DEQ, not you guys.
Cavener: Madam Mayor? Just to follow up then. So, new introduced uses would be
bagging and, then, of course, the retail at the proposed retail element?
Cranney: Yes. And at this point the applicant is willing to diminish or remove the -- the
retail portion if it's problematic.
Murgoitio: We felt like if -- in the event that we did a community recycling program down
the road eventually, if we ever get the contract with whomever it ends up being with, we
wanted to have a place for people to come pick it up for free, because Boise has to haul
it into a location and pay somebody to do that. We wanted to have kind of a place to
say, you know, here you go, you want to see -- do like site tours, maybe, and, you know,
here is how the system works with -- how it works for your farm, you know, how it works
with your crops, if you raise tomatoes here is what we recommend. You know, kind of
more, you know, hands on.
Cranney: And keep the public out of the processing portion of it.
Murgoitio: Correct.
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Cranney: Safety issue.
Murgoitio: Safety issue.
De Weerd: Did you say that DEQ didn't allow you to do odor control?
Murgoitio: Not by the tools that they have. You have to balance -- to make it simple, it's
the green, the browns, or the carbon and the -- basically the nitrogen. If you don't have
that proper balance -- that's the same thing the way it is in our feedlot. If you don't have
enough carbon there it ain't going to attack the smell. So, you have to have that carbon
there to tie up the smell. If -- and that's the whole odor management plan. It talks about
that when you accept material they want to know what percentage you're going to
accept of each individual thing, grass, food waste, you know, leaves, wood -- they want
to know all that, so they make sure that you have a plan in place that will kind of
balance that out and put a -- put together a process that -- that makes that happen.
De Weerd: Okay. But they won't let you do that.
Murgoitio: Not under their rules.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any further questions for the applicant?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: That brings up a good point that I just need clarification. They are not letting
you do that right now; correct?
Murgoitio: No, sir, they are not. They are not allowing us to control odors in that
environment.
Cavener: Okay. Thank you.
Murgoitio: Besides the under capacity. There is -- there is a loophole that says you can
go up to 300 or 600, depending on which one you go under, you can do that portion, but
beyond that you have to have another -- an odor management plan, plus -- I made a list
of steps. You have to have site plans, you know, run-off plans -- I mean it's a list.
Cavener: All right. Madam Mayor -- and maybe I'm going down a rat hole a little bit.
You're a subject matter expert and I'm not -- 300 or 600 what?
Murgoitio: So, there is a BRC and -- so a BRC is below regulatory criteria I believe is
what it is. I could be mispronouncing that. But it's, basically, 300 yards that you're
allowed to mix and can hold down to what needs to happen and -- to compost. And,
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then, you have 600 that is allowed up to a tier one facility and what we are going after is
a tier two facility to kind of manage that on the scale we are at.
Cavener: Okay.
Cranney: This is step one to get to the -- towards the tier two facility so they can do the
composting. It has to be omitted and, then, they can move aboard for the tier two and,
then, they would engage in a composting endeavor above the BRC.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor and Mike, I can't help but bring up the fires that they are
dealing with in Hailey. Can you address how that would not happen at the facility?
Murgoitio: So -- yes, Madam Mayor, Council Member Little Roberts. In that book that I
gave him I gave a list of -- of what the concerns were of neighbors and that was one of
them and we met up with the Meridian Fire Department and said, hey, you know, what
-- what's kind of your rules that we need to follow by. Also I know the guy that is doing
that -- that over there in eastern Idaho. You have to have a really strict pile
management plan and when I say that, you have to have a probe which fits in that -- we
probe all our piles. So, that includes our wood waste and our lead -- our lead file and it
has to stay within 140 to 160 degrees. So, that -- that's also part of the composting
thing, right? And, then, over that it kills the bad bugs and is risk for fire. Anything below
140 it doesn't kill weed seeds and stuff you need for your -- your compost. So, to
answer your question, we had a fire there at our site -- ironically I was down in Vegas at
a fire prevention class at waste management and we had a fire on site when I was not
there. The pile was isolated. I knew that it was a problem. We ground some really wet
material and we piled it in an isolated area and it went -- we were probing it and it went
dormant, meaning it went cold, so it went to ambient temperature and, then, what
happened was we got a rainstorm and the rain went down those little valleys that it has
and it really made it go back anaerobic and we didn't catch it after a year and I talked to
a guy, I says do you think this is arson, because I was like -- that thing was cold. That
doesn't make any sense. And he says that's a rare occurrence. It can happen. So, we
-- we did corrective action to -- to make that to where it doesn't happen again. And we
have water trucks on site, plus I have a water tank -- 4,000 gallon water tank right there
next to -- kind of in the middle of the piles there and -- and plus our sprinkler system that
we bought.
Little Roberts: Thank you.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
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Palmer: I assume since there is not really an expansion -- or is not an expansion in the
space that you would be using, what are the -- maybe the top few things within the
development agreement that's holding you back? Is it the number of trips that the
trucks can make? What -- what is the big factors that are really preventing this from
happening in --
Cranney: Well, one of the proposed revisions was to revise the truck limitation to what's
needed to fulfill contracts. This has been interpreted as an unlimited cap. Based on the
concerns that that caused, we have talked and the applicant is willing to go back to the
original numbers with -- that is right now with 40, plus an additional 16 for other recycled
materials. The one requested change would be to pull it out -- instead of category --
categorically setting the number of truckloads per item, to give us a cap of 40 per day,
plus the 16 if there is other material brought in. So, basically, dial back the requested
revision, put it back to what it was, but make it as bulk numbers, because of the ebb and
flow of the number of trucks that come in due to the seasons and when material
becomes available.
Murgoitio: Madam Mayor, Councilman Palmer, something else we wanted to -- is we
wanted to leave it open for an emergency issue. If Boise city ever ran into a problem
with their site, we wanted to extend the offer, since the site is so large, to say, hey, if
you ever run into a fire issue, which does happen, if you ever run into a space issue,
you know, we wanted to be able to have an emergency situation say, you know, come
on over, go ahead and dump in our site for X amount of time. Similar to like the onion
thing that happened. When that was an emergency, we called DEQ for permission,
saying, hey, yeah, this is kind of out of stack, you know, do you approve this or not and
they said, yeah, this is kind of an emergency, we will allow, so --
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: If you -- Mr. Murgoitio, question. If you were going to scale back the amount of
trips from industrial -type vehicles from unlimited to the existing 40 plus 16, are you still
needing the -- to change -- are you still -- is it still going to necessitate an industrial type
designation?
Cranney: It's our opinion that the use is heavy, but it's an ag operation under Idaho
Code, because what we are producing are agricultural products. This is an agriculture
operation to produce agricultural products, specifically bedding for livestock, produce
compost, soil amendments, prepare the soil and produce items that are necessary for
agriculture and as Mike's previously testified, a majority of this material -- a vast majority
will go to agricultural purposes.
Bernt: Madam Mayor, follow up. Are you still going to need the industrial designation?
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Cranney: We are not asking for an industrial designation to my knowledge. This is just
to amend the DA to clarify what uses are permitted under the DA and under Idaho law
on the site and to modify the trip and where possible -- I mean, obviously, the retail
portion is on the table, but it's meant to service the public.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I don't know if I heard that right, but the draft DA -- I take it we didn't do that. Is
that part of your proposal?
Cranney: That was the initial proposal and through conversations with neighbors --
sorry. Through conversations with neighbors and -- and working with staff and seeing
all the reports and the injections, it's been dialed back substantially.
Borton: Okay.
Cranney: It was kind of the -- let's wish for the moon and see what we get, but as we
have talked to people -- we have actually talked with, what -- and seen what the
operation is going to be, we are willing to dial it back to make it what is actually
necessary for the anticipated use in the near future. The next ten years, essentially.
Borton: Okay. And Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I might have misheard you. If the -- the 2015 annexation had a DA that placed
consentually agreed upon restrictions to certain uses.
Cranney: Correct.
Borton: Right? And this request -- with perhaps good reason, does seek to expand a
variety of those uses that -- that absent a change in the DA couldn't be done today.
Otherwise, you probably wouldn't be here. Is that fair?
Cranney: Well, Madam Mayor, Council Member Borton, I partially disagree with you on
that. The DA when we negotiated this with the city, we were seeking to have flexibility,
knowing that future changes would occur. One of the -- so, if you look at the DA, there
is a couple of provisions that were drafted to allow some flexibility. For example,
Section 4.8A, the original language states: Operate Timber Creek recycling on the
property as is currently conducted or may be conducted in the future. Section 4.81 H
under the revised document says: Owner developer is allowed to accept other
materials to recycle, which are the same category as the material identified above. The
other one that I mentioned in my memorandum was Section 4.6. Any use constituting
an agricultural operation as defined in Idaho Code 22-4502 is permitted. So, if we look
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at that section, agricultural operation allowed, for the preparing land -- with a bunch of
other things -- preparing land for agriculture production, fertilizing, plant compost,
keeping livestock, processing and packaging agricultural products, transporting
agricultural products to or from the agricultural facility, selling agricultural products at a
farmer or roadside market -- roadside market. There was flexibility drafted into this.
The purpose in coming before the Council was to make the composting component
explicit. We do not want to have a future fight on, okay, we are going to engage in a
composting endeavor -- well, this doesn't explicitly say in the DA you can do
composting. We didn't want a fight. There was hope that the contract, if the city were to
adopt the composting program, well, we wanted to make sure that the DA permits that.
So, the purpose was let's make it explicit, let's add some flexibility on the truckloads,
which we can dial back on, depending upon how -- how widely adopted it is by the
citizenry of Meridian. Let's have a portion of the property that can be secure and safe,
so if the citizens want to come and pick up free compost there is going to be a site set
aside. So, the purpose was less of -- we want to vastly expand what we are allowed to
do, it was to clarify what we can and expressly state what we can do.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: One of the questions -- I don't know if it's to Becky or to you on -- you know, a
lot of this sounds like -- there is a lot of -- kind of loose ends with a -- with a pretty
intense use and if -- one side of the argument could be this is such a great long-term
investment for this region and asset to the community, is you rezone it, call it -- you
know, call it what it is, make it an industrial application, amend the map, really drill in the
details in the DA, there is a lot of things that aren't yet in there and -- and process --
process it that way and get a little lengthier, more involved public input and own it, it's
industrial.
Cranney: So, Madam Mayor, Council Member Borton, the DA is drafted to expire.
Should there be certain development within a certain range, the ability to conduct the
operation on the property starts diminishing quickly. So, this isn't intended to be a
permanent location and so I think a rezone may be excessive for what the intended
term of use may be.
Borton: Madam Mayor. One of the sections talks about unless rezoned, which sort of
seemed to imply that this was really a holding use until it's developed to what its
ultimate use is going to be, but that seemed to be appropriate and part of that lengthier
process is there -- there was comments from Central District Health that seemed a bit
kind of in a circle asking for an operations plan before it could -- it wanted to review and
approve an operations plan before it can comment up or down on its recommendations
and -- and I know our fire department made reference to needing to see a process
hazard analysis -- not to belabor steps after steps, but those seem to be really important
and they are necessary to vet and include into a DA and insure that they completed and
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complied with. Don't have any of that yet either, too, so that's what maybe begged the
rezone question as well.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: Along with comments from Council Member Borton, it just -- it seem -- it seems
to me like there is just a lot of moving parts. You know, there is a lot of changes -- in
fact, Mr. Lawyer said that -- I don't know your name, sir. What's your name?
Cranney: Mr. Lawyer.
Bernt: There is a substantial change in the development agreement. So, I -- it's hard
for me to like -- like I feel like it would be really hard for me to even make a decision,
you know, yea or nay or whatever, knowing that there is just so much going on, I'm not
quite sure exactly how far you're scaling back, what you're scaling back. This is a -- this
is a -- a really big decision for this area in our city and for me -- like I just -- I just -- I
just need -- I'm not the smartest guy up here on the stage, all right? I -- I need to be
able to read like exactly what it is and in -- because in ten minutes I will probably have
forgotten. So, it's -- I would prefer to have a revised development agreement that is --
that is concrete, that we can look at, that we can decide upon. That would help. And,
then, we can go from there, depending on what it is and have -- but it seems like there
is just a lot of stuff going on, scaling back, forward, backwards, sideways. It's -- I'm not
following it.
McKay: Madam Mayor, Councilman Bernt, I -- I was kind of the same opinion when I
first started going through this information and -- and so I'm -- I'm like, yeah, okay, so
the composting is taking place on the site and you're already doing this, so, technically,
what are you asking of the Council and so I think, you know, as -- as I met with -- with
Mr. Attorney -- Justin.
Bernt: Justin. Your name is Justin.
McKay: -- and Mike, you know, they kind of said, well, you know, the -- when -- when
the original development agreement was drafted, you know, they did not initiate that
annexation, the city did. They were there pre-existing since 2011. These uses were
taking place -- this agricultural integration of composting was taking place and so the
city, I think with the help of Justin and -- and Mike tried their best to, okay, how do we
define and protect the current uses that they are recognized and a legal non -conforming
or interim use and they did the best they could, but as a few years went by and as
DEQ's regulations have changed and now they are asking Mike to do mixing of different
materials, but yet he has to, obviously, have some type of clarification documentation
from the municipality that governs him, which is you guys, because he became annexed
into the City of Meridian, then, it -- it does need defining and I agree with you that I think
-- I would like Justin to, you know, try to set forth, you know, the 40 trips plus 16. Get rid
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of these different categories that were so confusing. You know, the Idaho legislature
has taken great effort throughout our state's history to protect agriculture and anything
that is ag related, you know, cannot be considered a nuisance. You know, my dad
bales all night sometimes if the moisture is right. I mean, you know, you have aerial
spraying and you do it at night, you know, and so, you know, the Right To Farm Act,
which -- which this body has us put on subdivision plats when we adjoin agricultural
land clearly states that, you know, any agricultural uses or expansion of those uses, if
they are not negligent in nature, are legal under the state law and all comp plans -- all
comprehensive plans throughout the state recognize agriculture and so what you have
here is kind of an anomaly. Is this an industrial use? No, it's really not, because it's part
of his agricultural use. Sixty percent of these materials are used on his site. He also
delivers to other dairies -- to dairies who use this material. So, maybe 40 percent of the
material that he is, basically, generating through this composting facility is leaving the
site and going to people's gardens and to parks, et cetera. Over to Home Depot put in a
bag. So, I think this is -- this is something that's unique and that's what I found when I
went to the site. That's -- it's not a recycling site like you -- you know, cans and bottles
and plastics and etcetera, this --this is an integrated agricultural use of composting and
sustainability of his farming operation. So, we have to look at it from that perspective. I
don't think to -- to rezone him I -L or change the designation on the land use map is
appropriate, because it is interim in nature, but integral to his ag use. So, we have to
look at it, you know, from that perspective. It -- it's blurred. Councilman Bernt, exactly.
It appears to be blurred. But I think we can, with effort, define that and protect and Mike
said the same thing. I want to be a good neighbor. Every time -- I didn't -- you know, I
had never received any complaints until the onion incident and now I was shocked, you
know, to see that, you know, people were upset about dust and -- and so, you know,
he's been out there working on, you know, watering and sprinklers and -- I mean it was
amazing. There were no odors. I mean it was -- the site was clean as a whistle as far
as I'm concerned.
De Weerd: So, Council, any further questions? I am sure Becky could share her
passion for the next hour, but we still have public testimony to take.
McKay: Sorry.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: And I'm hoping for Becky's views, expertise, and I'm assuming you deal with
other jurisdictions than the City of Meridian, so had this not happened -- because, you
know, my understanding of -- of the reason that we annexed a whole bunch of this on
the south is because we were in a little fight with Kuna and wanted to draw a line in the
sand and so we went out and asked a bunch of property owners south of us to join the
city to help us kind of draw that line, so that Kuna stopped advancing their forces north,
but -- so, understanding that and that that's the reason, I assume, that this property was
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part of that whole group there, had they stayed in the county what might be the process
to be able to accomplish what they are trying to do today through us?
McKay: I would, obviously, have to go through the county ordinance and -- and look at
some of their definitions, but when he was in the county, you know, they viewed him as
an agricultural use, because of the way his operation was ran. He had no code
enforcement issues or citations and, typically, you know, when the properties are
annexed, if we have a legal, you know, use on the property, then, the city recognizes
that use, which you did through that DA. I mean this is -- this is kind of a funny thing
and -- and my passion is -- because, you know, I grew up on a farm, so it's not very
often I get to defend agriculture.
Palmer: Thanks.
De Weerd: It's not often we hear about agriculture, so -- okay.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Really, the only exception to when we do hear a lot about agriculture is
residences -- or residents from south Meridian who come to us and say, stop, we like
the agriculture. Stay away from the rims. Stay away from -- from south Meridian. We
want the farms and want cows. We want agriculture. So, I -- I mean I'm -- I keep
seeing nods and head -- head shakes from the same 50 people and so I'm dying to
know what they have to say. So, I will shut up and --
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Council, I'm going to call a five minute break and --
because it's been requested and -- and we will reconvene at -- at 8:05.
(Recess: 8:02 p.m. to 8:09 p.m.)
De Weerd: Okay. I will go ahead and -- and open this meeting up again. Thank you for
the quick break. This is the beginning of our public testimony process. As you came in
you signed up and you indicated whether you wanted to provide testimony or not. If,
when your name is read, if you changed your mind let us know. That's always allowed.
Three minutes and as I had mentioned, you will see that on the screen right in front of
you and I will turn this over to Mr. Clerk.
Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. The first on the sign-up list is Joshua Leonard.
Against. Wishing to testify.
Leonard: Madam Mayor, Members of the City Council -- I'm not sure which --
De Weerd: Good evening. You can take your choice.
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Leonard: Fantastic. My name is Joshua Leonard. My address is 4099 West Bavaria in
Eagle. I represent a group of neighbors who oppose the application. As such I would
request that ten minutes, as opposed to having them speak each for three.
De Weerd: Okay.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Council --
Borton: If you can get a little closer to the mic.
Leonard: Sure thing.
De Weerd: Just pull one. Yeah. Choose one or the other.
Leonard: Okay. Rather then -- thank you. Good. I appreciate Mr. Nary's clarification.
