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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-11-15 George Hoxsey Chris Johnson From:David Miles Sent:Tuesday, November 16, 2021 7:06 AM To:Robert Simison; Brad Hoaglun; Joe Borton; Josha Iverson; Jessica Perreault; Luke Cavener; Liz Strader; Treg Bernt Cc:Chris Johnson; Bill Parsons Subject:RE: A Form Has Been Submitted For Your Review Hi George, Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concerns about the Centerville application. I have copied the city clerk and planning department staff. Because this is an open application, the Mayor and Council are prohibited from commenting outside of the public record. That said, I want to assure you that your email and comments have been received by the Mayor and Council, and are now part of the public record and will be added to the application file. Sincerely, Dave Miles | Chief of Staff City of Meridian | Mayor’s Office 33 E. Broadway Ave., Meridian, Idaho 83642 Phone: (208) 489-0532|Fax: (208) 884-8119 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: laserfiche@meridiancity.org <laserfiche@meridiancity.org> Sent: Monday, November 15, 2021 8:52 PM To: Robert Simison <rsimison@meridiancity.org>; Brad Hoaglun <bhoaglun@meridiancity.org>; David Miles <dmiles@meridiancity.org>; Joe Borton <jborton@meridiancity.org>; Josha Iverson <jiverson@meridiancity.org>; Jessica Perreault <jperreault@meridiancity.org>; Luke Cavener <lcavener@meridiancity.org>; Liz Strader <lstrader@meridiancity.org>; Treg Bernt <tbernt@meridiancity.org> Subject: A Form Has Been Submitted For Your Review Request For Mayor and Council From: George Hoxsey Email: gphoxsey@yahoo.com Address: 4184 East Rockhampton St Meridian Idaho 83642 Subject: Centerville Subdivision 1 Message: I am writing to express my opposition to the proposed Centerville Subdivision on the SE corner of Amity & Hillsdale. I live at 4184 E Rockhampton Street with my wife Pam, and three children and are located directly adjacent to the proposed development to the South in Hillsdale Creek. We moved here in 2019 looking for a better place to raise our family. We did a lot of research and spent days travelling all over the Treasure Valley looking at different developments and researching schools prior to narrowing our selection down to several different options in South Meridian. One of the last things we researched before selecting our lot was to review the FLUM so we had a good understanding of what was planned for the open lot directly behind our future home. We were pleased to see it was planned to mostly be MDR R-8 as well as a small section of MU-N as we felt this would give us some neighborhood retail/business options in very close proximity to our new home. We love Meridian, and although we’ve only been here a little over two years, it very much feels like home and we have a vested interest in being good stewards of the community. My primary opposition to the proposed Centerville Subdivision is that I do not feel it is in line with the FLUM and will only exacerbate the growing pains this great community is already experiencing. While I am pleased with the progress the community has made working with Engineering Solutions in reducing the proposed density, this has come with great pain and the hard work of many neighbors. We were accused of being NIMBY’s by Planning & Zoning for arguing against 3 story apartment buildings immediately adjacent to homes on 1/3 acre lots, only to have P&Z nearly 100% aligned with our objections. Even with the progress we’ve made, we still have some gaps to close to bring the proposal in line with the FLUM and to minimize the additional, avoidable, impacts to schools, traffic, and emergency service response times. With regard to schools, the pace of development is simply exceeding the pace at which new schools can be funded and built. While Hillsdale Elementary, which this proposed development will feed, currently indicates it has minimal capacity I can tell you that this available capacity will be quickly filled by the additional homes being built in surrounding developments such as Sky Mesa, The Keep, Shelbourne, and others. Lake Hazel Middle School is already over capacity and again with the growth in the immediate area will only become more over capacity in the coming years. Potentially the most concerning is the situation at Mountain View High School, which was very recently expanded, but is already well over capacity again. At the first P&Z meeting, Engineering Solutions indicated that Owyhee High School would alleviate over-crowding at MVHS, but this is in no way true. Frankly, any other High School in the West Ada School District is not a good option for students in South Meridian. The South Meridian area badly needs another High School (and Middle and Elementary for the matter) and I fear this is many years out based on the need to secure funding in addition to the construction timeline. Furthermore, the community was told at the P&Z meeting that Charter schools