HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-11-07 Sherry Garey1
Charlene Way
From:Sherry Garey <sgarey@cableone.net>
Sent:Thursday, November 07, 2019 4:23 PM
To:Meridian City Clerk
Subject:Written Testimony RE: DevCo's Delano Project for Nov 12, 2019
Attachments:Letter Nov 07 2019 to Mayor & Council.docx
Dear Chris Johnson:
I have attached my written testimony regarding the proposed DeVCo Delano Project for the public
hearing before the Mayor and City Council on Tuesday, November 12, 2019. Will you please
distribute copies to them for their review.
Thank you for your assistance!
Sincerely,
Sherry Garey
4563 N Camas Creek Way
Meridian ID 83646
208-866-1351
sgarey@cableone.net
November 07, 2019
To the Honorable Tammy de Weerd, Mayor, and Members of the Meridian City Council:
My husband and I, as concerned neighbors and residents of Alpine Point Subdivision, are strongly
opposed to DevCo’s proposed Delano Subdivision development as it is currently being submitted for
approval. The location of the proposed development is at Eagle Road and Jasmine Street, and directly
adjacent to the south of our subdivision. Please see Attachment A - Project Map. This project was
unanimously denied by the Meridian Planning and Zoning Commissioners on July 18, 2019 for the
purpose of requiring DevCo to work with the residents of Alpine Pointe to achieve compromise, and more
compatible and transitional density between our two neighborhoods. Sadly, that has not happened. At the
last meeting with Alpine Pointe residents on September 26, 2019, Laren Bailey of DevCo working with
Black Rock Construction, contractors for the project build, confirmed that DevCo would not deviate from
their original design nor was it open for discussion or compromise. Mr. Bailey stated the cities of Boise
and Meridian require high density development. He said their design had been approved by Ada County
Highway District (ACHD) staff and Commissioners and will stand as approved. However, Josh Beach, a
new employee of the Conger Group, clarified that ACHD’s job is to simply review the plan for ingress
and egress NOT to make judgement or comment of whether it is the best solution, moderate or poor
design—just that it does comply with the required standards and guidelines.
Even more disheartening, Jim Conger, Managing Member of DevCo, definitively stated at the October
08, 2019 meeting with the City of Boise Mayor and City Council that their development plan will not be
revised. That meeting was the hearing to seek the de-annexation and transfer of a 4.10-acre parcel, also
known as the Cook property, which is a portion of the proposed Delano project. That property was within
the City of Boise’s jurisdiction. The City of Boise did approve the Resolution to relinquish the parcel to
the City of Meridian.
During that October 8th hearing, several of the City of Boise Council Members voiced concerns with the
traffic design and the impact it would have on our existing neighborhood. The current design of DevCo’s
Delano project is intending to funnel most, if not all, traffic through N Dashwood Place that is a small
Alpine Pointe cul-de-sac. North Dashwood Place was designed as a closed cul-de-sac and never as a
future through street. Please see Attachments B & C. At most, it was utilized as a convenience during our
subdivision’s construction, and/or possibly as a secondary temporary convenience access for the single
adjacent landowner. DevCo and Black Rock Construction have stated they will route construction traffic
through the Jasmine and Centrepoint roadways to the south. However, they have also stated those access
points will be gated and locked at all times. That gives us great cause for concern that all the traffic will
most likely be routed through N Dashwood Place if it is constructed as an open road.
The Delano project is not our sole concern. Once access is open and available through the north and south
ingress and egress points, there is a high likelihood that both subdivisions will be impacted with an
extraordinary heavy traffic burden unless there is a convenient collector road to move the traffic. The
creation of openings will not only connect the two subdivisions, but the surrounding subdivisions and
commercial areas as well. There are several additional small acreage parcels within that same area as the
Delano project that have either sold for development, posturing to sell or no desire to sell at this time.
Limiting access to and from the Delano project only to Jasmine and the completed portion of Centrepoint
is preferable as it would not encourage or develop traffic patterns through either of these residential areas
if N Dashwood Place remains closed to vehicular traffic. Please see Attachment D In our opinion, an
open thoroughfare should be a very serious concern for any potential Delano resident because the project
is designed and planned to provide small lots with only limited residential parking that includes planned
on-street parking as part of the design. The design does not appear to factor in guests, multiple car
residents, nor significantly increased potential for resident conflicts. The project streets are designed to be
narrow, which only leaves one lane open for travel and emergency vehicles if people actually honor
parking on the one designated side of the road only. It appears to us that neither that subdivision nor ours
is designed to handle traffic outside of the constraints of each subdivision’s normal resident-related
traffic. In the event of a North Dashwood Place stub road connection, hundreds of additional vehicles will
disperse throughout Alpine Pointe to connect to McMillan, Locust Grove via the adjacent access into
Settlers Bridge Subdivision, and Eagle Road creating noise and traffic hazards. We respectfully ask you to
help us protect our quality of life.
Also, during the October 8th meeting, the City of Boise Council Members expressed their desire and need
to work with the other cities within Ada County, particularly Meridian in this instance, to plan and
provide for improved traffic flows between and among the communities during this unprecedent growth.