De Weerd: And if I could ask who all -- if he represents you if you will raise your hands.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Leonard: I appreciate Mr. Nary's clarifications to the Meridian Press article. At the
outset I would like to clarify a couple of items. First, it was -- the statement was made
that the applicant is proposing a sunset provision. That's not actually true. What the
applicant is proposing that -- it's ten years to undertake an impact assessment to
determine whether or not to continue at this location. There is no sunset provision in
the existing or proposed development agreement. I also at the outset want to mention
that the neighbors that I represent are not opposed to the use. So, I think it's fair to say
that all of them are in favor of composting. This is a group of -- of farmers, builders,
engineers, financial professionals, entrepreneurs all. They -- they understand
agriculture. They probably moved to this area, many of them, because of the -- the
sight, smells and sounds of agriculture. I totally understand that. I like to tell people I
was raised on a farm. My wife always corrects me and says that I was actually raised
near a farm and that's probably more true. I submitted a memorandum and a rebuttal
memorandum into the record. I'm not going to go through all of that. I hope that you
have read through those. Instead, what I want to do is discuss a few major points of --
of objection by the neighbors I represent. First is that the applicant's proposed
expansion and extension of its heavy industrial use violates the city's development
code. In the table of uses that -- that governs what uses are appropriate or authorized
in this zone -- in R-4, it's not allowed. This industrial use is not allowed. Even with a
conditional use permit. The only reason that it is allowed is because it was a
recognized, nonconforming use at the time of annexation. City code is extremely clear
on how to expand or extend that use and that is by a conditional use permit. That's not
before the City Council today. Even if the development agreement is amended that
doesn't take care of the part of the code that says you have to get a conditional use
permit. All that is is a contract between the city and the applicant that's enforceable as a
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contract or enforceable by revoking zoning and putting it back into the county into an
RUT zone where this, likewise, would not be permitted. This would have to get a
conditional use in the RUT zone as well, except for the fact, again, that it's a non-
conforming existing use. Unless until that -- this applicant obtains a nonconforming use
-- or, excuse me, a conditional use permit, use of the property is limited to what it exists
-- what existed on the property as of the date of annexation, which was towards the end
of January of 2016. The second reason the neighbors I represent oppose the
application is that it violates the city's adopted policy, which is to phase out non-
conforming uses, not encourage them to continue. To quote from the city's
development code is that the city should allow any nonconforming property use or
structure to continue until they were removed, but not to encourage their continuation.
The applicant's proposed use isn't a temporary use and it's not an interim use. It may
be technically categorized as that, but as I mentioned a minute ago, there is no sunset
provision for it and the more money that the applicant puts into establishing this, the
more inextricably embedded his operation becomes at this location and it proves more
costly and more difficult to move. The third -- the third reason that the -- the neighbors
oppose this is they don't trust the process. They oppose this application, because they
were told that they could count on the zoning when these properties were annexed and
before that in the county in the RUT zone, that it would be in a rural to urban transition
zone that would slowly become more dense and more urbanized as city -- as city
facilities and services reach them. The property on which the applicant's operation
exists was a dairy farm until about 15 or 20 years ago and recently, at least since it was
acquired by the applicant, it's been -- it has been an agricultural use that is covered by
the Idaho Right To Farm Act. Let me get to that in a little bit. Depending on whose
testimony you believe, though -- and a lot of the testimony will come before you today --
either shortly before or shortly after the development agreement and annexation, the
applicant's use intensified greatly and now represents an industrial use, not an
agricultural use. It also violates -- it -- as I said a few moments ago, it violates the city's
R-4 designation, but it also violates the terms and conditions of the existing
development agreement. In order for it to be a use to be truly considered a
nonconforming legal use at the time of its annexation and initial zoning, it had to be a
legal use in the county at the time and it wasn't. If it wasn't allowed under the prior
zoning designation, it is not a nonconforming use that's recognizable by the city. The
agricultural use recognizable as a nonconforming use, the industrial is not. The
neighbors also don't trust the process, because it let him down once before and that
was in 2016. You're going to hear testimony from some of them that despite being
within the notification area to receive notice of the -- the annexation and the
development agreement in 2016, they didn't receive that notice. In fact, the city even
hopscotched a couple of those properties -- or the properties belonging to these folks
and -- and while they connected and meet the legal standard for annexation, aren't
necessarily -- it wasn't necessarily fair to these folks and so they don't trust the process
that it's going to be carried out. If they had received notice they would have been before
you back in 2016 arguing that the -- that the applicant's industrial composting operation
didn't lawfully exist in the county, as I mentioned. The fourth reason that the -- the
neighbors I represent don't don't believe that the applicant is -- or, excuse me, is that the
neighbors don't believe that the applicant will comply with the restrictions in the existing
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development agreement, let alone with the -- the proposed amended development
agreement. I spoke with one neighbor who told me over the past two and a half years
the applicant has purchased two new 5.5 cubic yard loaders, two new excavators, a --
and he puts in parentheses -- very loud 600 horsepower chipper, a 400 horsepower
shredder, three large six unit chip trucks with Jake brakes, all of which run ten to 12
hours per day or more almost every day. Add to that the seemingly endless visits of
garbage trucks, numerous trucks hauling 30 cubic yard roll on, roll off dumpsters and
smaller private trucks making deposits and that's just the incoming traffic. Some days
as many as 50 or more large commercial trucks come in and out of the property. I want
to remind you that 40 was the limit in the existing development agreement. With one --
with one loader loading up the trucks, the other feeding the shredder and the excavators
feeding the chipper. There is also a 1,000 plus horsepower grinder that the applicant
mentioned during last Wednesday's neighborhood meeting and earlier today you heard
him say that they have two grinders on site, although the current development
agreement only authorizes one. The fifth reason the neighbors oppose -- I want to
clarify one last statement, too, that a thousand plus horsepower grinder -- they're going
to hear testimony from the neighbors or -- that that machine rattles the foundations of
their homes. Even if they are over a thousand feet from this site causes the frames on
their walls to -- to rattle. It's an inconsistent and incompatible use in -- in this zone. The
fifth reason the neighbors oppose the application is that allowing the existence -- let
alone the expansion of a heavy industrial use in a residential zone just doesn't make
any sense. As you read in the city staff report, you can look at a prior example of
something like this allowing the expansion of an industrial use in a residential zone and
that's -- I believe it was a quarry or gravel mining operation. To quote the staff report,
the result was a lot of complaints from neighbors pertaining to noise, dust, structural
damage to homes, hours of operation, et cetera, which had a significant impact on city
resources, i.e., code enforcement and planning -- and planning division. According to
the staff report it was that experience that resulted in an amendment to the city's
Uniform Development Code to now prohibit industrial uses in residential districts. I have
some images that I have prepared. Do I just click on this to get them moving across?
Here is the operation as it existed as of April 29th, 2015. Let's see here. Page down.
In 2016 the Ada County GIS image the -- of the site you can see the extent of it there.
2017, June, Google Earth image of the site. These are pictures from just the other day.
You can see all the -- in the foreground you can see the Rossen Lateral and how close
the storage of these wooden materials is to the -- the Rossen Lateral. I point out that --
I mentioned it in my -- in my memorandum also, the city actually requested comments
from the wrong irrigation district. The incorrect irrigation district was kind enough to
provide the contact information for the right one. That's of particular concern, though,
that lateral being so close, because of the leaching that can often occur, especially as
the applicant applies water to keep down the fire risk on these piles full of wood. Next.
There is a more close-up view of the piles of wood and you can see the Rossen Lateral
in the foreground. Here is the other -- another angle of that. More of the -- the pile of
what you can see, comparing this to the Google Earth and the GIS from Ada county, the
-- the operation has greatly expanded from what it was -- what was permitted or allowed
under that development agreement. Ask you to consider all these factors and deny this
application.
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De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Just one. If you can answer. Would your clients prefer the existing use to
continue in perpetuity or an expanded use with a certain end date?
Leonard: That's a really good question. I'd have to ask them directly. I don't know we
have gone there. We have talked about what mitigating conditions they might be willing
to accept in order to allow it to exist there. The problem is, again, that there is no --
there is no faith that -- that those limits or -- it will end up being a lawsuit. It will end up
being a fight to get the applicant -- or the -- the applicant's operation to leave the site.
One of the big issues that I noticed -- we attended a neighborhood meeting last
Wednesday. One of the biggest things I noticed is that the neighbors aren't being given
any information about what the intent of the operation is. Numerous times they ask the
applicant for information on the number of trucks, the type of material, what the -- what
the process, is who the contracts are with. Each of these times the applicant responded
I'm not at liberty to divulge that. There is a fair amount of fear existing here amongst --
amongst these neighbors. I don't -- I, frankly, don't know that they would be able to
accept conditions on a new use.
Borton: Okay.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I have got a few questions, but it sounds like we will be hearing from some
residents, so I will hold most of those, but the one that would maybe help me -- you
referenced kind of the differentiation between ag use and industrial use. Can you help
me see how you're differentiating between the two and why you believe this is industrial
use and not ag use?
Leonard: Certainly. I was going to go back to the Right To Farm Act and I ran out of
time, but I mentioned that I would cover that. The Right To Farm Act -- I encourage you
to ask your city attorney for an exposition of what that includes. It's not what the
applicant would encourage you to buy into. It's not that you can't regulate the uses -- in
fact, the preservation of the ag uses on the property was accomplished by the
development agreement that was negotiated by the city and the applicant. What they
are -- what they are expanding to is an industrial use. You heard testimony from -- I
believe --
Bernt: Can you get a little closer to the mic.
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Leonard: The applicant's engineer who said that 40 percent of that leaves the site -- 40
percent of that use. I would say based on the photos that -- that we have shown, the --
the piles of the wood, that the intensification beyond an agricultural use that was
recognized in that -- in that development agreement is industrial, is -- because it is going
off the site, it's being sold to big box stores. Again, testimony was received for the City
Council today that the applicant has contracts to sell this stuff to big box stores. That's
not allowed under the existing development agreement. There is several ways in which
the applicant is in violation of those existing agricultural uses.
Cavener: Madam Mayor. You're the attorney, so you're a lot smarter when it comes to
this stuff.
Leonard: I don't know if that's true.
Cavener: So, do you contest how the materials are being distributed moves it to an
industrial use, not the process that's occurring on the site?
Leonard: No, not necessarily. I think --
Cavener: Okay.
Leonard: -- that's an element of it, but the Right To Farm Act actually includes a
definition of what falls within an agricultural operation or an agricultural use and it's
pretty broad, but it doesn't limit the city's ability, so long as the agricultural piece of that
is protected, the intensity of that is protected. The existing use is protected to the zone
of property and not allow it to expand. So, the expansion piece of that -- or that
industrial piece, not based solely on where it -- the product -- product is going, but also
based on the level of intensity of use on the site and the type of -- the type of products
that are being produced, the type of machinery being used to produce those products. I
think all of those factor go into that.
Cavener: Thank you.
De Weerd: So, in your opinion if this had not been annexed would this use to be
allowed?
Leonard: The use -- the expanded use?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Leonard: No, it would not be, because under the -- under this -- the county's non -- or
prior nonconforming use statute -- and that's not statute, it's their code. It's their
ordinance. It would -- he -- they would have to go through the exact same process
that's -- that's required by the city's code and that's a conditional use permit, not just a
modification to a development agreement.
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De Weerd: Is that -- I thought there was a recent change in the legislature that allowed
a right to use in agriculture without even a hearing needed.
Leonard: You would have to ask your -- your city attorney.
De Weerd: Well, no, we don't do ag. So, I mean -- so I just thought I would try you first.
Leonard: Madam Mayor, there was change with regard to the -- the closed animal
feeding operations, but I'm not aware of one that allows an agricultural use without -- on
a property zoned something else without it going through that city's -- or other
municipality's process.
De Weerd: Okay. Any other questions from Council? Okay. Thank you very much.
Coles: Next listed is Janet Gearhard, who is against and would like to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening. If you will, please, state your name and address for the
record.
Gearhard: I'm Janet Gearhard. I live at 7850 Gearhard Lane in Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Gearhard: We live --
De Weerd: If you can pull the -- the mic --
Bernt: Really close.
Gearhard: Really close. I used to teach school. We live directly across from the
entrance on Locust Grove, directly across from the entrance of this facility. The
Meridian Press article about the recycle facility was certainly favorable and definitely
timely. Unfortunately, it is not all true. The truth about the effects of the recycle facility
on the handful of residents was never considered. Mr. Murgoitio's comments are very
favorable for him. The facility has grown to such a size that it is invading our homes.
The noise of the grinder can be heard in our bedroom. It sounds like it is in our front
field at times. It is constant for 11 hours a day. Some days are worse than others, but
that just means it is closer to the neighbors on the other side of the mountain of wood
piles from 7:00 to 6:00, six days a week, except for Saturday when it starts at 8:00. For
the benefit of the neighbors we listen to the grinder and other equipment, the coming
and going of semis and other trucks. It is relentless and it's invasive. I asked Mr.
Murgoitio about the noise and he said it will increase. It is worse now than it was a year
ago. Loaders, excavators, conveyors, hopper boxes, air systems, compressors,
generators, windrower, crusher, grinder, water trucks, loaders, graders, tractors, forklifts
and other heavy equipment and activities, including crushing, grinding, unloading and
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loading of trucks, that adds up to more noise. It cannot be controlled. He plans to have
a big enough operation to take in all of Meridian, Eagle, Boise and eventually opening it
to surrounding communities. The increase in noise, the traffic, the dust, the smell is not
conducive to a neighborhood. This is a mammoth operation. He is asking for 156.5
acres. He tells us he will not use it all, but let us just stop him. The request uses the
term et cetera. There appear to be no limits to the equipment, activities, or the recycled
material Timber Creek can produce, market, and sell. We are not just a handful of
opposing residents. Many of us are longtime Idahoans. We have built our homes here.
Excuse me. We have raised or are raising our children. We work our jobs, we pay our
taxes. We do not deserve to have our home overrun in this way. We will be at the
mercy of Mr. Murgoitio and his staff. We will endure this for the next five years until they
reassess and determine if the development alignment is such that they should consider
moving. We put up with it all and have our property value depreciate until they decide
it's beneficial to move to another location. Why not move now? He told us property is
too expensive. Will it be cheaper in five to 15 years? Mr. Murgoitio told the Meridian
Press reporter that the citizens of Meridian will soon have a compost facility in their
backyards. No, it will be in our backyards and across our streets and most of us --
excuse me -- and most of us are not even Meridian, we are in Ada county. I wondered
what the outcry would be if an industrial -size -- if an industrial -size commercial recycle
facility such as this was being considered for the city of Eagle or near one of the
developments of Meridian. It is a good idea, but the wrong location. It belongs far from
all residential areas. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Mrs. Gearhard, would you entertain a question?
De Weerd: I'm sorry, ma'am.
Gearhard: Sorry.
Cavener: I didn't mean to make you walk all the way back up here. First, thanks for
being a teacher. It comes with a lot of patience. Appreciate you being here tonight and
Gearhard: And you need a stronger voice.
Cavener: That's okay. That's okay. If I hear you correctly, it really sounds like the
sound is -- is the biggest issue that impacts you. I recognize there is other challenges
for other people --
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Gearhard: It is the sound. Just this -- just today -- I mean we can hear it in our
bedroom. We are out in our yard. It's just there and it's constant. It's from 7:00 to 6:00
and it is constant.
Cavener: Madam Mayor. Mrs. Gearhard, there is a map that's on that screen in front of
you. Can you either maybe move the mouse and show us where your house is as it
pertains to the map.
Gearhard: Probably not.
Cavener: Sorry.
Gearhard: Sorry. I am -- we are -- if I point my finger --
Cavener: Or even here would be fine. If you would show us which one of these homes
is yours. And, Mrs. Gearhard, the reason why I ask is it sounded like the applicant has
intended to put up trees and foliage, which we have seen in other developments as
mitigating --
Gearhard: Trees are not going to stop the sound.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
Milam: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I guess where we have seen foliage work to mitigate sound in other
applications in Meridian and across the country, why is it your belief that this -- that
wouldn't work?
Gearhard: I just don't believe so. These grinders are -- you very much -- they are very
loud.
Cavener: Okay.
Gearhard: And, like I said, sometimes it's a little less, because he's moved it to the
other side. That's just impacting the neighbors over there. But it has been relentless
and it's been much worse this summer.
Cavener: Okay. Thank you.
Gearhard: Okay.
Coles: Next is Wayne Gearhard, against, wanting to testify.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
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Coles: Randy Hopkins. Against. Wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening. If you will, please, state your name and address for the
record.
Hopkins: Randy Hopkins. 1390 East Mallory Lane, Meridian. 83642. Thank you. I live
about 7/10ths of a mile down Locust Grove from Columbia. So, cruised around with
Mike for 30 to 45 minutes in his pickup and I have got to say that I am -- my wife's from
Boise and she's a recycling fool and taught this Canyon county farm boy, you know, to
recycle and -- I mean my hat's off to Mike with, you know, the recycling thing. In my
opinion we absolutely need to do that. The reality is, even 7/10th of a mile I have
smelled his operation probably about five, six times -- the noise over the weekend. I
wanted to play -- this is from actually Paul Winward. It's a little closer, so you can kind --
got a sense of the magnitude just on the iPhone. Maybe it won't --
De Weerd: I like the birds. That is awesome.
Hopkins: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. The reality is it's ridiculous -- is the reality of it. It's an
R-4 zone. It is an extensive commercial industrial operation simply in the absolutely
freaking wrong location. I could not even imagine being within a quarter of a mile from
this from smell, noise, all of that and I'm like totally a recycling person, but this is just
way beyond what I think -- Mike's a victim of his own success. I think at the front end,
probably when you accepted the development agreement, he would chop some wood,
apply it with his cows -- and that's great. The reality is this is so far beyond that -- he's
processing wholesale into Home Depot and that and you can't argue it's an ag use even
in that context. It's extreme. Berms ain't going to help the noise on this. I mean it is
freaking loud. Just seven days ago I was just out on my ten acres, again, 7/10ths of a
mile when I'm like, God, what the hell is that noise going on up there on Columbia and,
then, after a while, after, you know, an hour of it going on I like -- I just jumped in the
pickup and went and looked at it myself and it's just -- it's substantial. It's substantial
and he's just exceeding in a huge way, I'm proud of him in that, but he just needs to
move the thing. I think the question is -- I think there is a problem probably with the
original development agreement and noticing and I'm not saying slipping the whole
industrial commercial thing in like there is some clandestine thing going on, right, with
the original acceptance of the use, but I don't think that at that point Planning and
Zoning and City Council contemplated, really, the magnitude of what was going to
happen at that time. He is going to reapply some stuff on his farm and his cows, but
this is simply an intensive commercial industrial use in simply the wrong location, in my
opinion. And I'm 7/10ths of a mile and it even affects me. So, I could not imagine being
closer. Any questions?
De Weerd: Thank you.
Hopkins: Thank you.
