HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003 10-28
Meridian City Council Meeting October 28, 2003
The Regular Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 7:15 P.M.,
Tuesday, October 28, 2003, by Council President Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Tammy de Weerd, William Nary, Keith Bird, and Cherie
McCandless.
Members Absent: Mayor Robert Corrie.
Others Present: Bill Nichols, Will Berg, Anna Powell, Brad Watson, Gary Smith, Kenny
Bowers, Doug Strong and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
__X Tammy de Weerd _ X__ Bill Nary
__X Cherie McCandless __X Keith Bird
__O__ Robert Corrie
De Weerd: We will go ahead and start the regular agenda for Tuesday, October 28. It's
7:15. I apologize for the delay. We will begin with roll call attendance. Mr. Berg.
Item 2: Adoption of the Agenda:
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Item number two, adoption of the agenda. Are there
any changes?
Bird: Madam Chairman, we -- one thing that's been brought, Item C on the Consent
Agenda, the Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law just got to us today. I don't know
when they got to Harris Homes or if Harris Homes got a representative here or what the
deal is, so if we need to pull that or not, I don't know.
De Weerd: Mr. Nichols?
Nichols: Madam President, Members of the Council, we had the findings prepared and
ready to go before the deadline last week, but there was a hold up on verification of the
legal descriptions from Harris Homes, which just came. It may have been just
yesterday. So, that's why they were late. I don't think the applicant's had a chance to
look at them and review them.
De Weerd: Okay. Well, would you like to pull that item and put it on the regular
agenda?
Nichols: Madam Chairman, however you --
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October 28, 2003
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De Weerd: Is the applicant here? No.
Bird: Madam Chairman?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I think there are three of them. Does it affect all three?
Nichols: Madam President, Members of the Council, it does somewhat affect all three.
It's just the annexation and zoning findings were the ones that were delayed for the
legal description. The others were not. So, those, actually, came over last week. I
would think that they have gone out and they have had a chance to look at those.
De Weerd: But we can't pass the other one --
Bird: So, anyway, we will have to either continue -- continue until next week or pull
them to the regular agenda and make them 5C, 5D, and 5E and we can do that when
we do the Consent Agenda.
De Weerd: Mr. Nichols, would it be your suggestion to just continue them until next
week?
Nichols: Madam President, Members of the Council, yes.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: And also we need a resolution number on the authorizing the city to become a
party in the Intermountain Regional Mutual.
Berg: Sorry, Madam President. I would have had this posted. 03-416, resolution
number.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Will.
Bird: Okay. With that, Madam President, I would move that we -- well, we got to take
another --
De Weerd: Mr. Bird, I think there has also been a request from our Planning and
Zoning Director to add on a department report. What's with the hat?
Powell: I can take it off, but you, in Coeur d'Alene, at the conference, you insisted that I
wear it to city one day and I thought the day before Halloween would be the only
appropriate time that I could wear the hat. So, in the spirit of Halloween, I'm wearing the
hat, but if you would like me to take it off, I would be happy to.
De Weerd: Remind me to be careful on what I say.
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October 28, 2003
Page 3 of 42
Nary: I would only like it if Mr. Watson would have one, too.
De Weerd: I was thinking Mr. Smith myself. Okay. So, if we can add a department
report for our Planning and Zoning Director under four. Add a 4B. Are there any other
changes?
Bird: Yes. We had a letter -- Madam President. We had a letter from Billy Ray Strite
wanting to pull or continue the item number -- which item was that, Will?
Berg: Nine.
Bird: Nine. Yeah. The Kissler, Cobbs, Eagy, Ruwe.
De Weerd: To November 5th?
Bird: Yeah. To November 5th.
De Weerd: Okay. Okay. I would entertain a motion.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move that we adopt the agenda as amended.
De Weerd: Okay. Do I have a second?
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda with the
notations that Item nine has been requested to be continued to November 5th and the
continuation of Items 3C, D and E to next week, also on November 5th. All those in
favor say aye. Okay. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 3: Consent Agenda:
A. October 7, 2003
Approve minutes of City Council Regular Meeting:
B.October 14, 2003
Approve minutes of City Council Regular
Meeting:
C. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: AZ 03-
019
Request for annexation and zoning of 16 acres from RUT to
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October 28, 2003
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Highgate Subdivision
R-8 zones for proposed by Harris Homes,
LLC - 2700 North Meridian Road:
D. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: PP 03-
023
Request for Preliminary Plat approval of 74 building lots and
10 other lots on 15.68 acres in a proposed R-8 zone for proposed
Highgate Subdivision
by Harris Homes, LLC – 2700 North
Meridian Road:
E. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: CUP
03-039
Request for a Conditional Use Permit for single-family
residential Planned Development with a mix of attached and
Highgate
detached housing in a proposed R-8 zone for proposed
Subdivision
by Harris Homes, LLC – 2700 North Meridian Road:
F. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: AZ 03-
020
Request for annexation and zoning of 1.13 acres from R-6 to
Office Jet Subdivision
L-O zones for proposed by Wardle and
Associates – 1975 North Locust Grove Road:
G. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: PFP
03-003
Request for Preliminary / Final Plat approval of 4 building
Office Jet
lots on 1.13 acres in a proposed L-O zone for proposed
Subdivision
by Wardle and Associates – 1975 North Locust Grove
Road:
H. Development Agreement: AZ 03-009
Request for annexation
and zoning of 11 acres from RUT to R-15 (PD) and C-N zones for
The Courtyards at Ten Mile
proposed by Doug Campbell / Tom
Bevan / DTE Developers – southeast corner of North Ten Mile
Road and West Pine Avenue:
I. Resolution No. : Authorizing the City to
become a party to the Intermountain Regional Mutual
Assistance Agreement:
J. Finance Report:
De Weerd: Item 3. Consent Agenda.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
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Bird: I would move that we approve the Consent Agenda with Items 3C, 3D, and 3E
being continued to 11/5/03 and Item I, resolution number is 03-416, and for the
president to sign and the Clerk to attest on all proper papers.
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve the Consent Agenda, with
Items 3C, D, and E to be continued to November 5th and notation of resolution number
for Item I, 03-416. Mr. Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: McCandless, yea; Nary, yea; de Weerd, yea; Bird, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 4: Department Reports:
A. Public Works Department – Gary Smith
1. Discussion of Prioritization of Transportation Task
Force Committee Projects List:
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item four, Department Reports. We will start with public
works, discussion of prioritization of the Transportation Task Force Committee project
list.
Smith: Thank you, Madam President, Council Members. On September the 10th, the
Meridian Transportation Task Force Committee members met in the conference room at
Compass to discuss prioritization of our transportation projects for Meridian and the
prioritized list is as presented to you in the attached -- in the memo that I submitted on
October the 17th. We spent about four hours, I guess, in that conference room
discussing all of the projects that we had on last year's priority list and reprioritized --
changing the priority of those items that we felt, as a committee, should be changed.
This evening in attendance to assist in answering any of your questions is Clair
Bowman from Compass and Matt Stolle, who is transportation manager for Compass. I
know there are some concerns about the prioritized -- the method of -- creating the
priority of the projects and Matt would be available to answer those questions and Clair
is here to address concerns that you may have on the Ten Mile Interchange and its
priority location.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Gary, I got one question. Why is Locust Grove overpass still on priority? I mean
that thing is -- we have already bought -- how much right of way and stuff -- it's going. It
shouldn't be on the -- on the priority list. It's a job, as far as I'm concerned.
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October 28, 2003
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Smith: Councilman Bird, understand your question and your concern and I think that
Matt is probably the person to answer that as far as the priority listing is concerned.
De Weerd: Thank you. Matt.
Stolle: Madam President, Councilman Bird. Locust Grove is still on your priority list,
because you want to insure that ITD and the other implementing agencies understand
that it's still a top priority. Although it's labeled in -- or identified in the Transportation
Improvement Program currently, there is the potential, if a high priority project came into
district three or into the area, that folks could look at what Meridian identified as the top
priorities and see that Locust Grove is not identified and slip that project back. There is
always the possibility that although it's in a five year time period, that based upon
competing priorities during the given year, it could, during the given life cycle of the
plan, it could slip, based upon the immediate needs of the community. So, you always
want to highlight what your top priorities are until they are built.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Matt, I appreciate that and I thank you very much, but I thought the money and
everything was set from ITD, the federal -- the reason we got set back two years is
because they -- ITD went out and got federal money and it was the study that done it.
Actually, when we originally started this, we were supposed to open it this fall, the same
time as the school opened and it has gone back. So, I thought the monies were already
basically like our -- up to 1.8 million that we had guaranteed to help with. I thought that
was set aside, but, evidently, it don't happen that way, from what you're telling me.
Stolle: Madam President, Councilman Bird, to an extent you're absolutely right. If you
look at the Transportation Improvement Program, it's a five year program. The first
three years are hard and fast money. Once they are in there, we are feeling pretty
comfortable about that. For the current plan, that includes 2004, 2005, and 2006.
Locust Grove overpass is identified for construction in 2007 and so there is the
possibility that -- again, as competing projects came up, it could slide. Now, there is --
additional funds are being spent to move that towards construction and the other thing
to keep in mind is that Congressional discretionary funds have been requested for that
project that it could get slipped forward significantly if, during the re-authorization
process, we get funds.