were opening up soon and this would provide the additional capacity needed. Not all parents want the Charter School experience for their children and often class sizes are very limited so the actual impact to resolving over capacity issues is very limited. While individual points might be up for debate, it’s very hard to imagine the school overcrowding issue getting any better anytime soon, and approving developments like the proposed Centerville Subdivision, with higher then intended density, will only accelerate this issue and negatively impact the current citizens of Meridian. With regards to traffic, I have two primary concerns. First, according to ACHD, Amity Road “needs” to be five lanes but is currently only planned for three lanes and that is unfunded and currently planned for 2036 at the earliest. Second, I cannot find any evidence of a traffic count being done on Hillsdale Ave. Most recent traffic counts done in the general area seem to be completed in 2018. If one can assume that these traffic counts done in the general area were used to “calculate” traffic counts on Hillsdale Ave, the assumed 2% annual increase in traffic on Hillsdale Ave since 2018 is woefully inadequate. The area has grown drastically since 2018, and 2% is just not even in the ballpark with regards to traffic increases experienced on Hillsdale Ave. The lack of evidence of a traffic count, and the inadequate annual increase assumptions, have led to great concerns about the impact the proposed Centerville Subdivision will have on traffic on Hillsdale Ave, and how this will impact Safe Routes to school for the neighborhood children, as well as lead to significant congestion getting into and out of neighboring developments, in particular Hillsdale Creek. The only collector road into and out of Hillsdale Creek is Hillsdale Ave. Every other route out of our neighborhood leads us through either Century Farm or Rockhampton. Congestion on Hillsdale Ave. will result in increased neighborhood traffic for both Century Farm and Rockhampton, which again impacts safety in those neighborhoods. While individual points might be up for debate, it’s very hard to see how the traffic issue will get any better anytime soon, and approving developments like the proposed Centerville Subdivision, with higher then intended 2 density, will only accelerate this issue and negatively impact the current citizens of Meridian. Lastly, with regards to emergency response times, I can’t think of a more immediate safety impact for the current citizens of Meridian. The Meridian Fire Department admits it is simply not able to build new fire stations, or staff them, fast enough to keep up with growth. They are not close to their 5 minute response time target in the area of the proposed Centerville Subdivision and allowing development to move ahead unchecked without addressing this critical community safety issue is honestly irresponsible. In the last two years, I am aware of two drowning incidents, one immediately across the street from our house, and one in Century Farm, where literally a minute or two delay is the difference between life and death, or between living a normal live vs. having lasting brain damage. I am also aware of a house fire in Century Farm that burned for several minutes longer than it should have due to a delayed response. Those several minutes can be the difference between containing a fire to the garage vs. it doing significant damage to other parts of the house, or even the difference between life and death in a house fire. While individual points might be up for debate, it’s very hard to imagine emergency response times getting much better anytime soon, and approving developments like the proposed Centerville Subdivision, with higher then intended density, will only accelerate this issue and negatively impact the current citizens of Meridian. To clarify, I am not anti-development. I was fully aware I was moving into a home adjacent to a lot slated for future development. I did my homework and made what I thought was an educated decision based on the FLUM. My ask of the City Council is to put the safety and quality of life of the current citizens of Meridian ahead of the developers. Please deny the Centerville Subdivision as proposed. Insist that the land is developed in line with the FLUM. Specifically this means 31 acres of MDR R-8 and 9 acres of MU-N. With regards to the MU-N, the immediate community would greatly benefit from some neighborhood businesses/retail and so my ask would be that the residential component of the MU-N area be kept to the minimum requirement of 40%, and that the remaining 60% be developed in such a way to foster a neighborhood gathering/dining/shopping area. I thank you for your time and do appreciate the challenging job you have. Meridian is a great city. I am proud to be a resident and look forward to continuing to raise my family here. It is only through responsible, balanced growth, that Meridian will continue to be a desirable location. George & Pam Hoxsey 3