Coles: Next is Vikki Reynolds. She signed up against, wanting to testify.
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De Weerd: Good evening. If you will, please, state your name and address for the
record.
Reynolds: My name is Vikki Reynolds. I live at 7838 South Tranquility Lane. It's in the
Tranquil Estates. This is approximately 30 -- three-quarters of a mile from the current
Timber Creek operation and less than 300 feet from the 156 acre proposal of the
expansion. My husband Gene and I wish to strongly object to the proposal before the
Council tonight. When we purchased our property in 2006 we were informed as part of
the sales pitch that the surrounding area was slated for residential development. Within
a couple of years the operation at the corner of Locust Grove and Columbia was
undertaken. Upon inquiry, we were told that the -- they were chipping wood for bedding
for their cattle. Okay. We can put up with some occasional noise, dust, and even a fire
-- talk about quality -- air quality issues there. That was a doozy that day. Our family
has watched the Timber Creek facility grow exponentially over the past couple of years,
adding smells and unsightly piles on a regular basis to the previous occasional
irritations when we heard about the current proposal to expand within 300 feet of our
property, we felt it necessary to strongly object. Our concerns are outlined in the letter
my husband submitted back in June, but to summarize, just has been stated before,
increased unpleasant odors, noise, and unsightly landscape. Increased pests, such as
rodents, skunks, flies, mosquitoes, et cetera. Increased potential for contamination of
the water table, since we are all on private wells in the subdivision and potentially lower
property values due to less than desirable location near those unsightly piles that you
saw pictures of a few minutes ago. This evening I'm going to just focus on two of those.
The increased pests is something that I want to discuss. The past few years we have
battled constantly with gophers to the point they have destroyed a good portion of
landscaping, particularly on the east side of our property closest to Timber Creek. Last
year we enlisted the Ada County Pest Control in our battle with those gophers, having
them called out to our property at about the rate of once a month, in addition to
spreading the powder deterrent, solar and battery operated, states that were supposed
to scare them off, et cetera. In conversation with the pest abatement staff from the
county we discovered that gophers are motivated by vibration. Hence, our attempt to
control them with the battery operated stakes. The vibration can come from animals,
such as horses or cattle, but commercial or farm equipment will also cause that issue. If
Timber Creek moves that equipment to the west side of their operation as shown in their
proposal, we will likely have increased rodents. Contamination of our water table is
number two. We live in a desert, so the water table and the quality our bound to be
something we need to be very cautious about. You have information from the DEQ in
your packets that addresses their concerns about this, despite his award. I would like to
De Weerd: Ma'am, I'm sorry, you will have to summarize.
Reynolds: Okay. Yep. I'm not opposed to curbside recycling or composting for making
our city greener. I'm very opposed to it in this location, just is Randy just said. Please
deny this application for expansion. Thank you.
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De Weerd: We appreciate your testimony.
Coles: Next on the list is Loyal Gibbons. Against. Wanting to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening. If you will, please, state your name and address for the
record.
Gibbons: My name is Loyal Gibbons. I live at 8350 South Jardine Lane and I have
done so for about 24 years. So, good evening, Madam Mayor and Council. So, I live
directly south from Timber Creek Recycling at around 994 feet and apparently some
map is off, some must think it's further, because I have never been notified of any of
this. Here are my concerns. Mr. Murgoitio is currently in violation of Sections 4.4 and
4.6 of the existing development agreement, which state any currently allowed use
regarding the raising and maintaining of livestock -- raising and maintaining of livestock
shall remain on the property until such time as the property is developed in the future.
The property maintains a livestock business and operation and all existing uses and
operations on the property relating to livestock business and operation at the time of
annexation may remain until the property is developed in the future. Sorry, but that's --
that's what it says. And, then, it says -- if you notice from the other pictures -- again, I
have lived there that long -- his -- his operation has changed substantially in the last two
years. It's gone from a little bit of grinding to a tremendous amount and we also talk -- I
have been on a -- raised on a farm and ranch my entire life and like when you bale hay
that's four times a year, okay? When you feed cattle -- I feed chickens every morning.
It takes me about a half an hour in the morning. That's it. It doesn't run ten to 11 hours
a day, six days a week. The vibration, the noise, the backup alarms. Beep. Beep.
Great wake-up alarm if you're not trying to sleep in that day. I'm 900 feet away. They
come like piercing; right? That's their job. To save -- to be safe; right? So, all that
equipment, when it backs up, you will have all the beeping going on in addition. Beyond
that, his application to modify the agreement would further violate the development
itself, because it says future development of the property shall comply with the
ordinances in the Meridian City Code in effect at the time of development. Future
development of the property shall comply with all bulk use and development standards
for R-4 zoning listed in the UDC, unless the developer or future developer and, then, or
course, with new zoning designation. So, get it rezoned. We have been to multiple
neighborhood plans and we talked and got the no on the 156 acres. Now, if we just put
that in there as on the 156 acres. No, it's got to be unlimited on traffic. All of these
things that you are now willing to, oops, back up from -- I'm not sure why. But the type
of things we got were no limit on traffic. Major landscape plan to screen view. Water
runoff plan and monitoring by the DEQ. Additional -- additional ponds, fire
management, tanks, equipment, truck scales, retail space, bathrooms for customers, et
cetera. Here is an interesting quote from our meeting. Mr. Murgoitio. My current site is
triple the size of the Boise site. More traffic. More noise. Here are quotes from Becky.
Expansion of a nonconforming use. Kind of an ag use. Very unusual project. And,
finally, my favorite, round peg in square hole. So, the requested changes include
unlimited traffic increases, non-ag material handling, retail traffic -- clearly not what the
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development agreement intended. It's sole purpose was to insure the continuation of
existing usage until further development is requested, not an expansion to industrial
commercial use in an R-4 zone. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Petty Hagler. Against. Wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening.
Hagler: Hi. Patty Hagler. 7200 South Locust Grove. I have lived at this location for 25
years and I have lived on a farm all my life also. I have a master's degree in agriculture
and was a feedlot nutritionist for Boise based Agri Beef for 13 years. Merriam Webster
defines agriculture as the practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising
livestock. I supported Mike Murgoitio when he told me he was starting a business to
recycle wood, construction waste, into animal bedding, because it was agriculture and
compatible with our residential zoning. Over the last year I have observed significant
expansion of the volume of the wood trash piles, along with increasing heavy traffic and
noise. I notice his -- his pollution award was in 2015. At the neighborhood meeting I
discovered there is a development agreement that allows for previously existing
agricultural production. However, the applicant stated that they had added a
composting operation and an industrial commercial operation selling products to retail
outlets, such as Home Depot and Lowe's. Now they are asking to expand to additional
non-ag products. Timber Creek has made commitments to process increasingly larger
volumes of waste and add organic waste products, which increased Timber Creek's
revenue, but also produced too much volume to utilize in an agriculture operation. In
fact, Mike has stated that his feedlot will be closed within two years, so that would
indicate more non-ag products. So, he started an industrial commercial operation with
regard to violating -- without regard to violating the development agreement or the rights
of the surrounding property owners. I agree with you it is a moving target. We have
had three neighborhood meetings and every time we go there the information changes
and now it's changing tonight. Complaints of excessive noise, odor, dust pollution and
traffic as symptoms of the root problem. Industrial operation is not compatible with
residential zoning and that stated, comparing existing industrial noise to ag noise is not
valid. Agricultural equipment operates for time periods. Tractors work in the field or
harvest for several days. They bale hay for several nights. Feedlot loaders operate
several times a day. They don't run constant all day everyday and that's causing the
complaints that you're hearing expressed. Inability to concentrate, hearing effects, and
migraine headaches. Property owners have invested in rural residential zoning to
reside on ag operations and for future residential development to realize a return on
their investment. A clause in the current development agreement states at Timber
Creek operations will cease when a certificate of occupancy is issued by the City of
Meridian within a thousand feet of the operation. That does appear to exist, because
the parties recognize it will be difficult to sell residential property that is located near an
industrial operation. So, the two property owners that annexed into the city are ready to
sell their property, they want to insure that Timber Creek ceases operation. This call
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completely disregards the rights of the surrounding property owners to be able to sell or
develop their property. The result is those two property owners and the City of Meridian
are allowed to control the rights of the -- of the other property owners. I would
recommend that that is modified to say any jurisdiction's certificate of occupancy. And,
in conclusion, I do support the business model and I supported Mike as he's grown up
next to me for 25 years. But this is not the appropriate location. I think he will be an
amazing success. He needs to move it to an industrial zoned area. Is there any
questions?
De Weerd: Thank you, Patty.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Mrs. Hagler, just one question and it's kind of related to the question I had
asked the attorney earlier. Help me understand what are non-ag products and what are
agriculture products.
Hagler: Agriculture products are cultivation of crops and raising livestock, produces
fiber and food. Okay? It's not playground chips. It's not mulch for landscaping. It's not
-- you know, the composting that he is going to use for gardens and to give to residents
to go put in their -- their gardens and et cetera. It's producing food and fiber, crops and
livestock.
Cavener: Thank you very much.
Hagler: Thank you.
Coles: Next is Paul Winward. Signed up against. Wanting to testify.
Winward: My name is Paul Winward and my address is 8291 South Locust Grove. I'm
in Meridian. And I'm just two houses south of the -- the location here. Madam Mayor,
Members of the Council, I wish I could transport you back to the onion thing that
happened. We heard testimony today that -- let me see. I wrote it down. Allow use
similar to the onion thing that happened. Onion smell. Rotting onion smell. More.
Rotten onions full of maggots. Affects the use and enjoyment of our property. I wish I
could bring that -- I wish I could bring that in a can so you could each smell that. Food
waste. The flies. My daughter's dry heaving in our backyard. Randy Hopkins tried to
play the -- the noise for you. Madam Mayor, I like the sound of birds, too. When the
grinder is going full speed and the machinery is operating we can't hear those birds.
Those birds that you heard in the recording, those were not happy birds. They were
disturbed, as were all the neighbors -- and I'm not even the closest house to the
property. I appreciate what Mike's trying to do. In fact, I admire his business acumen
and the model, it's just the wrong place. Like Council Member Borton said, own it. It's
industrial use. There is no way around that. This is industrial use. The current use is
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going beyond the DA and we are here tonight talking about expanding that. Staff
touched on briefly the concerns. I just want to go into more detail from the staff report.
The existing and proposed to use -- the existing and proposed use is inconsistent with
the current zoning and wouldn't have been allowed to operate in the R-4 zoning if it
wasn't for the -- if it wasn't operating in the county already. The current use is far
beyond what was happening at the time of the agreement. The staff is concerned --
and as are the neighbors, that if the purposed industrial use is allowed to expand under
a DA agreement, it would become a liability to the city. The report spells out that the
primary purpose of zoning is to segregate uses that are incompatible and prevent new
development from interfering with existing uses and/or to preserve the character of a
community. The proposed use would create just that, an incompatible use adjacent to
existing and future low density residential properties and impact the rural residential
agricultural character of this area. I would defer to the rest of the staff report and hope
that you would deny this application. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Next on the list was Ryan. There was no last name given. Wanting to testify
against the project. Ryan. Okay. Troy Allen is against, wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Sir, you first need to state your name and address and -- and we don't want
to miss a word of your testimony.
Allen: My name is Troy Allen. 775 East Columbia, Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you very much.
Allen: Madam Mayor, thank you for answering my Facebook a couple weeks ago on
the weekend. So, just some pictures and you guys saw some pictures earlier. I guess
that's a question to you. You have asked what's the difference between ag and
industrial. I don't think ag -- this field here is ag. The rest of it industrial. So, I don't
think this is an R-4 zoning. Very industrial. It seems like we are already talking about
Timber Creek recycling as a recycling, composting, like we have already accepted it. I
don't believe it's an ag business. Mike stated earlier he cannot get enough wood to
supply what he needs for his 800 acres. If that's the case why are we selling it at Home
Depot, Lowe's, where ever it's getting bagged. It's industrial. It's commercial. And at
some point it transitioned from ag to industrial. I don't know when that happened.
Somewhere between 2015 and now. My wife and I went on a -- a tour with Mike, which
was enlightening and he -- he does a great job out there, there is no question about
that, but he did say that he was selling the third party and my question would be was he
doing that in 2015. 1 don't know. I'm sure he could supply receipts if he was. Once
again, we are to -- not ag, but commercial. Mike has, in person, admitted to at least one
person in this room he knows he is beyond ag, he knows he is doing industrial and
possibly two people, one for certain. The application fails to provide any limitations.
Nearly every paragraph, like everybody -- at lot of the people have stated, it just is --
anything that I need to do my business -- I can quote them if you need me to -- the
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types of -- the amount of trucks, the type of waste. There was an interview on Channel
7 where he stated that some of the neighbors were excited about it. Well, in reality he is
referring to one individual that would rather have it be recycling than to have a dairy
there and I asked him the same question and he said, yeah, I have people that are
interested that like it. I said who. He gave me a name. And I said, really, I know that
person. He would really rather have that and he said, well, he would rather have that
than a dairy, so Channel 7 reported that incorrectly, just like they reported in the -- in the
newspaper. I think it was stated by the attorney that we don't have a lot of faith in the
system here. 2016, no notices. 2018, three or four discussions with people here to
actually get a notice. I'm one inch from him, if you look at my property line. Not a
thousand feet. One inch. So, we don't -- we don't have a lot of faith in it, so we are not
-- we would love to go back to 2015 and discuss it is what we would really like to do.
What else? I think that's about it. I -- if you have any questions or if you want to know
what it is, that is industrial and that is industrial.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: One question about -- about the noticing. It sounds like that you felt like that
you weren't notified or you weren't notified enough times?
Allen: So --
Cavener: Help me understand that. It sounds like you are right next door to the -- the
property.
Allen: So -- unless -- everybody on the southside of Columbia threw their notices away
in 2015 or whatever the date was. Nobody was notified. And I think -- you can probably
verify that. And, then, in 2018 until we called, there have been three mess ups on
noticing. Three. Correct? Just -- can I ask C.Jay a question?
De Weerd: It's three notices. Yes.
Allen: There were three mess ups on noticing and had we not been diligent there would
be about ten people here. When he had his original meeting -- you guys can tell me if
I'm correct -- there was about seven people there? Five? Five people that were
concerned with it. When we had our first meeting we had 30 families and that's only
because somebody -- a lot of them couldn't get there.
Cavener: Madam Mayor, follow up. Sorry. When I hear mess ups -- I guess I want to
drill down deeper, because I think that we want to be doing our due diligence to make
sure the members of the public are being informed. So, can you expand on that, what
the mess ups were?
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Allen: Not being notified --
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener. Mr. Allen, hold on.
Allen: Okay.
De Weerd: That was explained I think in May and again in June when the clerk told us
that this had to be continued. It was a G --
Coles: GIS.
De Weerd: -- GIS or -- and that's what they are referring to.
Cavener: And, Madam Mayor, all I was doing was trying to hear from the citizens as to
what their perspective was, as to what those mess ups were.
Allen: My perspective is -- as everybody else back here -- is we were not notified. We
were not notified back in 2015 or we would have been here doing the same thing. The
only reason we lucked out was my wife called down and talked to -- I think Sonya and
she went, oh, we didn't notify anybody out there on the southside of Columbia. So,
that's my rendition of what a mess up is. Not being notified.
Cavener: Thanks for sharing that.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Coles: Next is Debbie Allen. Signed up against. Wanting to testify.
D.Allen: I'm Debbie Allen. I live at 775 East Columbia Road. So, we literally are inches
from the property that's on the application. I think it's important not to get sidetracked
on whether or not the facility process is wonderful or the going green thing, that the
issue is zoning. The zoning is here to protect us and this is -- as we have explained
already and shown the difference between ag and industrial, this is the industrial
operation and as several people have said, it has increased exponentially over the last
few years. The onions especially were horrendous. And in meetings Mike has said, oh,
I can control the smell, but even today he said I'm going to put the stuff that smells on
this other part of the property. He said that earlier in his testimony. So, even he will
admit collecting food waste and all that stuff smells. We all chose to live in this area --
you saw the pictures. It's great. It's farmland. It's peaceful. Birds are singing. That's
why we chose to live there. My husband and I -- sorry -- like Mrs. Gearhard -- my
husband and I bought our property 24 years ago, because we like the country. I grew
up on a farm. We wanted to farm. We wanted to be in a peaceful area. We also have
invested our lives -- we have invested 24 years of our lives and hundreds of thousands
of dollars in our property as well. I know that we have -- Mr. Murgoitio's business, he
gets paid for the pounds of trash that come to him and the numbers that he gave in a
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previous meeting, that equals four -- over 400,000 dollars a year just in collecting
trash. I think that doing an industrial business in an R-4 zone does not protect the
people and I can see like one other person had -- had spoken -- when you have an
investment and you're making big bucks, why would you do anything different. You
would just continue to expand, because the more trash he takes the more money he
makes. The more he composts for his bedding, the less he has to buy for bedding.
Doesn't have to buy any bedding anymore, which is fine, but you're -- you're motivated
by your income and without the boundaries of anything it just continues to grow and
grow and grow and get worse and worse and worse, but it's at the expense of the rest of
us and as you know, our property values will decrease and in an article -- even you,
Madam Mayor, had said that Meridian focuses on making sure development follows the
city's Comprehensive Plan and that new subdivisions don't result in poor quality of life
for existing residents by creating problems like overwhelming traffic or safety hazards
and this isn't even a subdivision, this is an industrial thing. So, it's, obviously, creating
safety hazards and a poor quality of life for -- for those of us that live there. This whole
thing can be solved, as has been stated before, if he would relocate his business. He
can still do the reduction in the landfill, he can still do his business, he can make his
hundreds of thousands of dollars somewhere else and we can be -- have our way of life
preserved for the investment that we have made and the investment in our property
values, because we all know that as soon as that goes in it already has decreased our
property values and his allowance to do that is to our detriment and that's all on you
guys' hands.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: A question. The applicant's representative stated -- or maybe it was the
applicant -- that aside from this onion incident that there hasn't been an issue with odor.
Do you have an opinion on that one way or another?
D.Allen: Is your question are there any other odor -causing --
Cavener: Yeah. Are you experiencing odor issues outside of that -- that onion incident
that the applicant testified about?
D.Allen: Well, the onion incident was pretty obnoxious.
Cavener: I understand that.
D. Allen: So, when you say, well, let's just take away that one obnoxious thing, what's
left -- it's kind of like saying, well, other than that thorn in your foot is everything else
doing good.