Bird: I understand and I want it kept on there. That's the number one priority. I
understand.
Nary: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
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October 28, 2003
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Nary: Yeah. I guess I had read -- that's the way I had read this form as well is what you
said. The reason it was on there is what I assumed and the reason the two projects that
are removed is because they actually are in the construction bidding process, they are
already actually in the process of actually beginning. I think that tells me, though, after
our discussion last week, that the Ten Mile Interchange needs to be number two.
Bird: That's -- I'm with you.
Nary: Because I don't see how we can let that be so far down on the radar, based on
everything you just said, as our concerns are is how high a priority we, as a Council,
have felt that is and for the exact same reason that you just stated. I think we have to
move that to number two.
De Weerd: I guess that would raise the question, then, as to all the landing roads,
where they fall in the priorities on this list as well.
Nary: Well, when I looked at the list, I mean, obviously, number six is already in the
process of being constructed, so it's, obviously, not done in this set pattern of one
through whatever. So, obviously, those other things are going to have to get done, but
if we don't keep the radar screen on that interchange, as much as we have heard from a
variety of other sources, especially, the fact that it's low on the priority list in regards to
the Congressional funding, it's not going to happen and I think we need to keep that as
high on the list as we reasonably can to make sure that is always the forefront to
people. Because the other things we happen, the other things are going to get done,
whether they are four, five, six, or 12, if they are a landing road and the number two is
going to get funded at some point, we are going to have to fix that and fix those other
roadways to attach, but I don't see them not happening because something else is
ahead of them, because things happen based on funding anyway. But the priority of
what we think is important I think needs to stay focused on the I-84.
De Weerd: Do you have any comment, Matt?
Stolle: Madam President, Councilman Nary, I'm slightly at a disadvantage, because I
don't have your particular memo in front of me. However, I would say that whatever
rationale that you use for identifying Meridian's priorities, that's fine. What you want to
identify is what are the priorities for your community and submit that to Compass and
ITD and ACHD to identify where you'd like things -- what projects you'd like to be
constructed in your jurisdiction and you need to highlight that, so when they are making
their decisions on funding and the competing needs, that they can weigh that.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
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October 28, 2003
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Bird: Matt, I have got a question, too, and this is something that was brought up at
Compass and I should have brought it up to you there, is why we are lumping Ten Mile
in with the Meridian and the widening of the deal. You're taking a 16 million dollar
project and making it 56 million. You go back to the 14, 16 million, which was the Black
Cat off ramp and we have got a private industry that's coming in and offered five million
dollars, that's a good chunk.
De Weerd: Ten Mile.
Bird: Ten -- oh, I'm sorry. Ten Mile. What was I saying?
De Weerd: Oh, my God, you said Black Cat.
Bird: Oh.
Nary: Strike that reference.
Bird: Strike that from the record. It's Ten Mile. I'm sorry. Anyway, It was Ten Mile and,
you know, we got a nice chunk being offered by private industry to get this thing built
right now and I think I'm like Mr. Nary, we have got to put that second on our priority list
and the widening of Meridian can't be done until you get Ten Mile. There is no way you
can close that ramp down. You know, you got to have -- that would only leave Eagle
Road to go across and the widening of the lanes you won't do until you get those two
projects done, so they could be phased. So, you know, we are talking about instead of
56 million dollars, we are talking about 14 to 16 million to do the Ten Mile Interchange.
Stolle: Madam President, Councilman Bird, first off, I'd just like to say Compass staff is
not saying that it's 55 million dollars, that's ITD's rationale. But I would like to let Clair
Bowman respond to that regarding the Ten Mile Interchange, if that's possible.
De Weerd: Thank you, Matt.
Bowman: For the record, I'm Clair Bowman with Compass. Madam President,
Members of the Council, the issues surrounding the Ten Mile interchange proposal are
as complex as anything we deal with in our agency. We have five separate agencies
with direct interest, plus a developer, and, for the record, the five agencies are the Ada
County Highway District, City of Meridian, Compass, Idaho Transportation Department,
and the Federal Highway Administration. The U.S. Congress sets up the planning -- the
transportation planning process inside this metropolitan area, so that there are two
distinct sets of responsibilities that happen in parallel, one by the Idaho Transportation
Department and one by the local governments, which Compass facilitates. Neither one
of us can force the other to construct something, so we are in a situation where we
always have to negotiate. That's the basic premise of how we deal with this. The
Federal Highway Administration actually owns the rights to the access on the interstate,
so their rules about how we justify access have to come into play. The Idaho
Transportation Department in the board meeting for the Community Planning
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October 28, 2003
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Association last week, stated that it is their belief -- Councilman Bird, I don't think Pam
Lowe said that they all have to go simultaneously. What I think she said was that the
building of the Ten Mile Interchange, in their mind, requires that as soon as it's open
they be ready to reconstruct the Meridian interchange, so that it handled a third lane
underneath it and, then, immediately after that one is open, that the third lane be added
between the two, so that they are phased projects, but she did not feel comfortable,
from ITD's perspective, budgeting one of those, even for 16 million dollars, in the
absence of knowing where the other 30 or 40 million dollars is coming from for the other
functions to be done there. If I may, Madam Chair, I will go on to one of the questions
about what the developer's role is here that I anticipate I have heard from a couple of
you. It is clearly possible that the Ten Mile Interchange could be placed into Compass's
Transportation Improvement Program in a way that would allow the developer to
proceed with the environmental impact statement or assessment. One piece of that
environmental impact assessment for an interstate project -- in fact, for most of the
projects, but specifically for an interstate project, one piece of it that the Federal
Highway Administration requires is for there to be an alternatives analysis. What
alternatives exist to Ten Mile? Logically, those are Black Cat, Linder, McDermott, some
of those other section line crossings. That doesn't mean we have to give up the
investment that the City of Meridian has placed already into your sewer expansion, it
doesn't mean we have to give up the long range plan preferences that Compass has
addressed over the last five or six years. What it means is that somebody is going to
have to do an alternatives analysis. For the developer to pay for and do that is not
preferable to the Idaho Transportation Department. They want Compass to do that.
Compass can do the alternatives analysis with participation by the City of Meridian at
the Compass Board and regional transportation advisory committee levels and the
environmental impact statement can include it by reference, if the alternatives analysis
is done correctly. So, the discussion at last Monday's board meeting was not to give up
Ten Mile and start over again, it was to say we have alternatives analysis we need to
do, ITD has offered some funds to do that, Compass has some -- I think we will be able
to add to that to get it done well and we should be able to do that reasonably quickly.
Meanwhile, if we modify the Transportation Improvement Program, the developer can
go ahead and start that environmental impact statement with our alternatives analysis
simply to be included by reference at the point where they move forward. I hope that
addresses the question I anticipated you would be asking, Madam President.
De Weerd: I appreciate you answering a question before I asked it.
Bowman: I don't have any comments to offer.
Bird: Thank you very much.
De Weerd: Thank you, Clair.
Nary: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
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October 28, 2003
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Nary: I think Mr. Bowman raised, you know, some very valid points. You know,
unfortunately, it always shows why people think the government never can get anything
done, because it takes five agencies to figure out what the best place to build something
that in 25 years everybody else knows it. I think because it seems like, in my
experience in our community both -- in this county, that there isn't an instruction at the
top of this list that says what criteria did we use to put it on this list, but it appears that
we have seen other projects fall off the map, it's because the perception is that this
listing is what we think is important and sometimes it somehow got on this list, because
of funding or perception of when funding might happen or when projects could occur
and if it wasn't the priority we thought was important, it's what we thought could happen
and I think what we need to do is focus on what we think is important. You know, we
said last week and we talked about it last week that our constituents tell us all the time
what did you do to get this done and one thing we can do as a Council is we can tell ITD
and the feds and the state how important we think this project is and we think it should
be number two, because after that overpass gets built, that's the next thing we think
should happen. We recognize money may be an issue, we recognize there are other
factors and other agencies that have to address it, but as a community we think it's
important, we think it needs to get done. How it gets done, when it gets done, we
recognize there is some other process to it, but I just can't see how we not send this list
back with that as the number two priority after the Locust Grove overpass and how
these other things fall into place after that, things will -- things will probably get done.
But I think we need to make sure that its number two.
Bird: I agree.
De Weerd: I agree. I guess it remains, then, as we look at the connecting roads to it,
where you put the Ten Mile improvements between Franklin and Ustick and that sort of
thing and, Bruce, I guess, if you can -- if you can step forward. How best can we look at
that, because we are going to do the Locust Grove overpass and Ten Mile Interchange,
you have some -- ACHD already has some of those landing roads in the work plan, in
the five year work plan, but do they need to also reflect the high priority, so that some of
these other roads need to take a lesser role. So, do we need to further modify this list?
Mills: Madam President, Council Members, Bruce Mills, and ACHD. Do you have an
extra copy that I could borrow?
