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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-03-01 Settler's Irrigation Letter Charlene Way From:Bill Parsons Sent:Tuesday, March 1, 2022 9:51 AM To:City Clerk Cc:Alan Tiefenbach; Mack Myers Subject:FW: Jamestown Ranch Good Morning City Clerks, Please include this email under the agency comments for the Jamestown Ranch project. Thank you, Bill Parsons, AICP | Planning Supervisor City of Meridian | Community Development Dept. 33 E. Broadway Ave., Ste. 102, Meridian, Idaho 83642 Phone: 208-884-5533 | Direct: 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: Mack Myers <mack@settlersirrigation.org> Sent: Tuesday, March 1, 2022 9:36 AM To: Bill Parsons <bparsons@meridiancity.org> Subject: Jamestown Ranch External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments. Good morning Bill, I am writing you to recap our conversation and address some concerns regarding the Jamestown Ranch development. Initial discussions took place onsite with Mr. Mark Phillips, a representative from the Walsh Group, and myself. The meeting was scheduled to determine requirements for the irrigation facilities located within the project site, flow rates, and pipe requirements. It was at this time I informed the Walsh group that the Lemp canal would need to be placed in RCP for the entire length of the project along McMillan and along Blackcat, he agreed. I explained to him that they need to order pipe early as there is always a shortage in the latter part of the season. He then told Mark and I both that there was no rush as they did not plan to proceed with the project for 1-2 years. Discussions with their engineers began in June of 2021. Since then, several sets of plans have been submitted to Settlers that all included the relocation and detailed piping of the Lemp canal along the entire north and west boundary of the project. Plans detailing the piping are also included in the developers packet submitted to the City as part of the City of Meridian transmittal as well as a the following statement on pg. 23 of the transmittal. 1 In a meeting on 12/11/21, it was brought to my attention that all of the pipe for this project had been purchased in October of 2021, 3 months prior to Settlers approving the irrigation work and 1 month prior to the initial City of Meridian transmittal hearing date. They purchased only enough pipe to tile along Blackcat and a short section along McMillan but not enough to build per plan. The interesting part of this is that they continued to submit plans to Settlers detailing the tiling of the Lemp canal along McMillan well after they bought only enough pipe line a portion of the Lemp Canal. Once this was brought to my attention, the engineer told me that per ACHD, the County was not requiring the developer to pipe the Lemp canal in their ROW. Per the plans, the Lemp canal was not being piped in their ROW, it was to be relocated and piped 41”+ south which would have been completely outside the ROW. This is unfortunate as piping the entire portion of the Lemp canal on McMillan would have been beneficial to ACHD, the City of Meridian, Settlers Irrigation District, the development, and the public in general. Unfortunately, the plans were revised and approved with the canal left open based on the information KM provided. The contractors began work in the Settlers Canal well before the developer had completed the license agreement process. I had to stop the contractors from proceeding as there was no LA in place. In doing so, Mr. Walsh and his th partner/son showed up at my office on January 20 to discuss the issues occurring with the development. Mr. Walsh informed me that if he did not get the work completed in March, he would lose the sale and will be out several millions in profit. I explained to them both that I was not trying to slow or disrupt the progress of their project but that they simply needed to slow down and follow protocol. Several months ago, I was contacted by David Van Atta, an engineer from Burgess & Niple, who was hired by ACHD to complete a redesign of the McMillan and Blackcat intersection. I thought it would be a good idea to put Mr. Van Atta in touch with the Jamestown Ranch Engineer so they could coordinate the two projects together as the future widening/intersection design could impact the current irrigation design resulting in a redesign/relocate of the irrigation facilities which would be extremely costly, time consuming, and could impact the location/alignment of the proposed roundabout. It would have been beneficial to everyone to have those two work together so the irrigation work does not impact the future intersection when constructed. David told me he reached out to KM but that the communication just died off. It is my understanding the two projects were unable to be coordinated and the roundabout intersection will now have to be shifted North, offsetting the alignment of McMillan road. This could be very problematic for many reasons. This is just my opinion but, an increase in traffic traveling east bound around a 2 lane roundabout with the open ditch on the south shoulder sounds like a recipe for a disaster with the potential to obstruct the District from conducting any maintenance from the road side. After reviewing the traffic impact report, it also looks like McMillan will need to be widened to allow for turn lanes off McMillan to access the Jamestown Ranch and bike lanes that would further impact Settlers’ canal. I am also unclear how there is room for a sidewalk and/or bike lane now that the Settlers’ canal is no longer being piped and relocated to the south. I would also like to add that the Traffic Impact Study completed for this project and included in the transmittal also details the Lemp canal being piped along McMillan as that is the most impacted road by this and future projects. It seems this entire study was completed on the basis the Lemp canal was to be relocated and piped. I also see a call out for a shared pathway and possibly a sidewalk both of which have not been approved to be installed within the Irrigation District easement. 2 As work continues on the Jamestown development, I understand City Council has not approved this project. It seem there has been a significant deviation from what was originally submitted which ultimately impacts all parties involved. Would it be possible to coordinate a meeting with ACHD, the City of Meridian, and Settlers Irrigation to discuss this project prior to the next hearing? It would be beneficial to all of us to ensure we are doing what is best for the City, County, Settlers, and the public. Thanks, Mack Myers District Manager Settlers Irrigation District P.O. Box 7571 Boise, ID 83707 Office 208-343 5271 Fax 208 343-1642 3