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Cavener: And -- Madam Mayor. I guess what I'm trying to -- to find out is what is --
when the applicant said that there has only been one instance -- if there has only been
one instance or if that's one instance in line with a series of events that have -- that have
been related to odor.
D.Allen: So, that is the main odor thing that we have noticed so far and as has been
said already, the application -- each paragraph where it specifies the things that he will
collect, at the end of that paragraph it says: And other such materials. And other
whatever. I mean there are no boundaries going on here. We have already seen how
he has not adhered to the limitations that are -- that are already in whatever the
agreement is. That original agreement was to continue doing what you're doing. He
wasn't selling this stuff then. He was doing bedding for his own cows. Since, then, he's
doing mulching of the -- what is it, the -- the chips that you put on your flower beds
and stuff and -- and he's wanting to sell it and that's part of the big issue and I noticed
when we were talking -- when you guys were discussing this earlier, the difference
between now and then in preserving the agriculture aspect, it's not the same now as it
was then. So, he's already gotten way beyond what that development agreement
allowed him to do then. He's got this idea and he's running with it and as many people
have said --
De Weerd: Mrs. Allen, I'm sorry, but the question just was about the odor.
D.Allen: Okay. The Odor.
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
D.Allen: The odor would be horrendous with all the piles of food waste that are going to
be collected, which is part of his application proposal. So, he has an open -- whatever
you want to call it. An open ticket to collect as much as he wants and can you imagine
piles of rotting food next to your house, because that's what we will have. Piles of --
sorry, I touched something. Piles of rotting food next to our house.
Cavener: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Next listed is Miller Acers, LLC, wanting to testify.
Pearson: Thank you. Mr. Clerk, my name is Mark Pearson. I am the attorney for Miller
Acres and I believe my client signed up as Miller Acres, so I don't know if you would like
me to wait until my name comes in the rotation or to just take this opportunity here.
De Weerd: Does your client wish you to represent him?
Pearson: He did. He decided --
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De Weerd: Okay.
Pearson: -- he didn't want to testify.
De Weerd: That's perfect.
Pearson: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Council Members. My name is Mark Pearson.
My business address is 314 South 9th, Suite 300, in Boise and I'm here representing
Barbara Miller and Miller Acres. They own property that touches the corner of the
subject property. In reviewing all of these materials -- initially we understood there was
going to be a lot of opposition to this, just based on the noise and the odor and the
unpleasantness of what the neighbors perceive is going to be occurring, but as I did my
work I realized there are several significant legal problems associated with this entire
situation. As another attorney has noted -- and I will certainly let him expand on -- on
that, when the original development agreement was signed -- and as the gentleman just
testified, there appears to have been some serious notification problems in the -- in that
the -- some of the neighbors weren't notified and that there was no public hearing and
that that might have been required. That would render the underlying development
agreement in jeopardy. As would the fact that the actual applicant at the time was a
limited liability company that had been administratively dissolved for several years.
Idaho Code is pretty clear that corporations are -- and LI -Cs are not entitled to conduct
business, other than the winding up of their companies when they have been
administratively dissolved and certainly Mr. Cranney was savvy enough to reinstate that
LLC today after understanding what the objection is, but I think that the -- the underlying
development agreement has a lot of problems and now we are being asked to expand
that agreement. I think Councilman Bernt hit it on the head for me -- I'm not even sure
what -- what we are being asked for anymore, because there have been a lot of
changes that were made initially and now there has been a lot of, well, we are going to
back this off and we are going to back that off -- what exactly are we going to be voting
on. We are certainly going to have to get clarification -- I can't imagine a situation where
you could vote today to approve this and know what exactly it was and I think a lot of
the -- the objections raised by the neighbors are dead on. There is a lot of et ceteras
and similars and -- and we don't have any idea what's really going to happen here.
Most I have been struck by the emotional appeal and the emotional energy that you
hear. These people's lives are being disrupted and I don't think anybody ever intended
that when we granted the operation the ability to continue what it was doing. But we are
not there anymore. We have gone well beyond that and now it's starting to have a very,
very serious detrimental impact on those who -- who live near -- nearby. So, I think my
time is up. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Maureen McGraw is in favor, wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Mr. Clerk, do you want to read that into the record.
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Coles: I will do my best to read the handwriting. Maureen McGraw states: DEQ does
not currently regulate the site. It is regulated -- I do not have her address. DEQ does
not currently regulate the site. It is regulated under Department of Agriculture.
Changing to a compost facility will require that a site certification process be conducted
through DEQ. This process will require the steps outlined in the attached. This process
will require an operation plan, an odor control plan, stormwater controls and other steps
to protect groundwater and other natural resources, signed Maureen McGraw.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Lance Fish was signed up in favor, not wishing to testify. Tori Murgoitio in favor,
not wishing to testify. John Wakefield. Against. Wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening.
Wakefield: Madam Mayor, Members of the Board, I'm the president of the --
De Weerd: Can you state your name and address.
Wakefield: Oh, I'm sorry. John Wakefield. 7837 Tranquility Lane. I'm the president of
the Tranquil Estates homeowners association. We are opposed to the expansion --
primarily the expansion of the food waste. The applicant, frankly, has argued with me in
his meetings that it's not garbage. But I beg to differ. If you go home and you take food
waste, where do you put it? In the garbage. When the -- Republic picks it up, what do
they put it in? A garbage truck. And when they deliver it to his place what are they
going to deliver it in? A garbage truck. And, then, to put that in there, that will have
significant effect on property values and if you question that, on your way home tonight -
- or when you get home ask your spouses -- gee, we want to build a new house, let's go
out and build it out here and see what they tell you. No way. Not a chance would they
build a house out there. Secondly, we are opposed to it based on additional noise,
heavy truck traffic, many of the things that have been discussed. Water. Pollutions.
The -- just -- it goes on and on and on. Everything that the -- will happen has happened
now and, frankly, I know that -- that the applicant has put up a -- a process where he
plans on planting trees, but I previously submitted to you guys pictures of his sight as it
now exists and he doesn't care, nor has he cared. He has a mountain of stuff out there
that is just -- it's an eyesore and, frankly, I don't think there is any neighborhood in
Meridian that would put up with that. I appreciate the time. I don't have a whole lot
more to say. I think it's all been said a dozen times already, but --
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Wakefield.
Coles: Susan Karnes. Signed up against. Wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening, Susan.
Karnes: Good evening.
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De Weerd: If you will state your name and address for the record.
Karnes: Susan Karnes. I reside at 5556 South Graphite Way and I'm here representing
in the Meridian Southern Rim Coalition. We have reviewed the application materials
and staff's report and we concur with the findings in staffs report. We agree that this is
an industrial use and an expansion of the development agreement should be denied.
We have an interesting perspective compared to the ones that you have heard most
recently from the rural neighbors. As you know we do have some new neighborhoods.
We have Sky Mesa and White Bark and Century Farm, Black Rock, of course, is an
existing neighborhood. We have got East Ridge Estates going in. The Keep is coming
before you soon. We have heard from more than a few of our members expressing
concern about this and I realize you have a lot of public testimony to hear, but I'm just
going to tell you something you haven't heard, instead of reiterating all the other points
that have been made. Our -- our members are very concerned about the enormous
investment and thought that has been put into our beautiful regional park that is going to
be the jewel of south Meridian and we are now faced with the prospect -- as we
continue to grow we have had tremendous growth in Meridian and development, of
course, is pushing south. It is pushing along Lake Hazel and soon I'm sure will push
toward Columbia. We are very concerned about the relentless, dangerous, heavy truck
traffic. We are concerned about the fire damage. I mean Hailey can't even predict
when a fire will be put out. There are neighbors who have compromised respiratory and
immune systems who are concerned about asthma, particulate matter, migraines. I
have a nephew with cystic fibrosis. My mother had COPD. These are common
ailments and so our concern is that this business, as much as we endorse recycling and
composting, we feel this is not the right place for an expansion of this effort and we
would like to see it relocated eventually.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Matthew Elliott signed up in favor. Not wishing to testify. Orville McPeek signed
up in favor. Not wishing to testify. Rick Bennett in favor. Not wishing to testify. Debbie
Bennett in favor. Not wishing to testify. Rex Landings in favor. Not wishing to testify.
Jessica Reel in favor. Not wishing to testify. Cecillia Sparks in favor. Not wishing to
testify. Gene Sparks in favor. Not wishing to testify. Shelly Marshall in favor. Not
wishing to testify. Shelly Marshall in favor. Not wishing to testify. Heather Bailey
against. Not wishing to testify. Ron Sater against. Wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening. Thanks for hanging in there.
Sater: You bet. Thank you.
De Weerd: If you will state your name and address for the record.
Sater: My name is Ron Sater and in my address is 8374 South Bryker Lane. Our
property is about -- just under three-quarters of a mile from the current operation and as
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we understood it before tonight, the boundaries would have been within about a quarter
of a mile of our property. So, again, noting the fact that the -- the request keeps
changing and I don't want to spend a lot of time, again, like some of my other neighbors
going over the things that are concerning to them that we have already stated, but
definitely the odors has been an issue and it was more than just the onion issue. There
are odors -- I can't say every day, but there are other times throughout the year. I would
also say that from the -- from the meeting last week Mike had stated that there would be
no -- nothing put in for any odor controls. It sounds like that's changed, too. Right now
there is no plan for odor control. Again, the smell is a big issue. Traffic is certainly an
issue. But I think one of the biggest concern for me is that, apparently, there had been
three public -- three public meetings, open meetings to my neighbors. I was only aware
of two of them and those two I was not able to attend being out of town, but I did attend
the one last Wednesday and when asked many questions, the response has already
been stated, was that there was no response or I can't answer that or I don't know. So,
that was very concerning to me as a homeowner, after three meetings still not having
the answers to questions that have probably been asked previously. One thing I would
note in terms of the traffic, tonight we learn for the first time what that volume of traffic
might be, 40 plus 16. Last Wednesday when asked what is the traffic -- what is the
traffic projected and/or current or past, we could not get an answer to those questions.
So, I would say a lot of the questions we were trying to ask when we got no response or
could not answer, it begged me to question whether he has a sound business plan and
he may very well have a sound business plan, I think he's got a great idea, but whether
his business plan is adequate to run and operate, regardless of where it's located, I
would question the business plan or that he's trying to withhold information from the
neighbors. Again, I think that you have heard -- and I would say most people, if not all
neighbors in this area, would say that composting is a great operation, it's just the wrong
location and I think that's what you will hear time and time again. I would also say that
as I have gone out and read some of those who have been in favor of this proposal --
most of them live five plus miles away and some of them in the city of Boise. So, I
would say consider those that might have said they were in favor. Again, we support
composting, just not at the location. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Susan Denniston signed up against. Wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening. If you will, please, state your name and address for the
record.
Denniston I'm Susan Denniston. I reside at 2239 East Morris Trail, also known as Sky
Mesa. I'm a big supporter of composting for soil enrichment. However, I vehemently
am opposed to this proposed facility for several reasons. First, the land for this project,
as we have heard, is R-4. The proposed composting facility here is industrial, not
agricultural. People settled nearby, people like me, with this zoning and the company's
current operations in mind. The proposed use of this land to add composting capability
goes against reason and betrays the public trust if this proposal is approved. Second,
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the location is proximate to a new planned park community as Susan mentioned. There
will be kids and families accessing the park for recreation and sport next to heavy
machinery operating with numerous projected daily loads. Add a composting operation
will increase the number of trucks accessing this facility and increase overall noise to
the area, not to mention what's there now and the smell of deteriorating organic
material. The July 13th issue of the Meridian Press, published Friday, reported that
Boise compost program has not had any complaints with some smell, noise, or insects
in the year since they started their program. I would point out that this facility is
approximately 20 miles south of Boise. So, unlikely any Boise residents could smell the
decay. Finally, I'm concerned about safety. The recent fire in Hailey at the Ohio Gulch
Landfill serves to remind us of the hazard of large composting operations. The fire
began June 27th with no known cause. There are obviously, as organic matter breaks
down, methane is produced. After four days fire crews interviewed were unable to
project when the fires would be under control given the heat generated by the compost.
As Susan mentioned, persons with asthma and other lung issues were advised to take
measures to protect themselves. On a positive note, I called the city of Hailey and the
Ohio Gulch Landfill to determine if the fire has been extinguished today and it has. I
recommend the Council decline this application as proposed given the existing R-4
zoning, proximity to the new park and as a fire hazard so close to the neighborhoods
and until the new Comprehensive Plan is finished. Existing neighborhoods and the
community at large must be considered now and for the future of Meridian.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Next was Peter Denniston wanting to testify.
P.Denniston: Hi. My name is Peter Denniston.
De Weerd: Good evening.
P.Denniston: Address is 2239 Morris Trail. That's my wife.
De Weerd: Thank you.
P.Denniston: Thank you. I'm a resident of Sky Mesa development off of Eagle and
Amity Road and my concern regarding the proposed expansion of the compost
business on Columbia and Locust is Timber Creek recycling company's plan to expand
compost -- composting of food waste from Republic Services and other companies in
the valley at this location. A graph in the Meridian Press showing the breakdown of Ada
County Landfill by weight -- the study dated December 2014 and found that 18.8
percent of the waste there was food waste. The causality between food waste and
rodents is well established and while the Ada County Landfill is some distance from the
city, the proposed expansion of Timber Creek recycling is not. While its unknown how
much of the Columbia commercial expansion at this location will be food raised, rats
and mice pose a risk to public health so close to populated areas. Rats and mice can
carry transmit -- carry and transmit diseases that are hazardous to both humans and
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animals, such as Weil's disease, E.Coli and Salmonella. They can cause damage to
homes, gardens, sheds and garages and they can eat and contaminate all types of
food. While I'm in favor of recycling, it's just not at this location so close to people's
homes, a school, a public park. This planned extension promises to be a breeding
ground for rats and mice, a potential health risk, which could easily be avoided by
locating food waste recycling in an area that's away from people. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Next was Kimberly Matalonis Edgar who signed up against. Wishing to testify.
Edgar: That was my wife. I'm Todd Edgar. She decided not to -- to --
De Weerd: You want to speak into the microphone.
Edgar: So, Todd Edgar. 1410 East Gravel Lane. I'm approximately a half a mile from
the proposed facility and we can -- I'm not going to go over all of the things that
everybody else has gone over, but the smell, for one thing -- definitely rotten grass -- if
you have ever noticed that in your -- if you have left the lawn mower sitting too long or
something -- rotten grass does not smell good on the top of all the other rotten food
waste that may be coming in. The one thing I did want to talk about -- and the lady right
before me did come in -- Boise city does have a composting facility. I think we are all in
favor of composting. That facility is a 20 mile farm at the end of Cloverdale Road, far
from any residential area, so they absolutely have no concerns like this. They don't
have neighborhoods around them. This is an area that is being developed. The
Comprehensive Plan for Meridian shows schools actually coming in and that's very near
proximity location. The park that's been talked about. Many other developments
coming in the area actually on the -- on the southside of Columbia there is 500 homes
being developed probably under the Kuna jurisdiction, but there is 500 homes there that
are within one mile of this facility. So, there is a lot of development in this area that will
be impacted by it, not just the people that are here tonight. Those -- I'm sure the new
homes that are going out -- in out there have not been notified. So, that's really all I
wanted to talk about. Like I said, there is many other things that have already been
discussed, so I'm not going to reiterate them. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Jonathan Fewkes signed up against. Wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening.
Fewkes: Good Evening. Jonathan Fewkes. 7976 Tranquility Lane. The concerns that
I have are the size of the thing and Mike has mentioned that he is willing to downsize
from the agreement, which I'm good with that to some extent. Water. I'm concerned
about the water, because I lived downhill in line of sight of the facility on the west. I
don't know where the runoff runs into drain ditches and runs in the canal and runs into
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the ground aquifers. I'm concerned about that. I don't know how much DEQ really pays
attention to it downstream. I don't know. There is a leach pond. Leach ponds tend to
smell. If you have ever been out to the Kuna High School next to the dairy farm, the
leach pond there smells pretty bad this time of year. The nice thing on driving passed
his farm this afternoon at the feedlot, his composting works over there. His mulch works
at holding down the odor there. It smells okay. I didn't -- wasn't offended by that. But
the onion smell, the spring and summer of 2017, was pretty bad. And there is other
times it smell a little bit. I don't live close enough to smell it as bad as others. My
biggest concern is traffic. I'm impacted a lot by traffic on Columbia Road, but I have sat
at the corner of Columbia and Locust Grove behind one of the trucks waiting to turn.
The truck was waiting for traffic to clear off of Columbia Lane. I sat there for probably
about a minute waiting for the other traffic to clear so the truck could make the corner
and one thing if you guys do decide to grant this -- and I think you should think about
having him modify the -- the property corner -- that area where he allows slow vehicles
to turn off, make the corners without impacting other traffic. So, that's one of the things
if you do decide to go the direction where you're being told by most people here
speaking. All right? Any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Mr. Fewkes, can you just tell me what's a leach pond?
Fewkes: It's a pond that holds water -- the runoff water. It sits there and evaporates up
-- kind of like a field from a septic that's buried. It sits on the surface.
Cavener: Thank you very much.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Fewkes: Did I get that right, the leach pond? An expert would have to describe that,
so --
De Weerd: Close enough.
Cavener: Thank you, Mr. Fewkes.
Coles: Jeremy Jensen signed up against. Wanting to testify.
De Weerd: And I have appreciated the -- the testimony trying to focus on new points
and so if -- if we can bring up -- you can just say all the above and make new points.
Jensen: Okay. Go from there. Okay.
