HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-11-25 Cliff Langlois1
From: Cliff Langlois <cliff@langloisdds.com>
Date: November 25, 2019 at 8:21:50 AM MST
To: Luke Cavener <lcavener@meridiancity.org>, Genesis Milam <gmilam@meridiancity.org>, Treg Bernt
<tbernt@meridiancity.org>, Ty Palmer <typalmer@meridiancity.org>, Joe Borton
<jborton@meridiancity.org>, Anne Little Roberts <alittleroberts@meridiancity.org>, mayortammy
<mayortammy@meridiancity.org>
Subject: Comprehensive Plan/FLUM
Mayor Tammy and City Council:
I am a resident of the Rustler area, and have attended the Planning and Zoning meetings as well as the
City Council meetings. I appreciate your deliberating the concerns of the new Comprehensive Plan,
specifically the FLUM.
We (my wife and I) love our rural area. This unincorporated area of Meridian is a beautiful agricultural
area where we and our neighbors have built/purchased retirement properties that we have spent a
lifetime of hard work to acquire. We have fruit trees, a large garden, chickens and have beef cattle most
of the year. And yes, we slaughter our beef in the fall like our neighbors.
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Although we understand Meridian is a city and is tasked with creating an urban environment, we ask
that you respect and retain this rural and agricultural swath of Meridian. We are at what will probably
be the most southern/western border of the City. Assigning our area either “ultra-low” or “rural” is
accurate and appropriate. It depicts what we are today, which will have a direct bearing on what we are
in the future. (If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…..)
Assigning our area a designation of “low density” is detrimental in a number of ways. It indicates to the
city and developers that our farms and properties can be divided up into smaller lots. As Ada County
residents we now are protected with minimum 5 acre parcels. If a property gets annexed in the future,
it would be very detrimental to our area to have smaller lots and dwellings pop up among us.
Furthermore, “low density” implies that “medium density” can snuggle up against us. Having 3-8 homes
per acre adjoining 5-10 acre parcels is not even close to an appropriate transition. A “low density”
designation “tees us up” for developers to smother us with “medium density”.
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Even “low density” is more than what we would like to see, but we are trying to be realistic. I believe it
was Mr. Bernt that inquired if we would be comfortable with 1 acre parcels abutting our area. In my
opinion this would be a very fair compromise, with 5-10 acre parcels transitioning to 1 acre.
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Somewhere I recall that Annexation requires a higher bar from the City Planners. By providing us with
an “ultra-low” or “rural” designation provides that higher bar. Please consider saving the outskirts of
Meridian as rural, and keeping our area from becoming overwhelmed with development.
Respectfully,
Cliff & Julie Langlois
3556 S. Rustler Pl.
Meridian, ID 83642
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