Nary: Madam President, just while Bruce is looking at that, I mean in looking at those
other priorities -- I mean widen Meridian from Cherry Lane to Franklin, the sidewalk
project, that, obviously, is a little bit different, but widen Linder Road from Franklin north
to Ustick, widen Ten Mile from Franklin to Ustick -- I mean those are areas that are all
going to be impacted by the Ten Mile interchange. So I'm not sure that this is, really, a
big necessity to move them. I mean the sidewalk project is sort of in the middle there,
but it's not funded, it's not on the priority list, it's not even designed yet, I mean I think it
was just to make sure it's up there for consideration, but it's not a -- normally not an
impact fee type of project, it's going to be a piecemeal type of project anyway. But I
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October 28, 2003
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mean I think those -- I mean unless there was a specific one you were talking about
moving further up, these seem to be fairly high up.
De Weerd: I guess the Linder project might need to be moved and I know that the
ACHD commissioners at the Compass board meeting did mention, you know, how that
would affect our priority list and how those roads would all line up and so maybe if you
can also get some further feedback from staff at ACHD on how best to do this.
Mills: I can, Madam President. I would tend to agree with Councilman Nary that I don't
think at this point, at this stage, there is really a need to reprioritize those, this list here.
Certainly, next year would be a good time to look at seeing if we wanted to move some
of those differently, but I don't think it would make a big difference this year. Ten Mile,
the construction is still out there quite a ways. That's my thoughts.
De Weerd: Okay. Just if any of these are an area that you're going to start planning or
right-of-way acquisition that might need to be moved somewhere different. I guess
those are my questions.
Mills: Okay.
De Weerd: And we don't want to send the wrong message that maybe we need to do a
little shuffling, we are willing to do that. So, just as long as that message is clear,
because we have reprioritized or we are putting Ten Mile in there, we want to make
sure everything else will align and that we are flexible that we can do what we need to
do to back up these priorities.
Mills: Okay.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Bruce. So, I guess, Gary, this leaves just the one
change right now in moving up the Ten Mile Interchange.
Smith: Okay. Thank you. One of the requirements is to submit this prioritized list to
ACHD and Compass by October 31st, so your recommendation, then, is just to move --
is to move the Ten Mile Interchange into position number two and move everything else
down accordingly?
De Weerd: Yes.
Nary: Well, Madam President, I guess are we really moving everything down? I look at
it as remove, but I guess -- oh, I see. I understand what you're saying. Never mind.
See, I think that -- do you want a motion to that?
De Weerd: Yes.
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October 28, 2003
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Nary: Well, I guess, then, I would move that we take what is currently on the list as
priority 13, the Ten Mile I-84 Interchange, and move that to the current TIP as the
number two priority of project in the 2005-2009 TIP priority list.
McCandless: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's moved and seconded to approve the list with the addition -- or
the prioritization of Ten Mile to item number two and all those in favor say aye. Okay.
All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Smith: Thank you.
B. Planning and Zoning Director – Anna Powell
De Weerd: Thank you, Gary. Thank you, Clair and Matt for being here. Okay.
Department reports, Item B. Anna.
Powell: Madam President, Members of the Council, on Thursday night I went to the
Ada County Planning and Zoning Commission hearing for their adoption of the changes
to our area city impact agreement, which included the -- having them adopt our July
2002 Comprehensive Plan and the amending resolution of 03-401. There were two
outstanding issues. We had a flurry of activity before. They really didn't want to adopt
03-401 and I just said, no you need to. So, they -- we finally agreed that they would do
that, but they had concerns about two areas. One was this item, which is part of -- it's I
think item four in the urban services policies of 03-401, Resolution 03-401, and their
concern is over the park impact fees. They just wanted a written letter from the City
Council that said that they -- that you all acknowledge that they would not be collecting
fees or withholding building permits until such time as there was a memorandum of
understanding between the two jurisdictions.
De Weerd: Okay.
Powell: And I have penciled out or done just a real rough draft of a letter that stated that
-- and in the next issue, which I'll get to. My highlighting doesn't show up very well. I
apologize. The second one -- there was two policies under -- actually, they are action
items until Chapter 7, Goal 1, Objective D, and there was -- this is one of them where it
says require rural area residential development and, then, the other one said allow
residential development in rural acres and -- rural areas. Excuse me and they wanted a
definition of what rural area -- what that is. Now, I went through all that section and as
far as I can tell, the intent was that anything that was in the area of city impact, but
outside of city limits that this section of the Comprehensive Plan would apply in those
areas and, basically, if you look on this one where it says -- right after the highlighted
areas, it says that are outside the city limits, but inside the area of impact. I mean I
think it's pretty clear what it refers to. However, they would like that spelled out even
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more bluntly, so what they have agreed to is that the next time we do a text
amendment, if we would just make sure that we put a definition in that states that rural
areas are those that are outside the city limits, but inside the area of impact, then, they
would be happy with that and I think we could accommodate that by just adding that
definition to Objective D in that area. So, these were changes that staff and their
attorneys felt uncomfortable with forwarding on a recommendation for the Planning and
Zoning Commission until such time as they had assurances from the Mayor and City
Council on those two items and that's what I have tried to address in this draft letter.
Nichols: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nichols.
Nichols: Madam President, Members of the Council, I think the definition of outside the
city limits is fine, as long as you put in parenthesis not including enclaved areas,
because the concept is if they are enclaved in some fashion, even though they may
currently be used for some agricultural purpose, they are susceptible of being provided
with city services, much more so than some development that's on the edge of the area
of city impact and so when we think about outside of the city limits, we are thinking
about something that's toward the edge of the area of city impact, not something that
may be internal, but is some enclaved, because it's a 20 acre parcel that has not yet
developed and so if we make sure that we exclude enclaves from that -- from that idea,
that way somebody doesn't come in and try to do a rural residential subdivision that's in
an enclaved area, because we haven't spelled it out accordingly that the county
approves it.
Nary: Madam President?
De Weerd: Thank you. Mr. Nary.
Nary: To add onto that, too. I think just thinking of the property that's on Locust Grove
that we have tacitly agreed to allow to stay outside the city limits, we probably want to --
I don't know it's on enclave, so I want to be sure that we are going to amend the text to
include enclaves, that we may also want to include language that says: Unless
governed by a separate agreement or something like that, so it's clear that if we have
some other agreement, that that's going to govern, not someone wanting to develop,
because we have made it -- we did make an agreement with that property that if any
part of it was going to get developed, it all would have to get annexed, but I just want to
make sure that that gets incorporated in the same fashion that Mr. Nichols is
suggesting.
Powell: Madam President, Members of the Council, we did add -- this is probably after
you had the joint meeting. As staff we did this, we hope it's okay. Most of the cities,
with their area of city impact agreement, have a provision that if the property is adjoining
the city limits, that those properties have to come and be refused annexation before
they can go to the county and request development. So, as in the case on the Locust
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October 28, 2003
Page 14 of 42
Grove property, he is -- he does adjoin the city limits, so that property could not develop
in the county until they came to the time city and requested -- or were denied
annexation. So, we took care of that in the -- the area of city impact agreements that
talk about what applications they can accept and under what conditions. So, that's in a
different part of the area of city impact agreement. But the enclaves, there could
conceivably be an enclave that was not touching the city limits, so I will make that
adjustment and that notation.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Anna. Do you need any official action from us?
Powell: No, I do not need official action, I just needed to make sure that that was okay,
that my -- because I wasn't here during the Comprehensive Plan, sometimes I feel a
little uncomfortable just making bold statements, so I just wanted to make sure I was
correct and I will meet with their staff and, then, I will -- I do need to get a letter -- I will
just talk to Michelle about getting a letter for you all to sign.
Bird: Okay. That's what I was going to ask.
Item 5: (Items Moved from Consent Agenda)
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Anna. Okay. We did not remove any items from the
Consent Agenda.
Item 6: Ordinance No. : AZ 03-009
Request for
annexation and zoning of 11 acres from RUT to R-15 (PD) and C-N zones
The Courtyards at Ten Mile
for proposed by Doug Campbell / Tom
Bevan / DTE Developers – southeast corner of North Ten Mile Road and
West Pine Avenue:
De Weerd: So, we will move to Item six. Ordinance No. 03-1054, AZ 03-009, request
for annexation and zoning of 11 acres from RUT to R-15 PD and C-N zones for the
proposed The Courtyards at Ten Mile. I will ask the City Clerk to read this by title only.
Berg: Thank you, Madam President, Members of the Council. Ordinance No. 03-1054,
an ordinance finding that Anthony Garner and Tracy Garner, the owners of certain real
property generally located at the southeast corner of West Pine Avenue and North Ten
Mile Road, Meridian, Idaho, to be known as The Courtyards at Ten Mile, and which lies
contiguous or adjacent to the city limits of the City of Meridian, County of Ada, State of
Idaho, have made a request for annexation in writing to the Council that said land be
annexed to the City of Meridian and zoning designated Medium High Density
Residential District (R-15) and Neighborhood Business District (C-N) and declaring that
said land, by proper legal description as described below, be a part of the City of
Meridian, County of Ada, State of Idaho, repealing all ordinances, resolutions, orders, or
parts thereof, in conflict herewith, and directing the city engineer to add said property to
the official maps of the City of Meridian, Idaho, and directing the Clerk of the City of
Meridian to file a certified copy of the ordinance and map of the areas to be annexed
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
Page 15 of 42
with the Ada County Recorder, Auditor, Treasurer, and Assessor and the State Tax
Commission of the State of Idaho, pursuant to Idaho Code Section 50-223 and Section
63-2215.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Okay. You have heard the reading of Ordinance 03-
1054 by title only. Is there anyone in the audience who would like it read in its entirety?