De Weerd: Thank you. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
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Jensen: My name is Jeremy Jensen. I live at 1090 East Gravel Lane. Kind of by Todd
and -- between Todd and Randy. So, we are about a half a mile away. Really, the -- I
guess the part that I wanted to bring up that's maybe a little bit different or kind of an
expansion on what other people talked about -- in my daytime job I manage three air
permits in the state of Idaho, Tier 1, Title 5 air permits. We have controls in place for
fugitive dust. Basically -- unless you qualify for an exemption or an exemption under the
Idaho Code, you have to keep all the dust and odor on your site. My understanding
talking with the folks at DEQ is it is considered an industrial site and all the odor has to
be controlled within site boundary and all the dust has to remain within the site
boundary. It sounds like there is some challenges in controlling the dust to see water --
if you apply a bunch of water to the wood chips as you're chipping them and
conveyoring them, then, you have got a bunch of moisture and you put them in a big
pile and they catch on fire. So, you know, I think there is a little bit of a challenge in
controlling the dust, keeping it on site. When I have driven by there at times when they
are chipping and conveyoring material you get kind of a plume of dust that comes off of
the end of the conveyor and drifts off across the valley about two miles when dust --
particulate emissions are heavy enough that they settle and they -- they are headed
towards the ground. Once they become airborne you can see them floating back down
to the ground. Those are typically larger particles that will settle out of air in a relatively
short period of time and when dust drifts off, like a cloud of smoke, it typically remains in
the air from 30 to 60 days. Also your respiratory system is good at filtering out large
dust particles that might come from dust that would settle within a few hours and your
respiratory system is not very good at filtering out very small dust referred to as PM -10
or PM -2.5. So, there has been kind of, you know, a nationwide, you know, change to
the national ambient air quality standards to try to address this very fine particulate
matter that gets airborne and stays in the air for 30 to 60 days and that -- when I drive
by and I see that stretch out across the valley headed towards Boise for a couple of
miles, I think, wow, that has quite a bit of dust and it's going to be in the air for a month
or two before it finally settles out. It's not dropping -- you know, it's not dropping at
the edge of the site, it's not dropping right -- you know, immediately dropping out of the
air, it's just drifting off across the valley. So, I think that's something that should be
considered whether there is a cost-effective way to manage that dust and control that
dust and keep it on site and whether that can be monitored and followed up with and I
think for all the residents that live in the direction that the wind typically blows -- I think if
I lived -- happened to live in that direction that the wind blows I would be definitely be
concerned about the dust, how it was going to be controlled, whether it could be
controlled and, then, the health affects that you don't see directly -- you know, when it is
inhaled and stuff it typically shows up in other things and congestion and other
complications that you can't necessarily point right at the air that you breathe. So, that's
it.
De Weerd: Thank you. We appreciate your testimony.
Coles: Next is Terrill Smith. Signed up in favor. Wishing to testify.
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De Weerd: Good evening.
Smith: Good evening.
De Weerd: If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Smith: Yes. Terrill Smith. 3175 Model Farm Drive, Meridian. 83542.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Smith: And I use this facility. I own a small company in town and I use the facility and,
really, I have heard a lot of interesting things tonight and it's beneficial to my company. I
bring and take away the organic material to residences and my own place and other
people to use as mulch in gardens and other facility -- you know, other -- other organic
materials. People have used it for chicken beds, everything else. So, I'm in favor for it.
I do not live close and I have heard some very concerning things. I would -- I wondered
what it would be like if I lived near it, but I don't. So, the dust -- I have noticed some
facility -- or some things out there recently -- well, not too recently. The watering. The
watering of the fields. The sprinkler system that they have in the driveway to keep the
dust down. I have seen guys actually sweeping off and cleaning up the street out front,
making sure that that's free of -- of rocks and stuff. So, that's truly all I got.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Smith.
Coles: Bryce Allen signed up against. Not wishing to testify. Rosalie Skiethich. Signed
up against. Not wishing to testify. Brody Whitlock in favor. Not wishing to testify. Sarah
Litchfield. Against. Not wishing to testify. Charlotte Gene. Against. Not wishing to
testify. Parker Allen. Against. Not wishing to testify. Rachel Bath. Against. Not
wishing to testify. Sebastian Gene. Against. Not wishing to testify. Terry Tate.
Against. Not wishing to testify. Chase Gilbertson. In favor. Not wish to testify. Derek
Pica. Against. Wishing to testify.
De Weerd: Good evening. If you will, please, state your name and address for the
record.
Pica: My name is Derek Pica. I'm an attorney. I practice in Boise. My address is 199
North Capitol Boulevard, Suite 302, in downtown Boise.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Pica: Madam Mayor, Council, I represent Greg and Nichole Brown that are sitting back
here. They are probably one of the closest residences to this mulching operation. They
reside at 7524 South Locust Road, Meridian, Idaho. They are less than a thousand feet
from the grinder. In fact, they are probably less than 500 feet from the grinder. The
property certainly is. You have heard a lot of testimony. I'm not going to repeat it. As
an attorney it's interesting to always hear somebody give their point of view for or
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against, but when you can't cross-examine them -- I mean nobody's going to get up
here and say, hey, I'm running over the top of my neighbors and I'm greedy and I want
to make all of this money. Okay? There would be some questions I would ask Mr.
Murgoitio and his engineer. He said last year he recycled a hundred million pounds of
material. Well, where does that hundred million pounds of material go? It didn't go on
the 800 acres. It didn't take that much material to fertilize that 800 acres. This is,
basically, essentially, the same as a fertilizer plant. I would ask him about his two
grinders. Okay? And his -- his original -- in his development agreement there is one
grinder. How did that happen? I have a question about the DEQ certificate he probably
showed. That was 2015. It was before your development agreement and before all of
these things happened. I would ask questions to you as Councilmen and the Mayor as
to why no notice was given to my client before this agreement was done in 2016 --
January 2016. There is two Idaho Code statutes, 67-6511(a) and 67-6509 that
specifically require that if the city is going to do a development agreement they have to
put a summary of what that agreement is in the notice so the property owners know
what that is. I went back and looked at the notices that were issued back in December
when the hearing was held. You didn't do that. Okay? All it was was you were
annexing the 1,300 and I think 11 acres. There was nothing about development
agreements and you were dealing with a lot of property owners. So, there is a real
question here this -- I don't think there is a question -- I think you're development
agreement with Mr. Murgoitio and Timber Creek is void and it's -- it wasn't lawfully
entered into and here he's seeking to amend it. Again, since the agreement was
entered into there has been a lot of expansion out there and what's most interesting
about this development agreement is -- is that it ends within I believe 60 days if the City
of Meridian grants a certificate of occupancy to a home in a subdivision that's approved
within a thousand feet of the grinder. Why -- my clients have a certificate of occupancy
for a home that's within a thousand feet of the grinder. There are others that have a
certificate of occupancy within a thousand feet of the grinder. What kind of arrogance is
it to tell my clients that they don't get the same benefit that a resident in the City of
Meridian gets when they are almost sitting on top of that grinder. Okay? That's called
an unequal -- you have got an unconstitutional, unequal protection problem there and --
and that needs to be looked at. This is zoned R-4. It's not an agricultural operation.
De Weerd: Mr. Pica?
Pica: Yes.
De Weerd: You need to summarize.
Pica: Okay. I want you -- Idaho Code Section 22-4502 specifically provides what an
agricultural operation is. This isn't an agricultural operation. So, please, take a look at
that and my clients would request that you deny this application. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
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Coles: Next Katie Ayad signed up in favor. Not wishing to testify. Carl Tucker in favor.
Not wishing to testify. Jennica Hagler. Against. Not wishing to testify. Rod Nettinga
against. Not wishing to testify. Carol Menton in favor. Not wishing to testify. Robin
Connor against. Not wishing to testify. Gene Reynolds against. Not wishing to testify.
Jeffrey Sader. Against. Not wishing to testify. Andrea Fonesbeck against. Not wishing
to testify. Eric Sader against. Not wishing to testify. Diane Sader against. Not wishing
to testify. Sarah Sader against. Not wishing to testify. Buddy Morrison in favor. Not
wishing to testify. And Jessica Morrison in favor. Not wishing to testify. Jim Cox
against. Not wishing to testify. Marie Hansen in favor. Not wishing to testify.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Palmer: For Mr. Nary. Pertaining to the last testimony -- as you're making your way up
here. So, he had cited Idaho Code 22-4502 and said that it specifically defined an
agriculture operation. I'm just kind of wanting your opinion on -- on what the full
sentence says. It says an agriculture operation means an activity or condition that
occurs in connection with the production of agricultural products for food, fiber, fuel and
other lawful uses and includes, without limitation -- and, then, lists of bunch of things.
I'm not a lawyer, so I'm hoping because you are you can tell me does without limitation
mean here is a list of things, but it's not -- this isn't a limiting list or is it saying something
else?
Nary: So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council -- Madam Mayor, Members of the
Council, Council Member Palmer, I mean I think you have hit on really what -- what the
debate is. I mean there is -- if you look at that laundry list it lists composting, it lists
animal bedding -- and it lists a variety of different things. So, it will be the Council's
decision on whether or not, again, expanding this use is consistent or changing the use
as proposed is consistent with the development agreement. It certainly is -- it surely is
reasonable to look at those definitions on whether or not what's been previously
approved as allowed on the property from what is now being proposed is consistent and
that certainly could be a guide, but it's certainly not definitive enough to say, well, it
doesn't fit in this box, so whichever is on this list, therefore, you can't do it. I think,
again, you have to look at the whole of what's been presented in regards to uses, how
it's being done, what's being done there and those things. So, certainly there is
arguments on both sides, that's why there is a number of lawyers in this room and I
don't know if any of us agree on any of it, so -- it definitely is up to this Council to decide
in your ordinance and the agreement that you have and what's being asked to do and
whether what they are asking to do on top of it is consistent or not and that certainly is
something you can use as a guide to that answer.
Palmer: Madam Mayor? Since I got us on this now -- sorry. But -- so -- because my
concern is if -- if what is taking place or what's even being proposed would qualify in
2245, then, does even -- even if he was violating our current -- not development
agreement. Whatever we have.
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De Weerd: It is a development agreement.
Palmer: Oh, it is a -- okay. Yeah. Sorry. It's getting late in my head. But even if what
the applicant is doing now or is proposing would be in violation with the current
development agreement, if -- if anything that he's doing would qualify under this is -- is
our agreement relevant anyway? Because wouldn't Idaho Code supersede -- if -- if
Idaho Code says you can do this regardless of what a city says, is it still valid because
it's a contract between us or is it in -- does it not matter, because code says you can do
it anyway.
Nary: So, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Palmer, that's a great
question and the reality is is when you choose to annex into the city and you choose to,
then, subject yourself to the laws of that city and doing that you also choose to, then,
contract with the city of what you can or can't do, you're -- knowing full well what the
Right To Farm Act is, arguably, you, then, conceded that you're going to limit some of
those things based upon your contract. So, it would be inconsistent to, then, come back
later and say, yes, I may have agreed to that and that's what the -- the Land Use
Planning Act contemplates, but this trumps that. So, I don't have to follow any of it. I
don't think that's consistent. That wouldn't be my opinion that you can do that. I think
the development agreement is valid. I will answer another question you haven't asked,
but it's been asked a number of times -- in our opinion the noticing that was done when
this annexation was done was consistent with the Idaho Code and was consistent with
the city code at the time. We certainly have a disagreement and I respect the opinions
of the attorneys in this room. I disagree with that. But that's not an issue before you
tonight. If that was in error, then, a court may tell us that at some point in the future or
not. But it's not an issue before you today. All you have is a development agreement
that was lawfully entered into with an annexation request and a request to change that.
So, the notice issue really isn't an issue for you tonight and the issue you have asked --
I agree is a great question, but in my opinion, once they chose to do it this way, they are
subject to the DA.
Palmer: Way more sense now. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you for your patience. If you will, please, state your name and
address for the record.
Hansen: Murray Hansen. 1319 West Old River Drive, Meridian. 83642.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Hansen.
Hansen: I have been a life-long farmer and cattleman. I happen to work for Mr.
Murgoitio. I run the farm and manage the feedlot. I just wanted to clarify a few points --
and I did agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Pica that it would be better if people were sworn
in before they offered frivolous statements. I'm more worried about a hay fire than the
wood fires. Spontaneous combustion takes two to six weeks to occur. You can look
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that up. That's factual. The wood piles are monitored every two to three, four days with
the temperature probe stuck down them. Haystacks you can't probe them in that far, so
if they have too much moisture in them the bacteria is going to become active, it's going
to create heat. And you can smell that sometimes before it happens. Sometimes you
can't. I noticed there has been two hay fires here recently. That's -- that's the fire I
worry about, not the wood fires. As far as not being able to use up -- not having enough
-- or it was stated that we don't -- we have more mulch than what we need for the farm -
- that mulch gets mixed in the pens. It's used for bedding. And, then, it's mixed with
manure and when we clean those pens out we spread that out on the fields. Last year
we cleaned all the pens and we covered 60 acres. That's all we had. So, is the answer
a bigger feedlot or just spreads it out on the field without mixing it with manure or clean
the pens more frequently. We did not have enough material to cover 800 acres. So,
that -- that is factual also. One woman complained about the rodents coming over. The
gophers. More gophers because of this -- this operation. Well, that didn't happen. We
plowed up that pivot there that you see that's on the edge of the project there that has
been taken out of the application. When you till ground that hasn't been filled for
several years where there is hayfields or pasture land, the gophers accumulate in those
fields. When you go in and work those fields, then, the gophers -- they leave and go
somewhere else. So, that would cause a western migration of those. Not from the area
where the recycling and the grinding, etcetera, is -- is occurring. There are no
chippers on the place. There are no shredders on the place. There are grinders and a
trommel. Any questions?
De Weerd: Any questions for Mr. Hansen? Thank you.
Coles: Next Chris Sperry signed up against. Not wishing to testify. Danette Palmer
signed up in favor. Not wishing to testify. Eric Zifel in favor. Not wishing to testify.
Lance Palmer in favor. Not wishing to testify. Tony Hedrich against. Not wishing to
testify. Nan Hedrick against. Not wishing to testify. Lisa Haws in favor. Not wishing to
testify. Brian Pasternak in favor. Not wishing to testify. Raquel Hansen in favor. Not
wishing to testify. Bob Vincent in favor. Not wishing to testify. Julie Vincent in favor.
Not wishing to testify. Mark Sader against. Not wishing testify. And, Madam Mayor,
that concludes the list for this particular item. However, if you would like me to go back
to the list from Item 5 on this agenda --
De Weerd: Yes, please.
Coles: -- for those that inadvertently signed up there. Certainly. I will try not to read. If
I -- if you signed up twice, hopefully, I remember. Bruce McAlvain. Did Mr. McAlvain
wish to address the Council on this issue? Rhonda Mason? Quinett Boone. Rodney
Boone. Guy Cavanaugh. Ben and Patty Hamilton. Let's see. Jennica Hagler. I think I
read your name already. Rod Nettinga. I think I read that name. Andrea Harris.
De Weerd: Good evening.
Harris: Thank you. Sorry, I'm -- this is new for me.
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De Weerd: That is perfectly fine. If you will, please, state your name and address for
the record.
Harris: I'm Andrea Harris. I live somewhere on Raison Court. I have only lived there
three weeks and it's in the 600 numbers. It's in Kuna.
De Weerd: If you will talk a little closer to the mic.
Harris: 649 1 think is the address. I came because I found out about this through the
homeowners association. I live in the Patagonia development. I have to be honest,
everything I found in Idaho I found because I was lost and I found this gentleman's
establishment because I was going down Locust Grove and this was before I found out
about this and with no offense, sir -- and I'm all into composting and recycling and
everything else, but I don't know if these pictures that were shown -- really don't do
justice, because it is really an eye sore and we talk about putting trees up and bushes
and everything else, but you can put lipstick on a pig, but at the end of the day it's still a
pig. It's ugly and I wouldn't want to be living next to it and I don't think anybody here
really would want to either and my heart goes out to the residents that have to look at it
and have to listen to what's coming out of there. At this point I'm not impacted, but it
really is just -- it seems wrong on so many levels. I think the concept is great. Sir, I
wish you all the best. But I just don't see that this is the right location for what this
gentleman is asking for. It seems that there is a lot of other places that are nearby or --
I don't know. I don't know that much about Idaho. That would be a better home for this
facility. This doesn't seem right. And in closing -- and I'm trying not to repeat, because I
can say -- and I respect what you said, Madam Mayor, I agree with all of the above and
everybody that said no thank you. There is a saying that's right now in a song that I
listen to. Little rocks could make a giant fall. All of these people that are saying no
should be those little rocks and I hope you will join them, because they are saying, no,
thank you and I think their voices need to be heard. So, thank you for letting me speak.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Coles: Buddy Morrison. With that, Madam Mayor, I think I have made it through both
lists.
De Weerd: Thank you. Sir. Please come on up. If you could, please, state your name
and address for the record.
Jantz: My name is Ken Jantz. I live at 8440 South Locust Grove Road.
De Weerd: Thank you, Ken.
Jantz: I have a question for you. Why in the world would you want this dump in your
city. You annexed it. It's a dump. It smells like a dump. It looks like a dump. The
neighbors think it's a dump. I live across the road, unfortunately. I'm in the Kuna impact
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area. And even I think it's a dump. In fact, we call it Mount Trashmore. I don't care
how big of trees you put on that property, the piles of crap gets taller and taller and taller
and they will clearly go higher than the trees, because they are getting bigger
equipment. We bought our property in 1990. We have a -- I represent four properties,
all of which are in my family. We have 110 acres. We live directly south and east of the
property. We have an east facing bedroom and we are about a quarter mile away and
every morning we can hear it run, we can see the dust, and even our cars get dirty in
the garage. My dogs don't even sleep on that side of the house anymore. So, you guys
need to come look before you make your decision. Go look at your dump. And if you
are proud of your dump let him go. I think one of the things that I wanted to talk about a
little bit -- there is a lot of development within a half a mile on South Locust Grove Road.
A developer by the name of Johnson is building 608 houses and that's certainly going to
be impacted by -- by what Murgoitio is doing. When we bought our property in 1990,
you know, Gary and Linda had a great operation, a farming operation, they were darn
good neighbors. We understood that when we bought the property. Actually, there was
a dairy there. We didn't even mind the dairy or the flies. But it gets worse. Traffic is a
problem on Columbia Road anyway. You get the high speed racers coming home from
Micron. You get the gravel trucks going down the road about 70 miles an hour and
you're going to have a bunch more trucks on Columbia Road. I would hope that the Ada
County Highway District is in favor of what this operation is going to do, because I think
you have -- you have a serious operation. One of the -- and I will end up here real
quick. One of the things I saw in there is there is going to be stone, et cetera. Are you
going to have a crusher plant? Are you going to crush asphalt there, too? I mean that's
what this says right here in this little document. I asked you to, please, consider the
neighbors. Consider your neighbor Kuna, because we are probably going to be in
Kuna. I tried to be in Meridian, but the land slopes down -- we catch all your waste.
Please don't dump on us. Thank you.
De Weerd: Is there any -- yes, sir.
L.Murgoitio: Lou Murgoitio. I live on 7373 South Maple Grove Road. Madam Chairman
and Councilmen, over the years -- obviously, Murgoitio -- we are related. So, I have
always taken Mike's chips when he first started the operation for my cattle operation.
