HomeMy WebLinkAboutJuly 21, 2005 P&Z Minutes
Meridian Planning & Zoning
July 21, 2005
Page 6 of 90
Statesman last week you read about Peppermint Park, which was to be the playground
for Pepper Ridge School, but is tied up in legalities with Boise city and the annexation
process and so we opened a school this fall that didn't have a playground and still
doesn't have a playground a year out. This was really brought home to us and Mayor de
Weerd convened a conversation early in the fall, which a number of your staff
participated in, because we opened a new middle school this year, Sawtooth Middle
School, without sidewalks and so our attempt at bringing the entities in to cooperate
with us and plan with us to make sure that you know we where are building, what the
time line is, and that we can work together to insure that all of the things are in place
when youngsters appear there to go to school. So, that's a very quick kind of reader's
digest version of the growth issues. I would be happy, Mr. Chairman, to stand for any
questions related to this or anything else that the Commissioners have questions on.
Zaremba: Thank you, Commissioners, any questions?
Moe: Actually, I have no questions whatsoever. I really appreciate you coming tonight. A
lot of information and a lot to think about, quite frankly.
Clark: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Commissioner, we will--
Zaremba: One of my questions was going to be whether you're getting cooperation from
the city and the planning and zoning and you have pretty well answered, I think.
Clark: We absolutely are. And I feel very good about that and I think that -- that your
staff, as well as ours, would say that we have come light years during this year in
expanding that. We just look at continuing to work on this.
Zaremba: Great. Thank you so much.
Clark: Thank you. And if your Commission will ask us to come back to bring specifics of
the bond and to show you the site plans or places where we believe that we need to be
purchasing land out of that money that we have in the bond for land acquisition, so that
we can start that cooperative process.
Zaremba: That would be important information also and we will try and schedule that.
Clark: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners.
Zaremba: Thank you, Dr. Clark.
Item 5:
Recommendation: VAC 05-010 Request to vacate 16 foot right of way
easement on Lots 1-9, Block 1 of the amended plat of the Townsite of
Meridian for Meridian Creamery by Zeke Johnson - 27 East Broadway
Avenue:
Meridian Planning & Zoning
July 21, 2005
Page 7 of 90
Zaremba: Next on our agenda is a recommendation. This is not a Public Hearing, it's a
discussion among the Commissioners and the staff to make a recommendation to the
City Council and so I will open the recommendation process for V AC 05-010 and we will
begin with the staff.
Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Com'l1ission. The application before
you for recommendation is an application by Zeke Johnsòn of RSCI to vacate a 16 foot
right of way adjacent to the alley on the creamery property in Meridian. The 16 feet is
located on the south side of the alley there on the creamery property, which is south of
Broadway Avenue and east of Meridian Road. The legal department has clarified for us
that although the ownership documents may not reflect it, all right of ways are ACHD
jurisdiction and this doesn't change your recommendation as a Commission, your
recommendation will remain the same to City Council that they do vacate the city's
interest to this land, but the process after City Council approves it may change for the
applicant. And legal counsel can clarify if they'd like to. The applicant has also recently
submitted an application to vacate a portion of the alley, which will be a separate matter
heard at a later date, which does have some issues. In this portion there are no city-
owned utilities and with that I think I will stand for any questions or maybe any
clarifications that legal counsel may have.
Zaremba: Mr. Baird, do you care to add --
Baird: Mr. Chair, Members of the Commission, that was a good summary, but I, too, can
stand for questions if you do have any.
Zaremba: I think my question is, obviously, we make a recommendation to the City
Council. Would it be useful for us to also add to that a consensus that would be passed
along to ACHD?
Baird: Mr. Chair, Members of the Commission, that would be fine. And I guess since I
do have the floor I will make a clarification that this particular 16 feet was deeded to the
City of Meridian for right of way purposes. It was never opened as a road and so that's
-- that's why there may have been some confusion on the applicant's part. Between now
and the time that this matter makes it to the City Council, our legal staff will sit down
with ACHD's legal staff and make sure that they agree that they do have the jurisdiction
statutorily -- within the county they have jurisdiction over all rights of way, whether they
are open -- whether that didn't open or not, but if it's a public right of way it's our opinion
that they are the authority that vacates it. However, your recommendation to the Council
is that you have looked at it and making a recommendation one way or the other, if you
think it should be vacated.
Zaremba: Thank you. Do we need to have any discussion from the applicant or do we
know what we need to know? Commissioners?
Moe: I've kind of -- I've reviewed it and I'm ready to make a motion.
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Meridian Planning & Zoning
July 21, 2005
Page 8 of 90
Zaremba: Okay. Likewise?
Rohm: Yeah. I concur.
Zaremba: Commissioner Moe.
Moe: In that case, Mr. Chairman, I move that we forward to City Council recommending
approval of VAC 05-010.
Rohm: Second.
Zaremba: We have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? That
motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. TWO ABSENT.
Zaremba: All right. With that we are beginning the Public Hearing portion of our meeting
and some of you have heard this before, but many of you don't come very often, so I will
explain our procedures a little bit. Each application, the applicant and our professional
staff have already spent quite a bit of time together, so we begin each subject with a
presentation from our staff that clarifies where the project is and what the project is and
any outstanding issues related to the Comprehensive Plan and the city ordinances that
may have come up between the staff and the applicant, alerting us to those, and any
potential either problems or workings out that are in the process of going on. Following
that we ask the applicant to make a presentation, commenting on any issues that have
been raised, adding any information that they feel we need to know to make an
intelligent decision. We do limit the applicant to 15 minutes and that includes any
supporting staff they may have, engineers, architects, whatever, to make their part of
the presentation and comment on what the staff has said. Following that is when the
real public gets a chance to say something. We do have a sign-up sheet and I will take
names from the sign-up sheet and once everybody who has signed up has had an
opportunity to speak, we will also ask if anybody else thought of something that they
need to add that would be enlightening. We do ask that you confine your remarks to
about three minutes. This helps us not go on until 1 :00 or 2:00 o'clock in the morning
with these lengthy meetings and it's always appreciated if all you do is step up and say
well, I agree with what Joe just said. We know what you mean. We do ask -- it is
important, since it was important enough for you to come down this evening, it's
important for us to be able hear you. So, we ask that you only speak when you're at the
microphone here. That enables us to hear you, it enables our recorder to get it down. All
of these meetings are recorded for public record. We also ask that when you come to
the microphone, if you would begin by stating your name and address for the record, so
that we know who you are and if there is any follow-up needed, we can ask questions, if
we don't think of the questions tonight. As I mentioned, we ask you to confine that to
three minutes. There is an exception. If there is a spokesman and an example of that
would be the president of a homeowners association, who is going to speak on behalf of
other people who are not going to speak, because he or she is speaking, we do allow