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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-07-15 Elysianna Ashcraft Charlene Way From:Elysianna Ashcraft <elysianna.crazymom@gmail.com> Sent:Thursday, July 15, 2021 5:27 PM To:City Clerk Subject:Oasis Nightclub External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments. To Whom It May Concern; I strongly oppose the new nightclub that is currently planned for the corner of Eagle and Ustick. I live just down the road, in a neighborhood off Ustick and have many concerns about the effects it will have on my community. Something like a nightclub has no place in a residential part of town, which is what this location is. Please listen to your constituents and members of the actual community who live around here. Find another place for this. I have no problem with a nightclub in its proper setting. But my neighborhood isn’t it. Please consider the following statistics and facts: As our community grows, city planning for the future becomes even more critical to the livability of our city and the surrounding areas. Nightclubs and other venues of this nature will best serve our city by being placed in entertainment districts and commercial areas, where the impact on residential communities will be minimized. The negative consequences of allowing a nightclub in a residential area will ripple throughout our entire community. What residential area in the city will be targeted next? Once the Oasis Nightclub is allowed in a residential part of our city, it sets a precedent and there will surely be more to come at various locations around us. We have the opportunity right now to prevent this from happening. There are several elementary schools, day cares, city parks, a church, and even a medical site all within a mile of the proposed Oasis Nightclub site. Residents in this area specifically chose to live in this area for this lifestyle. Residents here chose to live in a place surrounded by elementary schools, day cares, city parks, churches, and medical facilities. Nightclubs bring increased traffic and accidents. Heavy traffic congestion has already become a serious problem on the corner of Ustick and Eagle. The proposed nightclub will significantly increase this traffic. Since the proposed nightclub site only provides parking for a small percentage of its clientele, cars parking along Ustick and the surrounding neighborhoods will result in reduced accessibility entering and exiting surrounding neighborhoods. Crowds and taxis/Uber drivers will be impeding traffic on the streets. A traffic study has not been attempted on the impact of the proposed nightclub in the Ustick and Eagle road area. The increased traffic and parking in surrounding neighborhood areas will only be addressed as residents call in to complain. This plan will be ineffective for protecting the safety of our communities. The increased traffic and parking will impede access of emergency vehicles entering and exiting the area. More traffic accidents and incidents will be occurring during the night in our neighborhoods. Nightclubs create noise, especially at night. The sounds of vehicles arriving and leaving, as well as the street noise of the clientele destroys the quality of life in the surrounding neighborhoods. The surrounding area of a nightclub is always busy and overwhelming. Nightclubs have people lining up, meeting their friends, stepping out for a smoke, and walking to their vehicles. All these activities will be heard all hours of the night by residents in the surrounding neighborhoods. 1 Nightclubs bring crime to the area. Even a quick perusal of the statistics on misdemeanors and assaults outside of nightclubs shows that vandalism, litter, and violent crime are all created by this type of venue. There is a reason all nightclubs have security. Intoxicated, disorderly, and violent individuals will be dismissed from the property onto our streets and neighborhoods. The nightclub owners then will have no responsibility in controlling what these individuals will do and where they go. According to the Oasis handbook, the following problems are expected to be occurring at the nightclub: https://weblink.meridiancity.org/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=228175&dbid=0&repo=MeridianCity Placing a nightclub in a residential area does not work. Adding a nightclub will gravely impact the safety of the area, decrease property values, and increase traffic within our neighborhoods. Residents will no longer be able to safely travel within the surrounding neighborhoods. Introducing this type of business and environment to our residential area in Meridian is antithetical to the Comprehensive Plan laid out by the City of Meridian to protect property values, the safety and well-being of the citizens, and the livability in our city and neighborhoods: 3.05.01C Preserve private property rights and values by enforcing regulations that will prevent and mitigate against incompatible and detrimental neighboring use. 3.05.00 Ensure that all planning, zoning and land use decisions balance the interests of the community by protecting private property rights for current citizens and future generations. 5.01.00 Sustain, enhance, promote, and protect elements that contribute to the livability and a high quality of life for all Meridian residents. 5.01.01 Encourage the safety, health, and well-being of the community. 5.01.01F Minimize noise, lighting, and odor disturbances from commercial developments to residential dwellings by enforcing city code. 5.01.02 Support beautiful and high quality development that reinforces neighborhood character and sustainability. 5.01.02E Support and protect the identity of existing residential neighborhoods. 5.01.03 Strengthen community pride and identity. 6.01.01G Develop criteria for plan review in determining whether a development proposal is safe, accessible, and comfortable for pedestrians and cyclists The current placement of the Oasis Nightclub in a residential area violates the many points listed above and ignores the most important needs of our citizens, that of the safety, health, and well-being of the community. It fails to balance the interests of the community, who overwhelmingly decried the placement earlier by a margin of 80% to 20%. Placement of the Oasis Nightclub fails to preserve property values due to the lack of livability or high quality of life for those who live in the vicinity of this nightclub due to the many nuisances it is projected to bring. It will not protect the character of the existing residential neighborhoods, but, in our opinion, will instead change the very nature of how these neighborhoods are viewed by those living here and by real estate agents informing buyers. This project does not strengthen our community pride and identity. The current placement of the Oasis Nightclub fails all of these items enumerated in the Comprehensive Plan. 2 Thank you for your time. I hope our city does the right thing for it’s community members in this situation. Elysianna Ashcraft 3