They work very well. He might have 800 acres, but I have got twice that and so there is
going to have to be a lot of material to cover all my ground and all his. I farm right next
to him. Up and down the Kuna Highway. I think Mike has done as good as he can do
with where he's at and he's trying pretty damn hard. Seriously. I have watched that kid
grow up, start that, get it going -- I mean you got to hand it to him. I know there is a lot
of neighbors that are not happy. I face it all the time myself in my operation. You get
ag, you get development, and you get clashes. People want to live out in the country.
Obviously they don't want to put up with some of the country amenities that go with it. I
totally understand that. That's just the way it is. Truck traffic. It's everywhere. We all
know that. The infrastructure in the valley just won't handle it. I don't care if it's my
trucks, gravel trucks, everybody. I'm not going to keep going on here. Mike puts out a
great product. I can honestly say when I get his product there is no rocks, there is no
concrete, there is no asphalt, because my cows won't lay on it anyway and I don't want
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it out in my fields and so he does as best as he can do and I know -- I understand all the
neighbors' concerns. I really do. I have had to be a good neighbor where I am just to
stay in the dairy business. Now I'm going to tell you something. My manure and
compost can stink on Friday, but everybody wants a load for their garden Saturday
morning. Just remember that. And so I'm not here to toot my horn and not because I'm
related to him, but I think you really need to consider this and I'm in favor of it. He's a
great asset to my operation and I will leave it at that, because I know there has been a
lot said tonight and I appreciate your time. Take any questions.
De Weerd: Thank you. Council, any questions? We appreciate it.
L.Murgoitio: Thank you.
De Weerd: Yes, ma'am. Good evening. If you will state your name and address for the
record.
Stucker-Gassi: My name is Christina Stucker-Gassi and I live at 106 West Idaho
Avenue, Meridian, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Stucker-Gassi: And the reason that I came up here tonight is for a few different
reasons. One is my father's parents moved here in the 70s. They swapped a plot of
land in Oklahoma for a farm here in Meridian and that farm used to be on Locust Grove
and Fairview. I grew up with kids who spent their whole lives on land my dad used to
farm and I'm only 24 years old, but I have seen this city change exponentially. I
remember when there used to be gaps between Meridian and Boise on the east side
and I know there is a lot of people moving to Idaho right now and we are in the fastest
growing county in the state, estimated 80 people moving here a day and that was one of
the reasons. And the second is I am trying to find a way to make my living connected to
agriculture, but, unfortunately, I don't have land to farm, because my grandparents
couldn't turn down the offer the developer made to sell their land and agricultural land is
significantly valued -- valued significantly less than developed land -- developable land.
So, I would just really like to encourage you to think about what the urban -rural interface
is going to look like as we continue to grow and what that means for the productive land
we have left, looking at easements and other -- other ways of preserving agricultural
land and allowing farmers to retire -- landowners to retire. That in a lot of cases is a
driving force behind selling land that could feed us. So, that's all I'll say. But I just didn't
hear anyone else mention it, the direct connection, because I felt I needed to.
De Weerd: Thank you. Is there any further testimony? Good evening.
Fish: My name is Lyons Fish. I live just off Hubbard and Cloverdale and my address is
on Brumby Lane. And I wasn't going to testify, but I listened to everything tonight and I
want to tell you I go by his operation at least once a week. It's on my way to D&B,
because I go down there to get feed and everything else and I got to tell you that the
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truck problem out there is not necessarily his operation or anybody else's out there, the
truck problem is all the trucks coming out of the gravel pits behind the airport and they
are all running over to Kuna to build shopping areas and Meridian to build stuff and they
all come down those roads. That's 90 percent of the truck traffic. They go on
Cloverdale. They go -- cut across. They get to Kuna-Meridian Road and, then, they go
where they want to go. So, you can't be blaming his operation for the truck traffic. I
have also driven by there and the only time I ever smelled anything was when he made
a big mistake and took a bunch of old onions and I did smell those. But that's the only
time and I have been driving by there now for about five years -- about as long as he
has been in business there doing it and I understand all these people's concerns, but
I'm wondering what's going to happen 15 years from now when all the houses move out
around Simplot's slaughterhouse, are they going to want them to close that down and
move out, because they moving their houses out there? That's not right. These guys
have been farming this place for going on a hundred years. This is their livelihood and
they are trying to do the best they can and I -- they are not dummies and I will tell you
what's going to happen is some developer -- and I know about developers, because I
used to be one -- is going to come along and offer him a lot of money and they are
going to take that money and they are going out of here south somewhere and buy
three times as much ground and move their operation, but they got to get it running,
they got to get it established and they got to do what they are doing and they are not
doing anything that's not in some way associated with agriculture and I'm not sure that
this city council should be put on the spot. The state law -- the right to farm law -- and
there is other -- and the county regulations -- and it was poorly handled up front. They
wrote a bad development agreement. They didn't put any time limits on it, so now you
have got a bunch of attorneys here working for people telling you -- and they are right,
this is not a good agreement. This is a bad agreement. But are you all going to go to
court and spend a lot of money and waste -- these people going to go to court, you go
to court, and Murgiotios go to court, that's ridiculous. Can't you do some kind of a
development agreement with a set time of what can happen and when it comes to an
end to give him a chance to go finish out what he's trying to start, so these people know
when they are not going to have this problem and get on down the road. That's all I'm
saying.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Nay -- yes, sir. Good evening.
Cox: My name is Jim Cox. I'm at 1305 East Columbia Road. I would expect that we
are the closest to the compost piles. Madam Mayor, Council Members, I intended not to
speak, but felt like I couldn't leave the last one where it was. Most of the points have
been made. It does seem like being that close to that facility we have a bird's eye view
of most all that goes on. I have known Mike -- Mike and I have tried to work together for
several years. Going back to the point of people moving in, we have been there for 22
years. Two years ago when this development agreement was first started things were
very reasonable and we felt like it was very workable. It has exponentially increased
weekly since then -- activity in every form and I feel like increased two the point of
disrespect and I feel like it has gotten completely out of hand, it has gotten to the point
where they are -- there is a disregard there for the neighbors. We have tried to work
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towards something that would be agreeable to all, but it hasn't worked and he has
continued to work his plan in that it is an industrial facility. Mike himself said so. Agreed
with that probably over a year ago at my house and it continues to grow. The noise
continues every day. That point has been made. The trucks have been just a huge
amount of trucks going out of there every day. I don't think they are going to fertilize or
for bedding, they are going west down Columbia Road and there are a lot of them --
right passed our house and the odor -- I have heard several comments that the odor is
not a problem. We have a lot of people at our house almost weekly and almost without
fail -- what is that smell? What is that noise? What's going on? What's -- what is this?
So, those items are real. The comment about a hundred million pounds of material
coming in constitutes also a hundred million pounds of material going out and when you
do the math that's -- that's a lot of trucks. That's a lot of industrial operation. I do agree
it's an ag use, but it's an industrial operation and it has continued that way and it has
continued to grow over the last two years as we have tried to manage it and be patient
with it and watch it continue to expand. So, thank you for your time. Thank you for your
judgment on that, so --
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Cox. Okay. Any further comments? Okay. Would the
applicant like to come and respond.
Murgoitio: A couple things that if you don't make a decision tonight I really hope that
you take a look at the book I submitted to you. That really states -- I didn't really have a
chance though -- and I had two meetings with my neighbors and another meeting that
they had that I went to to try and talk to them to work out some of these details that we
were all concerned with and I asked them -- I said would you, please, get back with me
and say what are your concerns? If I can, you know, work with -- can I change, can I do
-- and they -- not one of them got back to me, except for right before the hearing said
that they read the development -- or the staff report and they decided they didn't really
want to disclose what their concerns were. So, I kind of had a blank slate of what I was
trying to shoot the gap on what their concerns were. So, I issued a whole deal of those
concerns and -- and I did a noise study, so we did a study to see what their concerns
were on the noise, the vibration. We had decibel readings from all of our farm
equipment and our grinding equipment. We determined that they did have a point with
the grinder. We felt like the grinder was the loudest piece of equipment, so we are
deciding to put down a muffler for residential use, which I forget what the -- the decibel
rating on it will lower it 18 to 23 decibels. So, that should put it about 60 decibels right
there at the -- the border of the property. Something else that -- the neighbor that's
probably the most affected, because they are down wind of what we have got going on
and directly east of our property, she's a former director of the Central District Health
Department and she is in favor of us, as long as we comply with DEQ and Central
District Health regulations. She supports us, she wrote a letter into the city, and I hope
that you would take a look at that. Becky.
McKay: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Becky McKay. I will try to address this -- some of
these concerns that were brought up. Considering the -- the notice for the development
agreement, you know, I have been doing annexations and rezones in this city for 26
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years and never once was a development agreement -- a notification sent out to the
property owners. Now, notification was sent out to the property owners that we had
submitted an annexation, rezone application, but there -- there is no provisions for
another notification that, hey, we are doing a development agreement and that's
contract zoning. That's -- I mean no one does it in that fashion. So, any -- any
statements by any attorneys to that effect, I don't know where they are getting that.
Concerning the number of vehicle trips -- you know, we have heard, oh, there is 50
trucks, so forth. Mike couldn't answer the questions at the neighborhood meeting on
how many trucks there were, because he needed to research it. So, I asked him, you
know, could you give me a year's worth of data. He gave me a year's worth of data.
They are averaging about nine trucks in a day. Now, it depends on how they count
trucks. He also has agricultural trucks. Agricultural pickups. The trucks return to the
site, they also have to refuel. So, I mean those are not trips that are counted within that
40 that are delineated within the DA. That is the way a farm operates. As far as the
wrong irrigation district, I get those all the time. Nampa -Meridian is notified, but I might
be under Boise Project Board of Control, New York Irrigation District -- that is really
irrelevant. The Boise Project Board of Control is fully aware of the operation. They
have been out to the site. He deals with the ditch rider. They don't have any concerns
that he's aware of. I think Mike addressed the grinder noise. I mean it's going to be a
significant expense for him about 10,000 dollars, to purchase a specialized muffler for
the grinder, but he's willing to do that. He's willing to take steps, install landscaping, try
to make the site more aesthetically pleasing and try to accommodate some of the
concerns that the neighbors have. They talk about all this truck traffic -- as indicated by
one gentleman there is gravel trucks out there. I was out there for two hours and I saw
trucks totally unrelated to Mike's operation. In fact, in the two hour span that I was there
one truck arrived to dump a load in a two hour span. Loaders, excavators, water trucks,
loading, unloading, tractors -- hey, my dad -- he has all of that equipment on his farm.
It's operating all the time. That is not indicative of -- oh, so this has got to be industrial.
That cannot be the case. As far as the wholesaling to Home Depot, I don't know any
farmer that raises crops, does not transport them off site and sell them to someone else.
The definition of farm is not that everything has to be consumed and used on that farm.
That is not the way the code is written. And I think as far as concerns about comments,
such as other such materials, Mike is willing to define -- to have this Council and the
attorneys define -- clarify exactly what he can and cannot do on that site. He is not
asking for carte blanche. He's not asking for miscellaneous -- he wants to define it. He
wants to make these neighbors feel that they know what is happening at the site, that
the Council can be assured that he is in compliance. He does have to submit an odor
plan -- engineered plan to DEQ, to Central District Health, for their review and their
approval for his composting if he takes on food waste. I'm just trying to -- I got a lot of
comments. The comment was this is the wrong location for composting. Well, if you
look at -- as Councilman Palmer indicated -- the Idaho statute as far as what is an
agricultural facility, it talks about plant byproducts, plant waste, plant composting. It
talks about it in the state code. So, how can this be the wrong location? This was
agricultural. He did not go ask for that R-4 zone. The city came out to him and said we
would like to annex -- do a mass annexation. We want to know that these properties at
-- when tend to develop at some point in time, so that the extension of our facilities will
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be utilized. I mean this was a thought-out plan by the city. As far as the R-4 zone, I see
that as -- from a land use perspective totally irrelevant since this use existed prior to the
annexation and the R-4 zone. Susan Karnes from the Southern Rim Coalition says, you
know, she believes this is an industrial use and talked about the developments that are
approved. This is the same person that objected to my subdivision Sky Mesa, which
she mentioned, is coming in next to her subdivision. She also objected to the other
subdivision that is south of -- of her project. So, I mean I can see some of these people
-- if I were doing a subdivision would be here objecting, too, to additional traffic. I don't
know. I just see some irony there. But the facts are the composting already exists.
The windrowing exists. As far as the management of that site, Mike is doing everything
he can to make sure that that is -- facility is ran perfectly in order to eliminate -- and like
he told me, if done properly there is no odor. I drive -- we drove all over there. I was
trying to find a smell. I could not find a smell. I could smell a little bit of wood chips, but
that was it. Then he took me down by the cattle, then, I smelled silage. That was the
only thing that I could smell. There was a little pile of grass over by the feedlot. I
smelled grass, but -- well, there is grass smell over at my five acres in north Ada county,
too. Traffic volumes. I talked to Ada County Highway District about the trips that he
generates. Mindy Wallace indicated Columbia, Locust Grove are arterials. As far as the
current volumes on the roadways and the amount of trips that he is going to generate
with the facility and the application that's before you or the expansion that's before you
is negligible. We have absolutely no concerns whatsoever, nor would we require him to
do a traffic study. As far as rats and mice, I asked Mike about that. Did they ever have
any rodent problems before. I mean there is bagels out there, there is tortillas, there is
bread. Mike said they did have a few rats. They put out some rat poisoning and that
ended. As far as gophers -- I got gophers at my place and there isn't a composting
place anywhere. I don't know where they come from, but they show up and I saw a rock
chuck out there, too. So, I don't think that is attributed to his site either. Finally, as far
as the hundred million pounds of cattle feed and soil amendment, you know, Mike has --
and others have stated how that's used and what little goes off site and I ask the
Council to -- to take this under consideration. I don't expect you to make a decision
tonight, because this is complicated and I'd like the parties to get together and be able
to come up with something that will work for everyone, because I think the neighbors
have valid comments and concerns and Mike has an operation and he's providing a
community service that this community needs. Thank you.
De Weerd: Council, questions?
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: How much time would you need -- because I read through the -- the
modifications of the development agreement and there is several things that you had
mentioned that you want to adjust and whatnot anyway. How much time do you think
that you would need to -- to make some adjustments and have a new development
applicated -- or a development agreement modification?
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Murgoitio: I am leaving on vacation tomorrow and so I'm going to have to tack a week
on anything we estimate, so I'm thinking a month to a month and a half to have a
complete one back. If you would like us to negotiate with the city and meet with your
attorneys, I'm happy to do so. I have right now a fairly open schedule in a couple weeks
out. I think that that would be the most -- the quickest way I should say to get this done,
so, hopefully, we can get together on a concept that we think will work and, then, submit
for future consideration.
De Weerd: Other questions?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Just one to clarify -- the discussion about the use expanded as it's intended
expiring. In the draft development agreement it's really loose, so is it truly the intent that
there is a date certain that the expanded use -- or all use would expire or not?
Murgoitio: Right now under the development agreement there is not a December 31,
2025.
Borton: Right.
Murgoitio: There are dates when the DA will expire due to development on external
properties. If I recall correctly, it's a thousand feet within the -- the grinder.
Borton: Right.
Murgoitio: It also will occur if the property is ever conveyed to a third party. This
development will expire.
Borton: Okay. Madam Mayor. That's what I thought. Which is different than a date
certain. So, for example, it could continue for 30, 40, 50 years perhaps and the reason I
asked that is that -- at least in the proposed development agreement change, the one
thousand foot distance was proposed to be reduced to 500 feet. So, much more --
much less likely event would cause it to expire and I'm not saying it should or shouldn't
expire, I just want it to be crystal clear if there is a perception that this use is truly
temporary, then, let's say that and make it clearly temporary and, if not, then, let's not
say it. Does that make sense?
Murgoitio: Madam Mayor, Council Member, I would like to say it -- for me it's really hard
to say ten years, because on an economical cycle it's really hard to hit a point to say,
okay, I'm going to hit my -- I'm going to sell my property here and move here. So, it's
really hard to hit that. I'm willing to -- that's why one of the people I talked to, Dave
Turnbull, you know, I spoke with him and I just kind of -- what's your feel -- you know,
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what do we want to do and what's your kind of, you know -- you're right up next to me,
so I'm going to affect you, number one. So, I want to know what your opinion is. And
he really didn't want to pin me down to anything, he just says, you know, it's really -- I'm
not going to tell you what to do with your land, but I think you will start feeling some
pressure when we get out there to development and at that point I will have -- you know,
he's going to -- you know, some of the -- the ground I farm, I rent it from him, so when
he develops I'm going to have less and less place to go with all my stuff, plus I got to
relocated my cattle operation to another location. So, as that kind of encroaches we will
be on a path to go to another, you know, site. Now, what literature we want to put
together as far as a development agreement to say, you know, what's kind of -- so, it's
not so open-ended, I'm okay with that. I just don't know how to put that together to
where everybody feels comfortable to where I'm not backed into a corner, I don't have,
you know, the majority of my property sold and stuck closing this down and have to go
buy property out when I have all this property right here due to an economical crunch.
Borton: Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Mike, we received a piece of written testimony from somebody who had to
leave that talked about your property being about overseen by Department of
Agriculture. Is that accurate and can you provide what that oversight looks like?
Murgoitio: So, it's a little bit complicated, because -- I will give an example. When you
have a tree and you grind it up, that's not considered a solid waste regulated by DEQ.
Okay? When you remove the leaf from that, that is considered a solid waste that's
regulated by DEQ. So, you have two sets of regulations that are kind of working
towards each other that are kind of murky water. So, it's not really a cut -and -dry deal
and that's why when a lot of these guys were asking these questions, it was like you
have a whole set of regulations over here by DEQ and you have a whole other set of
regulations over here by the Department of Ag that kind of tie in with one another on this
project. So, it's not a simple, easy answer.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: If this may be going towards a continuance, ample time to try and allow the
parties to see if there is some way to craft language that can make all of this be properly
addressed, one of the things when I first brought up the comment about, you know, this
-- call a spade a spade and -- and rezone it make an industrial and amend the map and
own it and it sounds like the intent is to be extremely successful, which means you want
lots of traffic, you want lots of business and you want to help, you know, the area
farmers as has been described. So, I look at the language in our code about the light
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industrial and some of the things that our staff would discuss with you really early in the
process and be a condition of that type of application and they are the same things we
are talking about here. So, if there is those types of discussions that aren't in the draft
yet at all, in addition to the concepts of, you know, a process hazard analysis that fire
has raised and operations plan analysis from Central District Health, there is the
language in our code that requires applicants in those light industrial type uses, those
outdoor uses, to identify a proposed use that will address the impacts and noise and
other emissions on adjoining residential districts, addressing that through setbacks,
buffers, sound attenuation, hours of operation. So, if it's not necessarily a rezone
application, let's -- it would be helpful to try and capture, for the benefit of all the public,
as well as your success, those principles in the light industrial zoning designation. I
think it gives good guidance that if this were to somehow fit -- and I don't know if I have
got my head around it, but if it were to fit into a modified DA, as opposed to that kind of
application, it's going to be a whole lot of guts in there to ensure all of those conditions
are really spelled out clearly. Probably helps you as well as anybody else to make sure
it's certain what those obligations are and whether there is truly sound attenuation
options, muffles -- muffling or trees or berms or -- or not, as one example. So, that was
my -- my concern, I just wanted to make sure those types of principles are addressed.
