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Home My WebLink About2021-03-17 Sam Apker Charlene Way To:Bill Parsons; Sam Apker Cc:City Clerk Subject:RE: Oasis Nightclub: Opposed From: Bill Parsons Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2021 2:43 PM To: Sam Apker <apkersamuel@gmail.com> Cc: City Clerk <CityClerk@meridiancity.org> Subject: RE: Oasis Nightclub: Opposed Good Afternoon Sam, Your comments will be included as a part of the record and the Commission will consider them during their deliberation of the application. Take Care, Bill Parsons, AICP | Planning Supervisor City of Meridian | Community Development Dept. 33 E. Broadway Ave., Ste. 102, Meridian, Idaho 83642 Phone: 208-884-5533 | Fax: 208-489-0571 Built for Business, Designed for Living All e-mail messages sent to or received by City of Meridian e-mail accounts are subject to the Idaho law, in regards to both release and retention, and may be released upon request, unless exempt from disclosure by law. From: Sam Apker <apkersamuel@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2021 1:16 PM To: planninginquiries <planning@meridiancity.org> Subject: Oasis Nightclub: Opposed External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments. While I believe it is neither the right nor duty of a government city planning committee to determine which businesses can and cannot operate within their jurisdiction, it is precisely their right and duty to determine where in their jurisdiction a business can operate. Such a decision should be made based on the spacial and logistical requirements of the business, impact on traffic through the immediate area, and most of all, input from the community that employs them with their tax dollars. In the case of the Oasis Nightclub, a reasonable consideration of these three factors would result in an obvious decision: rejection. The current plans submitted provide parking for less than a quarter of the occupancy of the business. Parking lots in the adjacent business will bear some of this burden, with overflow certainly spilling into the residences that the nightclub backs into (if you think that the quiet streets of our residential areas would make appropriate accommodations for nightclub overflow parking, you should not be on the city planning committee). 1 This will also serve to further tighten the bottleneck on one of the busiest roads and intersections in the state. Idaho's population has already outgrown the transportation infrastructure of its cities; according to an analysis performed by FleetLogging (a website which tracks and reports on the technology, news, and business of the fleet management and tracking industry in the U.S.), Boise has the worst rush hour traffic in the country. With Meridian's growth already outpacing Boise's, it won't be long before roads like Eagle, Ustick, and Fairview experience record-setting congestion of this sort. Approving such an ill-planned development on these critical roadways will only escalate this problem. Finally, and if other letters you've read today haven't made it clear enough, the community does not want this. It is well understood and documented that crime increases and concentrates around bars and nightclubs, especially during peak operating hours in the evenings. The residents living in the houses that the nightclub literally backs into do not want to be subjected to a marked increase in congestion, noise, and petty crime. The tax-paying members of this community do not want to pay this price. Many of the letters I've read on this subject seem content to say "no". I'd rather say "no, but..."; there are many more appropriate lots in Meridian that could host the Oasis Nightclub, particularly near the Overland side of I-84. These lots provide a much larger area for parking, do not back up to residential developments, and would have the noise issue mitigated by proximity to the highway. Hotels are nearby, as well as the I-84 off-ramp for taxis and overnight accommodations for overly-indulgent patrons, and the business would be able to advertise to all Nampa-to-Boise traffic with its signage. It is not that Oasis cannot open in Meridian, it is that it ought not operate precisely where, in Meridian, it has proposed. Relocating a mere two miles south would dramatically mitigate the community and infrastructure concerns without compromising its ability to attract the same market and operate successfully. I hope this input will be considered. Thanks and regards, Sam Apker apkersamuel@gmail.com 2 Charlene Way From:Sonya Allen Sent:Wednesday, March 17, 2021 1:24 PM To:Adrienne Weatherly; Charlene Way; Chris Johnson Subject:FW: Oasis Nightclub: Opposed From: Sam Apker <apkersamuel@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2021 1:15 PM To: Robert Simison <rsimison@meridiancity.org>; Liz Strader <lstrader@meridiancity.org>; Joe Borton <jborton@meridiancity.org>; Brad Hoaglun <bhoaglun@meridiancity.org>; Treg Bernt <tbernt@meridiancity.org>; Jessica Perreault <jperreault@meridiancity.org>; Luke Cavener <lcavener@meridiancity.org>; Caleb Hood <chood@meridiancity.org>; Brian McClure <bmcclure@meridiancity.org>; Miranda Carson <mcarson@meridiancity.org>; Bill Parsons <bparsons@meridiancity.org>; Sonya Allen <sallen@meridiancity.org>; Joseph Dodson <jdodson@meridiancity.org>; Alan Tiefenbach <atiefenbach@meridiancity.org>; Cameron Scott <cscott@meridiancity.org>; Stacy Hersh <shersh@meridiancity.org>; planning@meridian.org Subject: Oasis Nightclub: Opposed External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments. While I believe it is neither the right nor duty of a government city planning committee to determine which businesses can and cannot operate within their jurisdiction, it is precisely their right and duty to determine where in their jurisdiction a business can operate. Such a decision should be made based on the spacial and logistical requirements of the business, impact on traffic through the immediate area, and most of all, input from the community that employs them with their tax dollars. In the case of the Oasis Nightclub, a reasonable consideration of these three factors would result in an obvious decision: rejection. The current plans submitted provide parking for less than a quarter of the occupancy of the business. Parking lots in the adjacent business will bear some of this burden, with overflow certainly spilling into the residences that the nightclub backs into (if you think that the quiet streets of our residential areas would make appropriate accommodations for nightclub overflow parking, you should not be on the city planning committee). This will also serve to further tighten the bottleneck on one of the busiest roads and intersections in the state. Idaho's population has already outgrown the transportation infrastructure of its cities; according to an analysis performed by FleetLogging (a website which tracks and reports on the technology, news, and business of the fleet management and tracking industry in the U.S.), Boise has the worst rush hour traffic in the country. With Meridian's growth already outpacing Boise's, it won't be long before roads like Eagle, Ustick, and Fairview experience record-setting congestion of this sort. Approving such an ill-planned development on these critical roadways will only escalate this problem. Finally, and if other letters you've read today haven't made it clear enough, the community does not want this. It is well understood and documented that crime increases and concentrates around bars and nightclubs, especially during peak operating hours in the evenings. The residents living in the houses that the nightclub literally backs into do not want to be subjected to a marked increase in congestion, noise, and petty crime. The tax-paying members of this community do not want to pay this price. Many of the letters I've read on this subject seem content to say "no". I'd rather say "no, but..."; there are many more appropriate lots in Meridian that could host the Oasis Nightclub, particularly near the Overland side of I-84. These lots provide a much larger area for parking, do not back up to residential developments, and would have the noise issue 1 mitigated by proximity to the highway. Hotels are nearby, as well as the I-84 off-ramp for taxis and overnight accommodations for overly-indulgent patrons, and the business would be able to advertise to all Nampa-to-Boise traffic with its signage. It is not that Oasis cannot open in Meridian, it is that it ought not operate precisely where, in Meridian, it has proposed. Relocating a mere two miles south would dramatically mitigate the community and infrastructure concerns without compromising its ability to attract the same market and operate successfully. I hope this input will be considered. Thanks and regards, Sam Apker apkersamuel@gmail.com 2