We would appreciate those conversations with the City of Boise, ACHD, Idaho Transportation
Department (ITD) and Meridian to expand or begin now and not at some future date in order to resolve
and find solutions for the best placement, design and time of integrating a collector road along the west
side of Eagle Road. While there is still this one opportunity available to construct or preserve a traffic
corridor in this area, please make a concerted effort to protect all our residential areas and still provide for
the necessary movement of traffic and business access. It is our belief the uncompleted collector road,
Centrepoint, could resolve and alleviate the impact on both our existing and the proposed Delano
subdivisions. However, it is only partially completed at this time. The completion timeline and
identification of exact location, property acquisition and completion date have not been determined.
Unlike the uncompleted Centrepoint road, Records, on the eastside of Eagle Road, was not designed
through any residential areas, but well behind them including landscaped buffer areas between Records
and the homes. In addition, the roadway is behind the businesses and shopping areas providing the least
impact on homes, families and businesses. As you are aware, the Records corridor is now able to
accommodate the building of large apartment complexes and densities that do not have direct impact
within the surrounding residential subdivisions.
Our concern is this unique overload of traffic into an established neighborhood that was not designed or
marketed to be a traffic arterial. Please see Attachments E & F The traffic light at Wainwright gave the
appearance of access from cross traffic and north/south traffic to the professional offices located at the
entrance to the Alpine Pointe area. My understanding is the Centrepoint collector street is intended to
intersect with Wainwright within that business area and not the residential area. In addition to the
professional office spaces, that area also currently contains a child day-care center, and a private
elementary school for children through the 5th grade. In addition, Alpine Pointe has two school bus stops
within our subdivision, thus the additional traffic will pose significant danger to young school age
children as those using our subdivision as a pass-through route are more likely to drive at a higher rate of
speed and not have the same concern about safety as our residents do. We also have a significant number
of residents and persons from adjacent neighborhoods who are regular walkers within Alpine Pointe.
Some of these individuals have health and mobility issues, which is also a concern with significantly
increased traffic and speeding.
The street we live on is N Camas Creek Way that intersects with McMillan Road. We currently have a
substantial amount of “cut through” traffic. Adjacent residential neighborhoods also utilize our Camas
Creek, Lacewood and Wainwright streets to circumvent the traffic on McMillan and Eagle roads. Our
subdivision was designed and approved as R-4 development with multiple garages and the majority of
homes have one or more attached RV garages. Homes and garages are all street facing. This access design
requires frequent temporary blocking or delays while homeowners remove/replace large motorhomes,
Fifth-wheels, camp trailers, boats, off-road vehicles, etc. into their garages. This subdivision was not
designed or intended to mitigate traffic congestion currently happening on the primary arterials. We do
not believe that there would have been very many individuals who could have imagined or forecasted
even eight years ago the volume of rapid growth that is occurring and we appreciate everyone’s work in
trying to achieve the best solutions to the vast amount of city-wide and valley-wide issues you must
resolve. We offer these opinions in hopes of being part of the solution and not part of the problem.
We want to emphasize that Alpine Pointe residents are supportive of quality connectivity among the
adjacent subdivisions. Connectivity can be developed, maintained and enjoyed by all through our existing
safe pathway system that was preplanned and provided for during our subdivision’s construction. The
goal should be to assure the existing and future pathway connections are safe and free from excessive
traffic and speeds, and provide safe corridors to local schools, parks, neighbors, businesses and for
exercise. Bollards at the property line between Alpine Point at N Dashwood Place and the proposed
Delano project would provide an excellent extension of our safe pedestrian and bicycle pathway, as well
as meet safety and emergency services access. The northeastern section of Alpine Point is transected by
Settlers Canal, which also fits into the City’s comprehensive plan of connecting pathways along the canal
and creeks within the City and beyond.
Alpine Point sets a precedence and is an existing model for quality connectivity as referenced above. Our
subdivision of 211 homes includes a small portion of 30 of those homes that are constructed on land on
the northeast corner of our boundaries. That portion is adjacent to the pre-existing subdivision of Madison
Park that consists of approximately 137 homes. The drivable access points to that smaller portion of
Alpine Pointe are from McMillan and Eagle roads. Our subdivision’s interior access is achieved by a
lovely landscaped pathway and footbridge over the canal. This works well and eliminates the burden of
excessive vehicle traffic through that pre-existing neighborhood.
We respectfully ask you to consider these issues with an eye towards not only the future of Meridian, but
the quality of life, safety, beauty and livability that our city offers and provides to its residents. We trust
you to act in our best interests.
Sincerely,
Chuck and Sherry Garey
4563 N Camas Creek Way
Meridian, Idaho 83646
208.866.1351
sgarey@cableone.net
Attachment D – Route all Delano Traffic at Centrepoint and/or Jasmine
Attachment E – No notification that Wainwright was a planned commercial collector
Attachment F – No notification that Wainwright was a planned commercial collector