If it's not a rezone map amendment, I'm still not certain that's not the most appropriate
way. At least have a continuance with ample time to allow the wordsmithing of a
modified DA to capture that. And, Madam Mayor, if I could, you brought up traffic, for
example; right? If we are going to have additional truck usage it would be nice to see,
you know, what's the entrance going to look like and how are you going to get trucks
safely on and off, assuming you -- your expanded use has greater demand, in addition
to the other comments. I think all of those are important to -- to capture.
Parsons: Madam Mayor -- oh.
De Weerd: And I actually think that each of those areas are exactly what the -- the
resident -- your neighbors have all brought out with the -- the noise, the odors, the fire
hazards, with the -- the fire plan, with the number of trucks and I think what Council said
early on, it seems like a moving target, because we don't have anything in black and
white in front of us, neither do your neighbors on what specifically the intent is that ends
the moving target to have more fruitful discussion on the specifics. Bill.
Parsons: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. As I sat here and
listened to the testimony as well I was jotting down some of the notes that if Council's
desire was to continue this out we could work with the applicant and address some of
those concerns, so I will go quickly through my list and make sure that after everything
that if this does get continued out at least we can be on the same page with the -- the
applicant and maybe some of the neighbors' concerns as we move forward through the
process. So, as alluded through -- through some public testimony and it sounds like
increasing in number of trips allowed to the site from 40 to 56. Remove the retail
component. Limit the size of the facility, so it no longer -- less acreage being used for
the expansion. It looks like the applicant provide a mitigation plan for a berm and
landscaping. So, a revised concept plan to be included as part of the -- of the
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development showing the operations. Better define what they mean by agricultural
purposes versus wholesale -retail. Really understand how much is it really for
agricultural and how much is it for that -- that other wholesale component going off site
to other places. We have addressed hours of operation. They propose some of that, so
we want to make sure we capture that for the neighbors. Some of the ones that we are
not that technical experts on and as you alluded to, President Borton, was getting
approved from DEQ and, then, providing that with making sure that they are complying
with DEQ requirements, Central District Health requirements, making sure they get
irrigation district comments as part of that DA modification. A sound study was brought
up. Odor plan was brought up. A sunset clause was brought up. And, then, better
define what types of materials are to be composted on the site and what's to be brought
to that site and, then, as you -- and to the fire plan. So, I have got a long list of things
that we probably need to dive in and get some better definitions and some structure on,
but hopefully I captured some of the discussion that we have heard this evening.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I know you mentioned that if the retail aspect was a sticky point that they be
willing to remove it, but I think that's one of the benefits to what's proposed is
opportunity for those around and those throughout the city to have access to purchase
or pick up or -- you know, I think that's -- that's the highlight of the whole thing to me.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I don't have anymore questions for the applicant. I do have a question for Bill
and I know we have kind of hodgepodged everything together. Bill, if -- if Council
tonight or in the future where to vote to deny this application, what happens in terms of
their operations? Continue to operate as normal as they have been? Talk me through
that whole process. I know there has -- there has been a lot of concerns that I have
heard tonight about how the facility operates. I'm just trying to wrap my head around
what -- what they already have approved use to do and how that would be impacted if
we were to deny that.
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I don't -- I don't know. You hear from
the neighbors, they say the use has expanded beyond what -- it's their opinion the use
has expanded beyond what the current DA allows. First, our office has never received a
complaint on the operation, so we haven't physically sent out code enforcement to see if
there has been any violation of that. So, at this point I don't really have a comment. If
the -- if the application is denied they -- my preface -- my understanding is they are just
going to operate the way they were put under the development agreement and that's
what they are kind of -- that's the way that -- as Mr. Nary alluded to in his previous
commentary.
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Cavener: Great. Thank you, Bill.
Coles: Madam Mayor? Thank you, Madam Mayor. If I may provide just some
clarification. It has been brought up a couple of times and Mr. Parsons just brought it up
with his list that he went through, so I want to make sure it's clear for the record and for
this body that now as -- as a standard practice of the city clerk's office we have a list of
agency partners that we submit and transmit all of our applications to you on every
application. The irrigation districts, including Nampa -Meridian Irrigation District and the
Boise Project Board of Control were among that list and are among that list. In this
particular application the Nampa -Meridian Irrigation District decided to provide a letter
back to us saying no comment, but contact Boise Project Board of Control. We had
already done that. So, they were provided that opportunity, they simply had not taken
that opportunity to write comments on this particular application at this point.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Anything further from Council? Anything further from
the applicant?
Murgoitio: No. I think we are good.
Palmer: September 4th?
Murgoitio: Yeah. I think we are clear that day. We are good.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Well, I think -- well, Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: I move we continue the public hearing on H-2018-0042 to September 4th,
2018.
Little Roberts: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. I guess we could have discussion if the
motion fails. Because I don't know if all of you would like to continue it or make a
determination tonight. The motion is to continue to September 4th. All those in favor
say aye. Any opposed? These are the kind of motions you don't typically discuss.
Borton: I actually wanted to say something.
De Weerd: Okay. Well, say something.
Borton: I don't know if --
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De Weerd: I asked and no one said anything, so --
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: So, Madam Mayor, just so I understand and Planning and the public
understands, is the expectation of the Council that between now and then we will have
a conversation with the applicant, you will have new proposed draft DA conditions, the --
maybe some -- what we have seen tonight and others based on what Mr. Parsons laid
out in the list of things and, then, your next hearing will, then, be another public hearing
for comment for and against. Is that a correct understanding?
De Weerd: Yeah. The list that Bill read off and -- as to capture much of what the
testimony was tonight, as well as what the applicant stated were some of the changes.
Those need to be captured in black and white and -- and so the neighbors have an
opportunity to review that, but also that there is time to digest that from the Council to
consider.
Nary: Great. Thank you.
Nary: It would be a continued public hearing, though. Mr. Borton.
Borton: No.
De Weerd: Oh, I thought you said something. Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: And while we are all here, can we get a rundown of what noticing requirements
will be for that meeting.
De Weerd: None.
Palmer: That was the notice.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilman Palmer, so normally you
wouldn't renotice this hearing, so since you have had a hearing there is notice here
tonight you're continuing to this one, unless you specifically directed you wanted notice
to reset and certainly the clerk's office has a list and Planning to resend notice, so they
certainly can do -- send the notice out that was set for tonight if that's your desire.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes. Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Just in answer to that, in light of the compelling feedback that we heard from
the community or the public tonight I'm supportive of us going over and above,
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assuming the rest of the Council is supportive of that, recognizing that all these people
that are here are going to talk to their friends and their neighbors who left because it's
almost 11:00 o'clock and let them know that this is being -- and I think it's important for
all of you here to know as we want as many people as possible to be aware of the
proceedings that are here. It is frustrating for me as an individual that we have a public
hearing and nobody shows up. I want a packed house every week. We want as many
people as possible to come and share their perspective, because it's very, very
beneficial to us -- to me as a Council Member to hear from the public. There were lots
of really compelling points made tonight. So, please, share it with everyone, put it on
social media -- we do a great job with adding NextDoor, which isn't required by law, but
we do it anyway. It sounds like that we exceeded the length requirements to make sure
that even more people were noticed. It's got to be a partnership. So, we are going to
do everything that we can do, but we need your help to also reach out to people who
maybe fall outside of that or who, again, feel like they are impacted, but don't
necessarily fall within the noticing requirements, so that we have as many people here
as possible to make their opinions known.
De Weerd: I think it would be fair, Mr. Clerk, that you not only look at the -- the mailing
distances, but anyone who signed up tonight, if they provided an address, that they get
it mailed as well. Okay. Anything further from Council? Okay. So, just to summarize,
this public hearing has been continued to September 4th. A new modified set of
development agreement will be provided for that continued public hearing. So, anything
that's being proposed will be in that DA in black and white and as our planner had
summarized many of the issues that were raised through the public testimony, that we
hope to see addressed in the modified development as proposed.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: To kind of make that meeting more productive, if at all possible, if it's not too
late to -- to add a condition, but to have I guess the best completed next draft of a
development agreement ready, you know, the Friday before or something so the
applicant and the public can see for better or for worse what the new language is, not
Monday or Tuesday.
Parsons: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. This is a very complicated project. I
mean there is a lot of things that we have to coordinate with different agencies to make
sure we capture everything that we want, if that's your desire to -- to review that and
make sure we are covering our bases.
De Weerd: Yes. Staff needs it before that Friday.
Parsons: Yeah, we -- specifically we will probably -- we won't redo the staff report, so I
don't want the neighbors to be -- the residents to think that we are going to rewrite a
staff report. We are, basically, going to prepare a staff memo saying these are the
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provisions that you need to take into consideration based on the guidance you're giving
us tonight and that will be part of the public record that we get to the clerk and typically
our timelines are the Thursday before the public hearing, so we have to get that to the
clerk by 3:30 p.m. on August -- August 30th is when it should be to the clerk based on
our deadlines. So, hopefully, that is enough time for the applicant and our attorney's
office and staff to work -- to get all these things worked out. So, that's our bottom line is
that date and, then, working back from there.
De Weerd: But that's when you have to get your -- your staff summary together, so you
need how much time to be able to do that?
Parsons: Madam Mayor, we prefer seven to ten days to get something working, so we
can have the time to work and --
De Weerd: So, I would imagine that if --
Parsons: You're talking three weeks from now, basically, is --
De Weerd: No, I'm sorry. I -- so, you need it by when?
Parsons: Staff would hope to have something three weeks from now -- if we want to
meet that deadline at least like to have something by the 17th of August. If not, maybe -
- anywhere between the 17th and the 22nd of August we would like to have something
buttoned down to prepare a memo and adequately address some of these --
Borton: And, Madam Mayor, the reason I -- I raise that question is it's not necessarily
productive if it's the 4th and we are still figuring out language. If it means it's an extra
week or so into September, so there is ample time for -- there is a better final draft of
the new development agreement can be out a week or ten days to the applicant, to
public, there is no surprises and that means it's September 17th -- better to be right than
right now.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I know we as a body already took action to continue it, but I think the 4th is
the day after a holiday, recognize that life for both applicant and staff may get in the way
-- what we don't want to have is a scenario where the public comes back on the 4th and
we say, boy, we need one more week to get this -- to get everything finalized and, again,
the public has built their schedule up against a three day weekend and now we are
continuing yet again. So, I am much more supportive of going to the 17th. I just don't
know -- and I may need some guidance from Mr. Nary and from the Council about how
to unwind when we have already just voted to continue it to a certain date and I don't --
and, further, looking at this maybe that date isn't the most appropriate and an additional
week is -- is better suited maybe for the applicant and I think for the public.
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De Weerd: If we need this two weeks before, so that everyone has an opportunity to
look at it, it needs to be further down the road and that would just be a --
Nary: A motion to reconsider.
De Weerd: -- motion to reconsider.
Borton: Madam Mayor, I move to reconsider the decision to continue the public hearing
to September 4th.
Palmer: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to continue the -- the date specific to
rehear this modified DA. All those in favor say aye. Okay.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Move that we continue this public hearing to September 18th.
Little Roberts: Second.
Borton: And that the revised proposed modified development agreement be available to
staff and the public the week of September 3rd.
De Weerd: Okay.
Borton: Is that -- is that fair, Mr. Nary?
Nary: Madam Mayor, I guess the week of September 3rd -- you mean the 3rd or the
4th, which is the day after the holiday? I -- it would be easier with a date certain. If we
knew this is when you want it put on the website for people to review, that means we
need it for Mr. Cranny before that and we want staff comment -- I don't care what day it
is, I'm just shooting for a day.
Borton: Madam Mayor? The 6th -- the 4th is coming off a holiday.
De Weerd: The 6th or the 11th.
Borton: September 6th for the completed modified development agreement to be
available.
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Cavener: A meeting on the 18th.
Borton: Which is -- and a meeting on the 18th.
De Weerd: On the 18th.
Borton: Yes.
Little Roberts: Second agrees.
De Weerd: Okay.
Borton: I see head nods.
De Weerd: Okay. Is everyone clear on this motion? Okay. So, the motion is to
continue to the 18th with the -- the document to consider on the 6th. All those in favor
say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: I'm going to call a recess for ten minutes.
(Recess: 10:52 p.m. to 11:07 p.m.)
I. Community Development: Net Zero Budget Amendment for
Paylocity Idaho Opportunity Fund Grant
De Weerd: Okay. I will go ahead and call this meeting back to order. Item 8-1 is under
Community Development and we have Cameron here. Thank you for hanging in with
us.
Ariel: You bet. It's a pleasure to be here this evening, Madam Mayor and Members of
the Council.
De Weerd: And bringing your son.
Ariel: Yeah. We had a good father -son time.
De Weerd: So, you have to introduce him.
Ariel: Yes. This is my oldest son Beck in the back here. He's on summer vacation
hanging out with dad tonight, so we had a good time. Yeah. It's kind of sick. I know, but
-- it's a pleasure to be with you. I wanted to just touch base and ask for your approval of
the net zero budget amendment for the Paylocity grant funding. Just a couple notes on
this. This is to -- just for the spending authority, if and when a proposal agreement is
put in place. So, this is somewhat independent of that, but would only go into in effect if
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the -- you know, the agreement and the contracts were to be agreed upon and move
forward.
De Weerd: And we receive the funds first.
Ariel: Correct. And so that -- that is -- that would be the -- the intent of this. So, just to
be clear, we are just asking for the authority. There is no financial commitment
whatsoever to the city. It's only when the funds are transferred from the state to the city
that this would actually come into effect. So, that -- that's what this is for, but just for
your background, as far as the process and where we are at today, the -- the
agreements have been drafted and, you know, gone over by Legal, as well as Finance
and our department. Those have been passed on to the relevant parties, Department of
Commerce, the site selector, as well as Paylocity and it's our understanding at this point
they are being reviewed by -- by those parties. If I recall -- and Mr. Nary may be able to
help me with this -- there were a few items that may need to be tweaked in that, but, of
course, all of that would have to go -- you know, pass muster and be approved by Legal
and Finance before we would proceed with those agreements. So, again, this is just
asking for the spending authority and that's -- that's what's before you at this time.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions?
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor, Cameron, did we get a letter of agreement or something
from Department of Commerce? I know we had talked about that at one point and I
didn't remember ever seeing it and I apologize if we did and I just don't remember.
Ariel: Sure. Madam Mayor, Council Women Little Roberts, yes, we did receive
something from Commerce, you know, extending the -- you know, the intent to do the
grant and -- very similar to what was issued to the city of Boise initially.
Little Roberts: Thank you.
De Weerd: Can you get a copy of that to Council?
Ariel: Would be happy to. Yeah.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: Same thing is -- is the application is submitted and has been approved by all
parties and completed or are we not there yet?
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Ariel: Madam Mayor, Councilman Borton, separate items of what -- I believe Council
Woman Little Roberts was mentioning was just the -- the intent to proceed with an
award. I think what you're referencing is the actual agreements that would be ratified,
that would, then, basically facilitate the -- the grant.
Borton: Madam Mayor? I guess -- yeah. But has the Department of Commerce given
its final decision that the grant funds are awarded or the application is accepted? There
is not -- or is there still some determination to be made as to whether or not it would be
approved?
Ariel: Madam Mayor, Councilman Borton, the latter. So, we are still waiting for a few
items to be clarified and agreed upon by the various parties and, then, that would be --
once that is the case -- if and when that is the case we would proceed with getting those
-- that agreement in place and moving forward.
Borton: Madam Mayor. And the reason I ask is the budget amendment, at least when I
first saw it, I assumed that something must be improved and finalized. Is there a reason
not to continue this and approve it if and when you get the final approval? Or if you get
the approval and, then, within a week you could say, well, let's amend the budget and
now that we know we are going to receive the proceeds, authorize the spending
authority.
Ariel: Sure. Madam Mayor, Councilman Borton, great points. That's certainly a route
you could take. I would just note this was from -- from Todd in Finance that, essentially,
if we do not -- if we choose to not go forward with this budget amendment, then, the
amendment would, essentially, dissolve anyway.
De Weerd: The budget amendment deadline is -- is -- was last week, so either we -- we
did -- or you have to wait until October 1 st.
Nary: Madam Mayor? I can probably clarify some of what Councilman Borton has
asked. So, we have -- both agreements have been out for review. Mr. Baird from my
office has worked very hard on getting these done. We did get -- we did agree -- we got
agreement today from Department of Commerce with the agreement, so they are ready
to sign. There was a condition that Paylocity or the site selector have a disagreement
about and I think they refer to it as a miscommunication. So, they want to clarify that, so
we still need Commerce to agree to their clarification. But Mr. Lavoie is bringing the
budget -- the rebudget amendment for the FY -18 budget to you I believe next week.
So, that's why this has to be done. If you push this off -- what you're welcome to do --
then, we cannot do it until after October 1st and we anticipate it being done prior to
October 1st. If it doesn't get done prior to October 1st, then, it probably isn't going to
happen, so -- but we wanted to make sure the spending authority was there in this
budget year, so we can get done before the end of the fiscal year.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
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De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Sorry, I mean nothing's convenient or easy around here. I'm still not
comfortable with it. I -- I just don't like anything about it. Especially that we are -- it was
just assumed we would be doing it and so that was just kind of the communication that
came from the state was are you guys going to file this or doing this. It was something
that Boise and Paylocity and whoever else had worked out back in the day and I don't --
I don't like the idea of us being just the middleman for siphoning dollars around for -- I
don't know. It just doesn't sit right with me. I'm super uncomfortable with it, so I'm not
supporting it.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor, follow up for Cameron. In the process of getting the
application put together I'm still confused about -- or concerned I guess would be a
better word than confused -- where Paylocity had contributed to infrastructure. Do we
have anything where they have actually shown that they have contributed? Because
when you go back through and read the statute -- and it's very much geared for
infrastructure in the three that have already been done, we are all for infrastructure that
they paid for. So, I also have been very concerned about this, but we have got -- we
have dotted our I's and crossed our T's and have something that show they contributed.