Thank you. Hearing none, Council?
McCandless: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mrs. McCandless.
McCandless: I move that we approve Ordinance 03-1054, request for annexation and
zoning of 11 acres from RUT to R-15 PD and C-N zones for proposed Courtyards at
Ten Mile by Doug Campbell, Tom Bevin, DTE Developers, with suspension of rules.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve Ordinance 03-1054. Mr.
Clerk, will you, please, call roll.
Roll Call: McCandless, yea; Nary, yea; de Weerd, yea; Bird, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 7: FP 03-056
Request for Final Plat approval of 161 building lots and 25
Trailway Park
other lots on 39.15 acresin a R-8 (PD) zone for
Subdivision
by Hillview Development Corporation – east of North
Meridian Road and south of East Blue Heron Lane:
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item seven, request for final plat approval of 161
building lots and 25 other lots on 39.15 in an R-8 PD zone for Trailway Park Subdivision
by Hillview Development Corporation. Staff?
Powell: Madam President, excuse me, Members of the City Council, this is -- this is one
of a recently approved in-fill development, actually, for the city and we have got several
surrounding subdivisions. We have got -- that doesn't show. We have got Fothergill
Subdivision to the north, the Willows to the east, we have got the mobile home park to
the south, Bridgewood Park Subdivision over here, and then, this is the meat packing
plant and some waste ponds that are in this location, if you remember that conversation.
The final plat is in substantial compliance with the preliminary plat. The applicant's
representative is here tonight and has submitted a letter with -- stating several issues
with the staff report. So, I probably need to go through those. There is a typing error on
item number three. I think we can consider that one resolved. The applicant will need
to discuss eight with you and it's regarding the Ada County Highway District approval in
the location of -- in improvements to Blue Heron Lane, which is in the northwest corner
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October 28, 2003
Page 16 of 42
of the property. My arrow is not coming up. In the northwest corner of the property by
the meat packing plant. It's a substandard road currently and there is insufficient right of
way to approve it at this time. Then, on items number ten and eleven, the applicant,
when they submitted the preliminary plat, did not specify a minimum lot frontage. When
Ms. Kirkpatrick did the staff report, she put down a proposed frontage of 60 foot
minimum and 25 foot minimum for the cul-de-sac. As the final plat came through, some
of the frontages were just a tad bit less, they are 59 feet and some odd inches. They
are exactly consistent with the approved preliminary, it was just kind of a discrepancy
between what staff understood to be the minimum that they were asking for, all the
variances on our ones where there is kind of an angled portion of the lot, so it's -- it was
not readily apparent what the proposed minimum would be. We don't have any problem
with the way -- I mean it is consistent with the approved preliminary plat, so we don't
have particular concerns. We just wanted to point out that that's what happened. I
believe those were the only outstanding issues at this time, but I'm sure represent --
Mrs. McKay will want to speak.
De Weerd: Any questions for staff? Mr. Nichols?
Nichols: Madam President. Anna, are you saying, then, that in this letter dated October
24th that staff agrees to points 10 and 11 as contained in the applicant's letter?
Powell: Yes. I believe that the only outstanding issue from that letter would be number
eight.
Nichols: Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Anna. Any questions, Council? Okay. Would the
applicant like to come forward? Please state your name and address.
McKay: Becky McKay with Engineering Solutions, 150 East Aikens, Suite B, Eagle.
De Weerd: Thank you.
McKay: As Anna indicated. We are in agreement with most of all the conditions
recommend by the staff. Item three we bolded in our comments, because I believe your
motion on the preliminary plat was that we would install any perimeter fencing where
there was fencing lacking, because this is an in-fill parcel and we are surrounded on
about three and a half sides with existing residential, multi-family and single family
development. Item eight deals with Blue Heron Lane. Blue Heron is right here on our
northwest boundary. The Jackson Drain comes through our site like this and, then, it
turns and goes along the adjoining property on our west boundary. ACHD struggled
with what to do with Blue Heron Lane. They finally determined -- and it is specified
specifically in their staff report that they wanted us to allocate right of way or dedicate
right of way and, then, trust fund for our improvements on Blue Heron. When this
property redevelops or is subdivided where ACHD can, obviously, obtain additional right
of way and get some improvements for that property owner, then, at that time they will
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
Page 17 of 42
take that trust fund money and make the improvement. At this time it's not possible,
because this drain comes in like this and, then, goes to the north, in a kind of a
northwesterly direction. We are piping a portion of the drain on our side that we will
help facilitate Blue Heron improvements in the future, but it's this off-site portion that is
problematic. So, we are just doing what ACHD has requested of us. Items ten and
eleven, just for clarification, the problem arises on these pie-shaped lots on these
curves. All of these lots are consistently 60 or above. When we come down on the
curve we had some that were 59 and, then, on this curve here and that's where the
problem arose. I don't know where staff got the 60. Probably looked at the fact that
most of the lots do read 60 and didn't check to curve table on these corner -- or these
curve lots and -- but I guess staff's in agreement, so -- with us, so we are okay.
De Weerd: Okay. Becky, so, then, on item number eight with the ACHD's report, have
they corrected that? Is that -- is that reflected in current findings?
McKay: Yes.
De Weerd: Okay.
McKay: It's stated clearly in their findings, which were adopted in our development
agreement, that we would trust fund for Blue Heron Lane.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
McKay: Thank you.
De Weerd: Any questions, Council? Okay.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Anna, does that satisfy you, number eight -- her answer to number eight?
Powell: Yes.
Bird: I thought so. Ten and eleven you're okay with?
Powell: Yes.
Bird: How about three?
Powell: Yes.
Bird: Just want to get it all on here when we make the motion.
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
Page 18 of 42
De Weerd: Okay. Any discussion? I would entertain a motion.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I would move that we approve the final plat request on FP 03-056, the approval of
161 building lots and 25 other lots on 39.15 acres in an R-8 PD zone for Trailway Park
Subdivision by Hillview Development Corp., east of North Meridian Road and south of
East Blue Heron Lane, and to incorporate staff and applicant remarks and letters and
for the attorney to draw up the Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law and Decision
of Order.
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve the request for final plat
on FP 03-005. Mr. Clerk.
Roll Call: McCandless, yea; Nary, yea; de Weerd, yea; Bird, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 8: FP 03-057
Request for Final Plat approval of 36 building lots and 11
Clearbrook Estates
other lots on 11.45 acres in a R-4 zone for
Subdivision
by R.K. Development, L.L.C. – 2675 North Meridian Road:
De Weerd: Item eight, FP 03-057, request for final plat approval of 36 building lots and
eleven other lots on 11.45 acres in an R-4 zone for Clearbrook Estates Subdivision. I
will open with staff comments.
Powell: Madam President, Members of the Council, this is located just off of Meridian
Road right above the Five Mile and you have recently seen this. They are coming in for
their final plat. This is consistent with the approved final plat. I mean the approved
preliminary plat. Excuse me. The applicant has indicated that he's in agreement with
the conditions, except for -- on condition number 15 regarding plat note ten, that note
needs to be deleted in its entirety. There is no development agreement for this
property. It was already zoned. They just did a straight subdivision.
De Weerd: So, Anna, you're suggesting to delete 15?
Powell: No. Just to delete the reference to plat note ten on condition number 15.
De Weerd: Okay. Okay. Any questions for staff?
Bird: I have none.
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
Page 19 of 42
De Weerd: Does the applicant want to add any testimony? Okay. Okay. Council?
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: If we don't have no discussion, I would move we approve FP 03-057, request for
final plat approval of 36 building lots and eleven other lots on 11.45 acres in an R-4
zone for Clearbrook Estates Subdivision by RK Development, LLC, 2675 North Meridian
Road and to incorporate applicant and staff testimony and reports and for the attorney
to draw up Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law and Decision of Order.
McCandless: Second.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird, does that include, then, the deletion in item 15?
Bird: Yes. That was one of her comments. Yes.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: On item 15.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve the request for FP 03-
057. Mr. Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: McCandless, yea; Nary, yea; de Weerd, yea; Bird, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 9: Continued Public Hearing from October 14, 2003: AZ 03-018
Request for annexation and zoning of 43.86 +/- acres from RT to C-G
Kissler / Cobbs / Eagy / Ruwe
zones for by BRS Architects – southwest
corner and southeast corner of North Eagle Road and East Ustick Road:
De Weerd: Thank you. Item number nine has been asked to be continued and I would
consider a motion.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move that we continue Public Hearing AZ 03-018, request for annexation and
zoning of 43.86 plus or minus acres, from RT to C-G zones for Kissler, Cobbs, Eagy,
and Ruwe, by BRS Architects to November 5th, 2003.
Nary: Second.
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
Page 20 of 42
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to continue Item number nine, the
continued Public Hearing, to November 5th on AZ 03-018. All those in favor say aye.
Okay. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 10: Continued Public Hearing from October 21, 2003: AZ 03-015
Request for annexation and zoning of 9.8 acres from RUT to R-8 zones
Sageland Planned Development
for proposed by Quasar Development,
LLC – northeast corner of South Locust Grove Road and East Victory
Road:
Item 11: Continued Public Hearing from October 21, 2003: PP 03-020
Request for revised Preliminary Plat approval of 41 building lots and 9
Sageland
other lots on 10.64 acres in a proposed R-8 zone for proposed
Planned Development
by Quasar Development, LLC – northeast corner
of South Locust Grove Road and East Victory Road:
Item 12: Continued Public Hearing from October 21, 2003: CUP 03-036
Request for Conditional Use Permit for a Planned Development with a
Sageland
private neighborhood park in an R-8 zone for proposed
Planned Development
by Quasar Development – northeast corner of
South Locust Grove Road and East Victory Road:
De Weerd: Okay. We will open Items 10, 11, and 12, the continued Public Hearing
from October 21st, AZ 03-015, request for annexation and zoning of 9.8 acres from
RUT to R-8 zones for the proposed Sageland Planned Development, PP 03-020,
request for a revised preliminary plat approval of 41 building lots and nine other lots on
10.64 acres in a proposed R-8 zone for the proposed Sageland Planned Development,
and CUP 03-036, the request for Conditional Use Permit for a planned development
with a private neighborhood park in an R-8 zone for proposed Sageland Planned
Development. I will start with staff comments.
Powell: Madam President, Members of the Council, as you will recall at the last
hearing, there was quite a bit of -- the property is located at Locust Grove and Victory
Road. Sorry. There was a lot of discussion regarding the -- primarily the preliminary
plat and including some mechanism to slow down traffic that may be going between
Victory Road and Locust Grove Road. The Council talked specifically about including
three landscape medians, one at each entrance and, then, one at the intersection of the
private lane. It was held over just one week. The applicant submitted a revised plat
today, which is before you, that shows speed bumps in two locations. With subsequent
conversations between the Ada County Highway District and myself and the applicant
prior -- just before the hearing, this is not the preferred approach. Typically, ACHD does
not allow speed bumps on new roads, they would prefer to see some other mechanism
of traffic calming. The Ada County Highway District has suggested that it would be
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October 28, 2003
Page 21 of 42
appropriate to even just cul-de-sac this street here, thereby completely eliminating the
possibility of cut-through traffic. I talked with Chief Bowers before and given that there
are only 42 building lots or 43 building lots, he's not too concerned about that. They do
have an emergency access here, so the cul-de-sac in this location would not be -- they
could work with it and would certainly prefer it, rather than the speed bumps. They were
opposed to the speed bumps as well. So, that's an issue for the applicant to address
with you. The applicant was also going to come back with some indication on reduced
setbacks for attached garages and we have not seen that information yet. So, that's the
other outstanding issue. We did -- if there is a connection -- if they do cul-de-sac it
here, we would like to see a pedestrian and bike connection to continue down this way,
because the neighborhood center for -- or the -- there is a mixed use center in this
location -- proposed for this location in the future, so we would want to see that
pedestrian and foot traffic being able to make its way to the east. With that, I will end
staff's presentation for now.
De Weerd: Thank you, Anna. Is the applicant here? Or a representative? If you will
raise your right hand. Is the testimony you provide tonight the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Forrey: Yes, it is.
De Weerd: Please state your name and address.
Forrey: For the record, Wayne Forrey, Pathway Planners Consulting, 1952 South Wild
Creek Way in Boise. 83709.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Forrey: Thank you, Council, for allowing us to come back and clarify two items. In my
notes there were traffic calming and setback issues that the Council asked us to go
back and evaluate and on -- maybe it's a little hard for Anna Powell to see, but on the
plat there is a setback table. It's up in the top -- maybe she can't move that drawing, but
on the top of the plat there is a little table that has all of the setbacks in it and the one
setback that we added was the rear yard setback of five feet for the detached garages
and the garages that are setback on the common drives. The other setbacks are the
same setbacks we had in our original application. Thanks to Anna Powell, because
she's right, we did not put the rear yard setback in our application and she brought that
up at the last meeting. So, we are requesting five foot rear yard setback for the
detached garages. Now, on traffic calming. On Friday, October 24th, I had some
previously scheduled meetings, so Amanda Alvaro, with Quasar Development, met with
ACHD traffic engineers and met with John Wassan and John outlined some -- what
works and what doesn't work in terms of ACHD and traffic calming. They looked at the
plat and John had mentioned that islands at the intersections were not very workable,
given the separated sidewalk and the dimensions of the street. He had mentioned that
chicanes or chokers presented some drainage problems. His preferred
recommendation was speed humps, traffic reduction speed humps, and, in fact, he
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
Page 22 of 42
outlined that in a letter dated October 24th, and, then, we received it by fax on Monday
and I have a copy here for the city, if you'd like.
De Weerd: If you will give that to the City Clerk. Thank you.
Forrey: In this letter he indicates that there is some difficulty with the islands, there is
some difficulty with the chicanes and, then, he -- there is kind of a key sentence and he
says: Two speed humps, one on each side of the private lane, would provide proactive
traffic calming for the neighborhood and then -- and he also talks about how to install
them and he's recommending a portable -- I mean not portable, it's not asphalt, it's
recycled tires. It's rubber, and so when ACHD wants to chip seal, a contractor can go
out and actually remove that speed hump and they can do road maintenance and, then,
reattach that to the road. So, it's a separate rubberized component that is bolted into
the roadway and that was his recommendation. So, we took that letter and thought,
well -- and our thinking was a stop sign would work at about that location of the
intersection, a three way stop, a stop to the private lane -- I will point to it here. A stop
sign here, a stop sign here, and a stop sign here. We thought a three way stop would
work, but John Wassan said, well, Wayne, what happens -- or to Amanda and I talked
to him on the phone, he said people will just ignore that. They will and look see that
there is nobody here and there is not a street over here and they will just kind of blow
through the intersection is what he said. So, we thought, all right, let's do the speed
humps. So, we drafted the plat and we are showing the two locations here for speed
humps to physically, you know, slow traffic and discourage cut through, and then,
tonight I got here a little bit early and Mr. Mills said, Wayne, have you considered maybe
eliminating an access point and he did mention maybe putting a cul-de-sac right here.
We had not considered that. You know, we went to ACHD, it was approved. Quasar
Development likes the two access points. We have been approved by ACHD and on
through the Planning and Zoning and now in front of the Council. I guess if it's the
Council's desire that we re-think this, we will have to do that, but our preference would
be to install speed humps, if that's workable with other people and the Fire Department.
My children attend Borah High School and I have got to go over four or five of those five
on the way that I go off of Franklin, down Franklin Park to get to Borah and they do slow
me down and the kids, so -- but I know those are afterthoughts and this is a new
development and that's one of the points that Mr. Mills made, that this is a new
development and we typically install speed humps after there is already an existing
neighborhood problem. So, here are some issues, I guess, on how ACHD views speed
humps and Mr. Mills is here tonight, maybe he could shed some more light on it. But
Anna Powell is right, he did talk to us tonight about could we consider a cul-de-sac here.
It's a real tight location to squeeze a cul-de-sac into that location. We might be open to
looking at this, you know, but we just don't want to start over again with neighborhood
meetings and back to P and Z and back to City Council. So, here we are tonight. We
just hope the speed humps work, if that's workable with ACHD and staff and the City
Council. Be happy to answer any questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Wayne. Do you have any questions?
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October 28, 2003
Page 23 of 42
Bird: Madam President, I do.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Wayne, how many -- I mean you're going to lose some lots if you go with a cul-de-
sac back there. I realize that our chief said that he had no problem with emergency
vehicles. I do have a problem with not having two entrances myself. I don't like having
a cul-de-sac back there. I know you're going to lose a couple three lots with a cul-de-
sac back there and I know that's money. Speed bumps definitely do slow traffic down.
The safety engineer from ACHD, Mr. Wassan, did you say was the one that --
Forrey: Yes. John Wassan.
Bird: -- wanted the speed bumps.
Forrey: Uh-huh.
Bird: And, Mr. Mills, he's here tonight, he can come and testify why he don't think the
speeds bumps should be there. But I have a real problem with that large of a
development on having just one entrance and exit. I would -- I think we can somehow
calm the traffic down, but I think we have got to leave the two entrances and exists
myself. That's my personal opinion.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Bird. Mr. Nary.
Nary: I guess I'd wait for Mr. Mills.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Forrey: Thank you.
De Weerd: Well, this is a Public Hearing. I would imagine maybe if we could have Mr.
Mills come up first and -- might influence any other testimony on the two items we kept
open for public comment. Is the testimony you provide tonight the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mills: It is.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Mills: Bruce Mills, Ada County Highway District, Garden City. I guess to answer the
questions, first of all, ACHD probably should apologize to the applicant, because,
unfortunately, even though are traffic people talked to them last week after -- or
afterwards our development people got together and a felt little bit otherwise, I guess,
so let me just put it this way. Our preferred option on this one -- the least preferred
option, if I could go backwards, would probably be the speed humps, because as was
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October 28, 2003
Page 24 of 42
mentioned earlier, speed humps, really, have not been approved on new developments
in ACHD before. They have been used to mitigate existing circumstances where there
are no other options available. They are effective. They do have certain problems. I
know emergency services aren't real fans of them, though, either. So, there, really, are
two options, other than that that we see. The cul-de-sac option was just something that
our staff kicked around. We realize that you have your own requirements for maximum
number of lots and length of street that you would have to look at for that, but we just
thought that's one way to totally eliminate any cut-through traffic. That's why we
mention that as a potential option. The other one were the islands. I think medians
could still work. Obviously, you have to wow around them. If you pulled up to your
Clearbrook Subdivision that you did earlier tonight, they were able to still put medians in
there and get enough room for the emergency vehicles to get around them. So, that is
also another option. We would prefer that over the speed bumps, I guess. So, I'll stand
for questions.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Bruce. Okay. Any other testimony?