Ariel: Madam Mayor, Council Woman Little Roberts, I share that concern, to be quite
frank. I don't know, you know, that the agreements that have been worked out we have,
you know, tried to do so, you know, in good faith with, you know, all the parties involved
and tried to make sure that -- the city is, you know -- you know, in a good position. But I
-- I agree, I don't know that there is necessarily anything that Paylocity directly was
involved in funding, so share the same concern.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor, follow up. Because I guess my concern is where they
are leasing, I guess I still -- until I hear from the Department of Commerce that they are
just like, yea, let's go, a lease qualifies, I guess I'm just feeling like -- from the way I
have read it and people that I have talked to at least, doesn't generally qualify and I
don't want to see us having any risk that the next person that comes along and leases
says I get money, too. Are we opening the floodgates for something that this wasn't
designed to do?
De Weerd: I think ails we can say is the determination was not ours to make.
Little Roberts: Right. That's why I would like to see something from Commerce saying,
yes, this is our decision.
Nary: Well, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I mean Commerce is the one that's
waited -- we have two agreements. One with the Department of Commerce and one
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with Paylocity. The Department of Commerce has been very responsive. We have
crafted in the -- in the agreement everything that's in the statute that's required and
Commerce has agreed with all of that language and they have had that reviewed by
their attorneys and they have actually agreed to it and are ready to sign it. Now, there is
this issue that Paylocity has raised in regards to the job creation issue and they are
going to propose something regarding that and, again, if Commerce doesn't agree with
it, then, they don't agree with it, but everything has been done through Commerce,
because that's where the money comes from and we are -- we are simply the agency
that is -- and administer of the -- of the transfer, but all of, Council Member Little
Roberts, is what Commerce has approved. It hasn't been anything other than what their
direction has been.
Little Roberts: Thank you.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Unless anybody else wants to comment, I move we deny the budget
amendment for Paylocity Idaho Opportunity Fund Grant.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Discussion?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I guess is it -- is it a philosophical concern that they shouldn't spend money on
incentive programs like this, which is fine, or is it something more meaty where it's a
belief that something with this application is inappropriate? More specifically, an
opportunity grant fund shouldn't be used.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: The latter to Joe's point. The question. I think it's the latter. I think it just seems
a little bit sideways. It seems a little bit off.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
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Palmer: For me it's both. I think the -- the concern of, you know, the appropriateness of
the use of the funds is in question to me, but it's -- it's -- well, it's a side benefit of this
amendment not happening to my bigger concerns of we are the applicant in this and if
there is any question as to -- as to whether it's -- or not the applicant -- I remember that
was a question back in the day, it was are we the applicant and the answer is yes. So,
it's not -- we are not.
De Weerd: No.
Palmer: Regardless, there is the concerns that, you know, Councilman Little Roberts
brought up that do they really qualify? Are there exceptions being made, because they
got to find somewhere to spend it? Or is it okay just because another government entity
says it's okay or we are the ones that transferred the money -- you know, we can try to
eliminate our liability all day long, but at the end of the day I am -- I'm not comfortable
with this situation and so -- and nobody ever said anything until the building was dang
near done, so I --
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: Maybe a question for Bill. I mean does the city in your perspective, Bill, have
any potential liability that you can think of that would put us in a precarious spot in the
future?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, first, we are the applicant, so I guess --
I'm not sure where -- we are the applicant, because we have to be the applicant.
Paylocity is the recipient of it, but the city is the applicant, because the only way
Commerce can disburse funds is through a municipality. So, I apologize if that was
misunderstood, but that's what we discussed a number of months ago. The city did
make a commitment a year and a half ago to make this happen and go forward with it
and we are now just finishing the paperwork. So, the risk issue is -- there is no risk
issue to the city. The city has no requirement in this. All the reporting is done by
Commerce. That was Finance's concern is how this is getting done or transmitted and
we have tried to meet all the Finance's concerns, as well as Department of Commerce.
So, I think from that perspective -- we don't have any responsibility to the money, we
don't have any responsibility to repay it back if it was incorrect. Commerce is the
disburser of the funds based on their standards, which we have met. The agreements
track everything in statute that's required. You certainly don't have to do it. I mean
that's not a -- I'm not saying that, but from a risk standpoint there really isn't any. You --
this is just the budget amendment for spending authority. You still would have to
approve the agreement. So, I guess if you don't want to do it at all, once -- if you decide
not to do the budget amendment, then, I don't know that we need anymore contact with
Paylocity or -- or Commerce, we would just tell them we are no longer doing this, if
that's your direction. That's up to you.
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Bernt: Madam Mayor, follow up.
De Weerd: Yes.
Bernt: Bill, so would you agree that just somewhere down the line something happened
and we just sort of lost track with this situation and you were reminded, you know, way
after the fact and we are a little bit behind the ball and there is a deadline and we are
getting this -- I mean could we have been more transparent? Is there anything that we
don't know that we need to get out to the public, so that there is no issues in regard to
sort of looks funny to -- you know, to citizens.
Nary: Council Member Bernt -- so, really, so -- I mean I guess if you want -- I mean we
could put the history on the record if you want. I mean the -- Paylocity made a decision
in the fall of '16 to move to Meridian at the Ten Mile Crossing. I think it was the fall of
'16. Did I get the date right? Yeah. Fall of '16. So, they originally had a letter from the
Department of Commerce granting them a 300,000 dollar opportunity grant that
Commerce administers in the city of Boise when they select a site. That was in 2015.
In '16 when they selected Meridian, Commerce, then, still considered them eligible for
the grant and the city had engaged in conversation with them to -- to apply for the grant
and do that and, then, that didn't happen and so there was a period of time where
Commerce is waiting on the city to fill out the application and they were ready and
willing to -- to administer their funds and there was -- there was a gap. This spring,
when a new director came on board, they contacted Mr. Ariel when he came on board
and said we are still waiting on the application. So, that's really what happened. There
was about a year'ish lag where nothing happened. But the desire of Commerce to
provide this grant has been the same as it was in 2015 when -- then when Paylocity
was going to locate to the city of Boise and nothing about that has changed and what
they are doing or providing meets what Commerce requires. It isn't a decision for the
city. The intention of this grant is two disbursements. So, upon the approval of the job
creation that's required by the statute and the conditions of that, Commerce will then
disburse the first portion of the grant and, then, there is a completion part that's required
for Commerce to release the rest of it and that's, really, the communication
misunderstanding that we are trying to clarify. So, nothing is going to get disbursed until
we have clarified the miscommunication, when Commerce has been on board to do this
before it came to Meridian.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
s ay,Or =MAlM:Ta M
Bernt: I guess the question that everyone has is that gap, you know, it's just sort of
weird. I think you answered my question, so I appreciate it.
Ariel: Madam Mayor, just wanted to thank Mr. Nary for his assistance. I have to admit I
was put into this and I'm learning the ground myself, so thank you for the clarification.
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Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I would be much more comfortable, recognizing that -- I mean it's not until
October, but I would be much more comfortable having this conversation once all the
paperwork has been delivered and transmitted to the city. This whole thing at times it
felt like putting the cart before the horse and I just feel like this further -- well, it makes it
that much more challenging to be supportive of it. I think I would be much more
supportive of it once we had everything in from the Department of Commerce. If that
means it ends up not until October, I'm comfortable with that. I mean it sounds like that
we have waited 18 months already, I'm supportive of waiting a few more months until
we have everything that we need.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mrs. Little Roberts.
Little Roberts: Madam Mayor. I think I'm inclined to agree. I would rather see us really
make sure that we have got everything that we need and thank you, Bill, I understand
that we don't have any liability, but I just still don't feel good about this whole thing. I
think there is some other parties involved in the slow process and I think we just need to
make sure that we need to -- make sure that we are on the right track here and that
everything is done and clear.
De Weerd: If Council would feel comfortable, you could approve the budget
amendment and not the agreement and you can get more -- the agreement will spell out
and we could ask the Department of Commerce to give the details of how they made
their findings that disqualified and we have a new employer in our city and, you know,
it's welcome to Meridian, we wanted you here, but we are not willing to -- to be a partner
for this and -- and, you know, there is -- there is concern in that message, too.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: I don't think that's the message at all. I don't know who would be delivering
that message. That's certainly not the message that's coming from me. That's certainly
not the message that I heard from the City Council this evening.
Bernt: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bernt.
Bernt: So, if we -- if we, hypothetically, move to wait until October, does that affect their
fund? If we get -- if we get everything that -- that is needed for us to approve this and
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we feel good about it, the paperwork is in place and it's legit and we have dotted our I's
and crossed our T's, is -- is October -- are they able still to get their funds and -- or are
we going to be real close to the time frame that might put the whole deal in jeopardy?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I -- I don't know that anything is in
jeopardy. I don't -- don't know that. Our intention -- when Mr. Lavoie asked me should
he put this on, our thought was we would have agreements in front of you for approval
before the end of September and, then, have it sit and wait till October seemed
unnecessary. If that's your desire, that's certainly fine, that's not -- that's not a problem.
Our thought was between now and September we would have final agreements and we
would just be -- put this -- and Mr. Lavoie is not here, but carrying funds over is
problematic for them to deal with, too, so it is just an issue of timing. But, certainly, if --
if you're not comfortable and you want to wait, you certainly can. If you -- if you want us
to not work on it anymore, that's fine, too. I mean it doesn't matter to me. Whatever
you choose. But if you want us to continue to work on it and just bring it back in
October, that's fine, that's your call. I don't know that it harms anything. I don't know
how anxious Commerce is. I don't know. I think they would probably like to put it
behind them as well, but I don't know.
De Weerd: If there is no further discussion, we do have a motion on the table to deny
the net zero budget amendment. Mr. Clerk.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: Looking back to the -- the budget amendment that we had for the sewer truck,
to bring that back it required that somebody that had --
De Weerd: What?
Palmer: The sewer cleaning truck. But could this -- is this dead unless somebody who
voted in the majority --
De Weerd: From my understanding it is for this year, because the deadline has
transpired -- or this was a week later than Finance set the deadline for, so -- but it can
be considered in October.
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J. Community Development: Budget Amendment for Associate
City Planner Not -to -Exceed $95,259
De Weerd: Okay. Item J also under Community Development. I guess that's you, Bill?
Parsons: It's me again. Yes. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Really nothing
to add to -- to this. Just really appreciate Council's and -- your deliberation and your
authorization to move this -- this position forward to help our current team situation and
help our customer service. So, I don't have anything really to add to it. It's just to have
you approve it and so that we can get the job posted and out there -- out there in the
internet, so we can hire some more bodies for our team.
Palmer: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Palmer.
Palmer: This is urgent and necessary. I move we approve the budget amendment for
the associate city planner in not to exceed 95,259.
Cavener: Second.
Bernt: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a couple seconds to approve Item J. Mr. Clerk.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
K. Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance Change
1. Ordinance No. 18-1786: Amending Meridian City Code
Section 10-6-5(A )(2)(a)(4), Regarding Flood Elevation for
new construction in Special Flood Hazard Areas; and
providing an effective date.
De Weerd: Item 8-K is the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance change.
Korn: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, saving the best for last, of course. So,
what we have here is a small technical update to our Flood Damage Prevention
Ordinance, which I will do my best to explain at 11:30 at night. We will be coming back
with a larger ordinance updates when the new FEMA maps are approved, which should
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be sometime next spring or summer. So, it could be a year from now. So, we are doing
a small update right now and, as I said, I will do my best to explain that.
De Weerd: I think small but important; right?
Korn: Yes. Some would say so. So, basically, I will explain what -- what the ordinance
is trying to do. Provide an adoption to build a structure in the flood plain, the lowest
floor of the structure, one foot above the flood elevation, instead of the current two foot
above flood elevation requirement. So, that's what it's effectively going to do. To put
that in context, what I'm talking about -- I have a little schematic here that I will run
through. So, if you see on the screens we have a typical flood plain and a special flood
hazard area and you see that line on there is the base flood elevation. So, this is what
FEMA has already mapped and so anyone that builds in here has to go through a
process with permitting and -- and they will -- if it's not taken up they will require that you
get flood plain insurance as well and meet all the requirements of our ordinance, which
are two feet. So, typically, a developer will come in, they will fill along the flood plain, it's
what you see here, and they could fill up to a point where it surcharges that water, so it
all squishes that creek together where that rises one foot, so that's what they are
allowed to do. So, they need to build on the -- the flood fringe out here and, then, that's
also the definition of the floodway, which is now restricted to build in. So, when they fill
in here there is -- if they fill it above the base flood elevation -- they have an option to do
what's called a letter of map revision, based on fill, just -- just a term to submit some
technical information to FEMA and also the community's acknowledgement that they did
everything correctly in filling in that area and, then, they are effectively removed from
the special flood hazard area, which is, you know, FEMA's flood plain, which they
regulate. Now, they are still under our ordinance, you know, it doesn't remove them, but
this ordinance change is proposing that that requirement to build two feet, the same as
if they were still in the flood plain, the special flood hazard area part, that they can now
just build one foot above. So, that's effectively what this ordinance is trying to do. So,
we were approached by members of the development community and also things that
we have been internally thinking about having to, you know, regulate this other area
that's removed from the flood plain, which is what we want them to do. We have also
seen developments and houses built and I get calls from people while they are closing
saying it requires to get flood plain insurance and they have built everything to what we
told them to, their standards and they are finalized with us, you know, what's the
problem. Well, they didn't go through this process with FEMA, so they are still in and
that counts against us as well as having to move structures built in the flood plain. If
they go through this before they build they get the incentive of having to only raise it one
foot instead of two foot, so it's a little less fill or less concrete that they are going to need
and also they are removed before we -- before the house is even built they are out of
the flood plain. So, we met with, you know, outside engineering consultants, internally
at Public Works with our engineering team and came up with this scenario, which is the
ordinance change in here. Again, 30 -- it's technical I know and pretty small compared
to the rest of the ordinance, but that is what we are proposing and we are I guess
recommending that the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance changes are approved as
written. And I will stand for any questions.
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De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Korn: All right. It was that exciting, huh?
De Weerd: It was really exciting, but it looks like there is a couple of people who have
waited until almost tomorrow to provide any kind of comment.
Conger: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I will be super fast. So, we had
worked with city as well on -- on this item, so we definitely appreciate staff's time and
effort and the -- as he said, outside flood plain engineer that they also brought to the
table. The biggest issue with this is -- is Meridian had in their ordinance -- you know, we
will go through the LOMR process, you know, the FEMA portion, which takes the
mortgage, the flood -- or, you know, the mortgage required for the flood insurance out of
the equation. This has nothing to do with it. That has to occur anyhow. It's a billion
dollar industry and a lot of other agents that -- you know, jurisdictions are building as
long as they are out of the FEMA map. We would -- you will, as the city, still be one foot
above the federal elevation. What we were finding is when you're on the fringes of
areas -- we ended up with this old ordinance of two foot up, we are right -- because
when you're on the fringe you could be a half inch into the other -- you know, higher
than the lot next to it, but that would put you having to have a house two foot taller than
the house next to it. So, the ordinance is great when you're around a river or other
items like that, so you actually -- if you read through this entire ordinance you still have
two provisions that will protect you back to your old two foot if you're around a body of
water that's greater than 1,500 cfs or if you have groundwater to a certain elevation you
will kick back to your original ordinance of two foot. So, this one foot is really in areas
that almost are -- are almost out of floodplain and out of LOMR. So, we appreciate
everybody's work to get this to a -- a more tolerable living environment. It's still a
hundred percent protected and clearly out of FEMA's jurisdiction and no flood
insurances of course. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Miles: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Miles: Maybe just a quick point of clarification. The best way to think about this is really
a Part A and Part B. There is mention of the two foot requirements, which is currently
still in our ordinance. That will affect homes that are built on a regular conventional
basis. This one foot kind of Option B -- what we are proposing is to allow that only for
projects which take that extra regulatory step to go through this higher FEMA process of
the letter of map revision based on fill. So, we still have the two foot provision. What
we reviewed through the -- the process was to look at the -- the technical component of
if a developer -- if a community is going to look at building scientifically through the
FEMA efforts and go through that one extra step of processing, we felt like it's a
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reasonable solution to say FEMA allows and requires a one foot surcharge, so as long
as you go that one foot surcharge and go through the engineering analysis -- in that
instance we will allow the one foot provision. So, just wanted to make that clarification.
De Weerd: It gives it more flexibility.
Miles: That is correct.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any questions?
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: If there isn't any other -- doesn't have any other questions, I'm happy to make
a motion.
De Weerd: We would be happy to entertain it.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I just to inject just to knock you off your game. I was going to ask if the
ordinance needs to be --
De Weerd: Read.
Borton: -- prepared and read by title and all that.
De Weerd: Uh-huh. Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Don't look at me. I'm not --
Nary: It is ready for approval, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, so, yeah, you
would read the title and see -- you read it like your normal ordinance.
De Weerd: There you go, Mr. Clerk.
Coles: Thank you, Madam Mayor. City of Meridian Ordinance No. 18-1786, an
ordinance amending Meridian City Code Section 10-6-5(A)(2)(a)(4) regarding flood
elevation for new construction in special flood hazard zones -- hazard areas and
providing an effective date.
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
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Cavener: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I move we approve Ordinance No. 18-1786.
Palmer: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 8-K. If there is no
discussion, Mr. Clerk.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
De Weerd: So, the ayes and yeah has it. Thank you.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 9: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Okay. Council, any items under -- any items under nine? Just a reminder
we have the town hall on the comp plan on the 25th at 6:30 at the Boys & Girls' Club.
Mainstreet Market every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. here in City Hall Plaza. And we have a
mini Basque festival on the 21st at -- at the Meridian library from 10:30 to 12:30, so
invite you all to attend.
Item 10: Executive Session per Idaho State Code 74-206(1)0): To consider
labor
contract matters authorized under section 74-206A (1)(a) and (b),
Idaho Code
De Weerd: Item 10 is Executive Session.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I humbly move to go into Executive Session pursuant to Idaho State Code 74-
206(1)(a), (b) and Q).
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Mr. Clerk.
Roll call: Borton, yea; Milam, absent; Cavener, yea; Palmer, yea; Little Roberts, yea;
Bernt, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
(EXECUTIVE SESSION: 11:44 p.m. to 12:09 a.m.)
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De Weerd: Okay. I would entertain a motion to come out of Executive Session.
Borton: So moved.
Little Roberts: Second.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Do I have a motion to adjourn?
Borton: So moved.
Cavener: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor?
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 12:09 A.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
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