Powell: Madam Chair? Or Madam President?
De Weerd: Anna.
Powell: I had not noticed the table on the corner of the plat. I do have some comments
regarding that. They have proposed a blanket rear setback of five feet. It does not
specify that that would be for -- just for detached garages. So, I think we need to make
that clear. Also, the front setback and the street side yard setback are both listed as --
it's not exactly consist with what the staff report indicated as proposed, so we just need
to work with the applicant on the 15 feet versus 20 feet for garage and it's just a bit of
word smithing, but the rear setback does need to state that it's five feet just for the
detached garages or by common drives, I believe.
De Weerd: Thank you. Wayne, would you like to wrap this up?
Forrey: Yes. Thank you. Wayne Forrey again. For the record, it would a five foot rear
yard setback for any detached garage. Not for a home or living space, but a detached
garage, if the builder chose to have a detached garage at the rear of the property and if
I need to write a letter to that effect, be happy to do that, in addition to what's in the
testimony tonight. Boy, I just hope we don't have to start over to get to this point in the
development -- you know, we started back in May of this year and I can see that a cul-
de-sac would definitely stop, you know, the interconnectivity there. In my thinking, a
stop sign would work, but I follow -- I'm afraid to blow through a stop sign myself. I'm
afraid I'd get caught and it's not the right thing to do, but I know people do jam through
there and will run a stop sign, I guess, but a speed bump is definitely going to slow
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
Page 25 of 42
down traffic. They will hit it once and the next time they will slow down. So, our thinking
is that would be workable. I just hope it's workable with other people. But, boy, we just
want to have to start over, having come this far, with a -- what we think is a good project
for Meridian and the neighborhood.
Nary: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: So, Mr. Forrey, if I'm hearing you correctly, then, I don't think you'd have to start if
you put islands there. But if I'm hearing you saying, then, what you're plan is is not to
put any islands there, so we either like the speed humps or not?
Forrey: It's possible if I -- let me point here to answer Councilman Nary's questions. It's
possible there is room to put an island in this area here, but it's not workable at these
approached intersections. There is not enough dimension in the width here to get
enough traffic for turning movements and that was pointed out in John Wassan's letter.
Here there is a little -- it opens up, you know, because of these curve radiuses at this
intersection and you have got a micropath there, so there is a little room in there to work
with to meet ACHD design requirements. So, if the Council said we don't want speed
humps, we want is island, what we would hope that you would allow us to do is put an
island at this location. But our preference is not to put an island in, it's to use these
speed humps.
Nary: Okay. Thank you.
De Weerd: Wayne, are your lots at the minimum size, so you can't do any adjustment
on those lots to accommodate an island?
Forrey: We have a fixed point here with the pathway and we have got a fixed point with
the home right here and a fixed point with this private drive, and so it's these depths
here that we just don't have the room to adjust to keep those above minimum lot size
we desired and there is just not enough room in here. It's just a difficult design issue. It
would just be much easier in this location if we had an island.
De Weerd: Okay. Okay. Any further questions for the applicant? Okay. Thank you.
Forrey: Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
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October 28, 2003
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Bird: If there is no more public testimony, before we close it, I'd like to get the other
Council's feeling on retaining speed bumps or trying the island at that location. I think,
basically, the speed bumps are at that location anyway, you're not going to slow them
down until they get there anyway and they do have a curve coming -- if they are going
to school, they would be coming off of Victory and turning right coming through there. I
would have no problem with an island if it's calmer, over the speed bumps. I, for one,
hate speed bumps, but they do do the job, let's put it that way. They do do the job, but if
an island would do it there at that one location, I would be for doing that. I'd also like to
ask Mr. Forrey before -- and I should have asked him questions, but where he's got the
cul-de-sac out there, is there a chance that an island could be put there, too? That
would give us two islands to have -- you know, if we put the island there, they have got
-- you know, they have got a good, what, quarter of a mile, half a mile to pick up speed
by the time they hit Locust Grove and if we could put another island there where it goes
off, that would be two islands to kind of slow it down and we have got the corner down
on east side there as you come off of Victory that is bound to slow them down. We
might have a few wind up in somebody's yard, but that goes with the territory, you know,
of any road, but I would like to see the islands in there -- if it possibly could be done, two
of them, one at the location there with the private road, which Mr. Forrey already
testified he could do, and maybe do one down at the cul-de-sac, if possible.
Nary: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Yeah. I guess Mr. Forrey can come up and respond. I would concur that I think
that -- that's a much better solution than the speed bumps. I think speed bumps have
the same problem that the chokers do, is that they are not a very visible deterrent for
cars that are coming. People have a tendency to forget they are there, they going flying
over those things -- I agree that, eventually, people figure it out, but I think an island is a
visible obstruction that tends to slow people down and looking at the roadway of
Clearbrook that we just approved, I mean, you know, even with that -- and that's a fairly
small, pretty tight subdivision and roadway and they were able to fit those islands in the
middle and I think your solution of putting it there at the cul-de-sac and the private drive
is probably better than the entranceway and it is a portion where the roadway is wider
and that would seem to make it a better fit and would slow the traffic down.
De Weerd: Okay. Mr. Forrey, would you like to comment? We just waited until you sat
down, so --
Forrey: Thank you. Madam President, Councilman Nary, I just did a little math here
and let me show you the distance from an edge of an island here to the edge of the
island here is 221 feet. So, it's not a great distance. It's 220 feet between islands. So,
I'm thinking in this -- the scale of this project, it's less than ten acres, one island ought to
work right here and it's a logical location, because of the private drive and the
micropath, so you could incorporate a crosswalk halfway through that island and, then,
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October 28, 2003
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it's 221 feet to the next, you know, the intersection area and, then, just another less than
200 feet away.
Bird: So, we are not even a quarter mile at that?
Forrey: No. No. See, from this area back to Locust Grove is probably around -- I can
get you the exact -- 350 feet or so.
Bird: And another thing I just --
Forrey: It's not a large project.
Bird: -- pointed out that putting an island, Mr. Nary, on that cul-de-sac, if you look at
block -- or Lot 5, we might have trouble getting in and out with an island there, so
maybe the one island -- I didn't realize it was that close, because we don't have a scale.
Forrey: Right.
Bird: -- deal here, so -- but if it's that small, maybe the one island at the private roadway
will work, because I -- you know, it just pointed out to me that Lot 5 would -- it's going to
be major getting in and out of it if you have an island there.
Nary: True.
Bird: Where down at the private one you do have that Lot No. 11, which is a --
De Weerd: Pathway.
Bird: -- pathway. I can accept the one island. I can accept the one island if it's done
right.
Nary: Me, too.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Forrey: And we can, too. Thank you.
De Weerd: Okay. Anna, do you have any comments or anything further?
Powell: Well, I would like to point out that he's got 116 feet here and 106 feet here. His
standard lot length in this area is just 100 feet. So, there is 16 feet of length there to
play with, if the Council desires a median or landscape island in this location. He is very
tight here. He's got a hundred foot lot length in this location on both sides of the street.
I'm wondering if the Council wants to indicate some sort of minimum width to the
calming device. I mean a five foot -- if you don't have to slow down to get around it,
then, it's not much of a calming device. It's got to be wide enough that it actually gets
Meridian City Council
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people to slow down and go around them, so I'm wondering if the Council wants to give
the applicant some idea on that and I don't know if Bruce would have recommendations
on what, actually, serves as a -- to calm traffic for those islands, if there is an optimal
size.
De Weerd: Bruce, would you have a comment on that? Provide us some feedback.
Mills: Madam President, I believe this is 29 feet curb to curb. This --
Powell: It's a 50 foot street section -- or 50 foot right of way, but 29 feet side of curb to
side of curb.
Mills: Is there parking on one side? I'm trying to remember what was -- that's correct.
Okay. Typically, you do want to narrow it down. You still want to -- from our standpoint,
we just want to have at least 12 feet of clear distance on one side of the island. I know
your emergency services people would want probably 20 on one side and I'm think they
are probably -- they can probably still get around on the south side of that island with a
private drive there. So, I'm not doing good on the math on the fly here, but -- which side
are you going to have your parking on? It's on the north side? Okay.
Bird: Bruce, we don't put that in the middle. Let me ask you a question. I can see the
kids coming right in and coming right out. I don't see them coming home from school
using it, because they have to cross traffic to get out and in. So, I see it being that. So,
if the north side has got the parking and stuff, and, like you said, our emergency
vehicles need a wider than what you guys require, we are going to have to -- things are
going to have to be offset, which I don't think is bad. I think if it is offset it does help.
Mills: I think it would.
Bird: It would work and do you have any -- we have -- I have no idea what width we
need to have there and I don't believe any of the other Council people have, because
we have never had this -- and you and staff has to tell us what we need for a calmer.
Mills: Yeah. To be honest, I wouldn't know off the top of my head. I would suggest you
might say something like minimum five foot, if feasible, and just make sure that we can
get something like that. Yes, you want to have something that they can see. You don't
just want to have a little two foot curb, because that's not going to do any good at all.
Bird: But a minimum of five feet.
Mills: Right. I don't know if the applicant has opportunities to wow out the curb, for
instance, on the north side or not. Maybe not. Maybe those lots are already squeezed
as much as they can be. I don't know. If they can't, then, we just have to fit what we
can within the 29 feet, recognizing that we still need to get your emergency vehicles
around it.
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
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Bird: But the nice thing about keeping the two entries, emergency vehicles can come in
from either entry to get to it, so that does help. They don't have to go through that
calmer all the time, if they -- you know, emergency vehicles don't have to --
Mills: That's correct and I would definitely say that it's -- you know -- do I have this on?
Oh, here we go. That this would be more critical than trying to put one down here,
because here you have a stop condition, so you're not really calming the traffic at that
point.
De Weerd: And you bollards on that private drive, correct?
Bird: Yeah.
De Weerd: So, they have access in there, too.
Bird: That's right.
Mills: Sorry, that's kind of a half answer, but that's the best I can do.
Bird: With a five foot minimum is what we should require.
Mills: Yes.
Bird: If that's workable.
Mills: Correct.
Bird: Thank you, Bruce.
Powell: Madam President, Members of the Council, I guess I should have given a little
more, but if it's five feet, then, you have got two and a half feet straddling, basically, the
center line, so you're only having to adjust your travel way two and a half feet. I guess I
would recommend ten foot minimum. If you truly want it to slow down traffic, it needs to
be enough that they are physically having to slow down to make a curve. I mean,
usually, if I was designing one and I really wanted to slow down traffic, I would make it
40 to 50 feet, in all honesty. So, I think that ten feet, as a traffic calming device, is -- is
probably a minimum. A five foot landscape is our minimum for a landscape berm -- or a
landscape island, but as far as traffic goes, I think that probably needs to be a little bit
bigger to really slow people down.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Anna, you say a minimum of ten? Is that workable in there without costing them
some lots?
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October 28, 2003
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Powell: Well, they have got 14 and a half feet on each side of center line for a travel
lane right now. If ACHD allowed 12 foot on one side, that gives them two feet to play
with on the other side, so that's 16 and a half, they still have to meet probably a 20 foot
minimum, depending on how the emergency services can get around it. So, they might
have to make up a couple feet there. So, they will have to make up ten feet, but I think
that those lots can accommodate it for a short distance in those designs. Really won't
know until somebody sat down and designed it.
Bird: How long would you recommend the calmer to be? I mean we are talking about
ten foot wide. Should it be 30 feet long or --
Powell: It doesn't have to be long, it just has to get them to slow down and go around it,
so --
Bird: It should be longer than a car length, though? Or an SUV, don't you think?
Powell: I'm not sure that that's necessary. I mean it really just -- the idea is just to get
them around and, then, I think we have a minimum size square footage area that they'd
need to meet for the landscape island, but --
Bird: Do you know what that is?
Powell: Not off the top of my head.
Bird: Okay. But you do have -- you do have some guidance --
Powell: Yes.
Bird: -- for the applicant on that. I like your ten foot. I have no problem, if we can work
this out, and I think we can.
De Weerd: I guess what could happen is we can approve the annexation and ask the
preliminary plat -- hold it over to November 5th, unless we just want staff to work out the
design standards.
Nary: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Yeah. I mean I think -- I think we have highlighted in the last ten minutes why we
usually have the applicant do this, because either we are -- either we are going to have
to have you do it or we are going to have to have you have them approve it and so -- I
mean I don't care, but it would seem to me if it's my money, I want to design it. I want to
design what I think is going to work the best and I'm going to -- you're the one that's
going to have to crunch those numbers to see whether or not it has to be offset a little
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October 28, 2003
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bit, whether or not it's going to have to take a portion off of the southern properties a
little bit. Obviously, you're going to have to move some of the parking a little further
away from that island, because you can't have cars parked right up against it, because
the road won't be wide enough. But I guess if it was me, I would rather design it myself,
rather than have none of us who know what we are doing up here doing that for you, so
that we can leave it for Ms. Powell to figure out later. I mean that just doesn't seem very
fair to anybody, but --
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Mr. Nary and fellow Councilwomen, I would have no problem passing these with
the stipulation that -- I'm with Mr. Nary a hundred percent, that Mr. Forrey and his group
design it and -- the staff can buy off on it. They know what we want right now. We want
a calmer, ten foot minimum, and -- so I would have no problem passing these, so we
don't have to bring them back with us. I think that's the only thing we are questioning
and Anna is certainly capable of making sure that it's done right. I would have no
problem with that, if agreeable to the applicants.
De Weerd: Okay. Mr. Nichols.
Nichols: Madam President, Members of the Council, if you do something like that, what
would I recommend that you do, though, is that staff approve the design before we
submit the findings to you for approval. So that we have a design which can be
attached to the findings for you to review, so that that way we are not approving --
you're not approving a preliminary plat with an item left undone and if there is some sort
of disagreement between staff and the applicant, then, they have the ability to come
back before you and have you be the final arbiter of the issue, but that way it's done. I
think we'd probably only be looking at a delay of maybe a week for approval of the
findings, just in order for the applicant to be able to have a final drawing ready to go,
because, typically, we have these ready for two -- in two weeks and so, you know,
whatever length of time it takes for you to get it to staff in time for them to review and
say, yes, we like this or go back and tweak that, that would be the only additional delay.
But you wouldn't have another hearing unless you couldn't agree.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: And I would agree and what I'm understanding from you, Mr. Nichols, is when we
make the motion, we just state your comments, too, but we go ahead and pass these
three things with that stipulation on the plat -- part of the preliminary plat.
Nichols: Councilman Bird, Members of the Council, I think that's correct. Although I
think what you want to do is you want to say the target is this width, because, then, if
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October 28, 2003
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the applicant presents a legitimate case to Mrs. Powell for a nine foot one and you said
it has to be ten foot, then, we could have some issues coming back. But your target
width is ten feet and, then, the applicant knows to work with that and see how they can
make that work and that's their target, but within allowances, then, Mrs. Powell would
know that she could still go ahead and approve something, even if it wasn't exactly ten
feet.
Bird: Great. Okay. Agreed.
De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Nichols. Okay. Any further discussion? I would entertain a
motion to close the Public Hearing.
McCandless: So moved.
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearings on Items 10, 11,
and 12. All those in favor say aye. Okay. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Okay. Who dares try this?
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I'll try the first one. The zoning and annexation.
De Weerd: You got the easy part.
Nary: Cheater.
Bird: Yeah. We are going down the line. Guess who's next. I would move that we
approve AZ 03-015, request for annexation and zoning of 9.8 acres from RUT to R-8
zones for the proposed Sageland Planned Development by Quasar Development, LLC,
northeast corner of South Locust Grove Road and east Victory Road and to incorporate
staff, applicant, and public testimony and for the attorney to draw up the Findings of
Facts and Conclusions of Law and Decision of Order.
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve AZ 03-015. Mr. Clerk.
Roll Call: McCandless, yea; Nary, yea; de Weerd, yea; Bird, yea.
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
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MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item 11.
Nary: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: I move the approval of PP 03-020, the request for a revised preliminary plat
approval of 41 building lots and nine other lots on 10.64 acres in a proposed R-8 zone
for the proposed Sageland Planned Development by Quasar Development at the
northeast corner of South Locust Grove and East Victory Road, to include all staff
comments, comments of the applicant, with the amendments on the plat to reflect that
the rear yard setback will be noted on the plat, was for detached garages, that the
roadway will contain a traffic calming island at the intersection of the private drive and
the main roadway of Sagemoor Drive. The design to be approved by the Planning and
Zoning Department, with a target of a ten foot traffic calming island in approximately that
intersection, the final design to be approved prior to the approval of the Findings of
Facts and Conclusions of Law. I think that was it. For counsel to prepare those
Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law after that approval.
Powell: Madam President?
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Anna.
Powell: Madam President, I believe the setback actually goes with the PD.
Nary: Oh. I'm sorry. Okay. Well, I thought we wanted it on the plat as well, though.
We had -- I guess because it's written on the plat. I don't know if we wanted it on both,
as a plat note, as well as in the --
Powell: Brad and I have -- Brad Watson and I have been trying to move away from
having notes on the plat that are -- the Ada County surveyor calls them planner notes.
We have been trying to record those as a separate document. We are attaching them
to the final plats for the purposes of the Building Department, but we are moving away
from having to require those notes on the face of the plat. The Ada County surveyor
has been making things difficult in that regard and we are just trying to move away from
that.
Nary: Madam President, did you want them to take off that table entirely, then?
Powell: Yes. It would not be on the final plat.
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October 28, 2003
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Nary: Okay. Then, with Mrs. Powell's recommendation, I guess we will include that as
part of the CUP application and not the plat. That's fine.
Bird: Before the second agrees to it, I got something that I want to say.
De Weerd: Does the second agree?
Bird: Does the motion agree? I'm the second. This is taking off the plat has cost the
City of Meridian bucks. I want everything -- I personally -- and the Council has stated
this -- want to see these notes on the plat. I don't care what Ada County says. Every
other plat you get -- you go to Boise City and everything is listed on the plats. If there
are any exceptions or anything else, they are listed on the plats. We have had -- we
have had -- in my six years here we have two or three lawsuits that we have lost
because stuff was on the plats and I think it has to be on the CUP, plus, it has to be on
the preliminary plat and the final plat, these notes. I don't want to attach things,
because when a person goes down there to get their lot thing, they get a copy, but they
don't get a copy of this attached sheet, they get a copy of the plat and I want those
notes right on the plat, because I don't want it to cost the city anymore and we have
been through this. So, I think it has to be both on the final plat or preliminary plat, final
plat, and the CUP. So, that's my opinion and I'm not legal or anything else, I don't
know, but --
Nary: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: Mrs. Powell or Mr. Watson, I mean is really all they have expressed to us at this
juncture is a preference to not have those types of notes on the plat?
Powell: We have -- I can certainly come back to you with this issue. I mean I don't if we
are going to resolve it tonight, it sounds like. They have been slowly cranking down
consecutively on more and more notes as they go through. If this is a big concern of
the Council, though, this is -- I asked the county surveyor to kind of have a meeting with
the various City Engineers and Planning Directors to discuss this. I have not seen a
meeting scheduled. He indicated that he would willing to do that. So, we have just
been incrementally having more difficulties with plat notes as time goes on. We have
also had problems on the part of the city, such as Observation Point, where we had plat
notes with regard to minimum house size and other things that, from the city's
standpoint, it's required a lot of additional hearings. That was part of the reason we
moved away from it, but, clearly, we need to come and talk to you all and I'm sorry that
we hadn't done that yet. So, I didn't mean to open a can of worms tonight,
Commissioner Bird. Sorry about that.
Nary: Madam President, I guess, then, I would reiterate on my motion, then, that since
we don't have some final decision from the county, that on this preliminary plat that we
include the table that's already been there and a note that includes that the five foot rear
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October 28, 2003
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yard setback is in relation to the detached garages and that we leave it as we originally
stated.
Bird: And the second agrees.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve PP 03-020,
with special notation on the plat notes and the island. I will ask the City Clerk to call roll.
Roll Call: McCandless, yea; Nary, yea; de Weerd, yea; Bird, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item 12.
Bird: It's Cherie's turn.
De Weerd: Mrs. McCandless.
McCandless: I move that we approve the CUP 03-036, request for Conditional Use
Permit for a planned development with a private neighborhood park in an R-8 zone for
Sageland Planned Development by Quasar Development and to incorporate all staff
comments and to have the attorney draw up the proper papers.
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve CUP 03-036. Is there any
further discussion? Okay. Mr. Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: McCandless, yea; Nary, yea; de Weerd, yea; Bird, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 13: Public Hearing: Park Impact Fees Ordinance Amendments:
De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item number 13 is a Public Hearing, Park Impact Fees
Ordinance Amendments. I will open this Public Hearing with staff comments by Mr.
Strong.
Strong: Madam President, President, Members of the Council, we are preparing a short
Powerpoint presentation and I have invited one of our Parks and Recreation
Commissioners to come and present this particular item tonight, Mr. Jim Keller, who has
been involved on the impact fee committee since its inception and is very familiar with
this issue and he will go through the Powerpoint and stand for questions. So, Mr. Jim
Keller.
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October 28, 2003
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De Weerd: Is the testimony you provide tonight the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, so help you God?
Keller: Yes.
De Weerd: Thank you, Jim. Please state your name and address.
Keller: Jim Keller. 587 East Kingsford Drive, Meridian, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Keller: It's a privilege to be here, Madam President and Council Members. I've served,
as indicated, on the Parks and Recreation Commission for a number years and just
completed our service with the parks impact fee committee and we are here to present
our recommendations, which many of you have already seen, so we will try to be quick
with our presentation, but we thought we'd give you a little history, so if we could have
the next slide, we'd just like to show you the steps that have been taken in 1996 with the
original impact fee ordinance where the fee was recommended and adopted. There
have been no changes in that fee or ordinance since then and in May of 2002 an eight
member impact fee committee was established and that committee -- if I can get this to
stay on. I guess you have to leave it pressed, don't you. That committee was
organized and met numerous times. We had really good involvement from the BCA and
the realtors in this process. Mark Estess and John Eaton were involved in most of the
meetings and gave good input. After that review was several meetings and discussions
and calculations, then, we made a recommendation in November of 2000 and, then, the
City Finance Department, the Parks and Rec group, and the City Attorney, went through
the ordinance, made some adjustments to our fee calculations and, then, we had our
final impact fee committee, then, in June here of 2003 of this year and, then, we
received recommendation to the Council -- or we made recommendation to the Council
and we also, then, received support from the final fee from the realtors and BCA. So,
now if you will flip to the next chart, then, this is the -- in the -- for developing an impact
fee for the parks, we are limited to the dollar amount that is presently being expended
for a thousand people for parks and so what we have done, then, is for both community
parks and neighborhood parks -- a community park is a park that's in the neighborhood
of 18 acres or more. Neighborhood parks are smaller parks, in the range of six to ten
acres or so. So, we added up all of the acres and if you can look right here, this is the
number of acres of parks that we have developed today, but 40,000 people. So, the
standard or the level of service is about 2.62 acres per thousand people and so we are
limited to the cost associated with that 2.6 acres and we can't level an assessment any
more than that, at a cost of about 95,000 dollars per acre. We, then, calculated what is
called, then, the park development cost per person, which ends up to be 248,000
dollars. You multiply that times the number of people that live in a single-family dwelling
unit of 2.93. That calculates, then, to an impact fee for a single family for community
parks of 728 dollars per home. For a multi-family -- there is not quite that many people
in a multi-family dwelling unit, so you multiply that times the per person and you get,
then, 663 dollars for the multi-family impact fee that could be levied for the park -- for
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
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the community parks. Now, we have neighborhood parks, so we can add an element
onto that fee from the neighborhood parks and so we have, basically -- presently, this
many acres, 11 acres, of neighborhood parks that we have developed and the realtors
and BCA allowed us, then, also, to claim acreage for land that we purchased, but not
developed, as long as we only claimed 26 percent, which is the percent of the total cost
for the purchase of the land only. So, you calculate that, that leaves us an equivalent
5.83 acres, total, then, of 17 acres of neighborhood parks. You go through the same
procedure now to come up with a dollar amount of developing parks. That would be for
the 4.43. For 1,000 people it gives us $40.48 per person, multiplying that, here again,
by the number of people per single-family dwelling unit, you get the 120. For the
number of people here for a multi-family, you, then, get the 200 -- or the 109 dollars.
So, now, you take both of those components and add them together and that's the level
that we could apply, as long as all of the parks were developed using the impact fees.
But the city is allocating money from the general fund and from taxes, so we have to
deduct that portion that is being paid already by the citizens through taxation from the
impact fee. So, those numbers, then, relate to the proportionate share, which relates to
the amount of taxes that are levied. A typical residence is about 166,000 dollars, minus
the 50,000 dollar deduction. The average taxable house value, then, is 116,000 times
your levy is the 345 and eleven percent of the revenue over the last five years that has
been used to develop the parks has come from taxes. So, we have to subtract the 11
percent off, so you take eleven percent times this number and that gives you $39.38.
So, we have to take the original number, less that number, plus, we have to subtract out
any money that's come from general funds. The Council has decided that they are
going to take about 20 percent match and that 20 percent match, then, from the general
fund is 20 percent of this number or these numbers. So, you subtract those numbers off
and, then, we are able to add an administration fee and that was suggested by BCA that
we add an administration fee back on. So, if we will go to the next sheet, we can, then,
see that that's blank. But it will appear here. This is the total development cost, if you
recall, less the proportionate share that we talked about, then, less the general fund
proportionate share, adding the administration cost back on, then, gives us a
recommended dollar amount that we are going to recommend for the impact fee and so
you take all of those numbers, subtract, subtract, add, and you get, then, the 667 for
single family. Subtract and subtract, add, and you get, then, the 607 and the impact fee
recommendation for the multi-family. Now, then, what impact does that mean? The old
fees were 400 here, 481. The new fee we are recommending is 667, or an increase of
185 dollars. The multi-family, 370, 607, or 236 dollars as the recommended increase.
We are also, in addition to this, we are going to recommend that -- that the City Council
and the Parks and Recreation Commission, review this at least every two years for the
need to maybe increase, decrease, or whatever and we have support to do that from,
both the realtors and BCA and they would like to be involved as we review that. So, any
particular questions about the recommendations on impact fees?
De Weerd: Jim, only a comment that you took a very complex formula and made some
sense of it. I know that this committee has been working a long time to bring this
recommendation forward. There is that hat again, and I sure appreciate all the effort. I
know this hasn't been a simple task.
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
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Keller: Well, it's been a very interesting and fun one, so --
De Weerd: An engineer. Remember, he's an engineer.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Jim, I like your idea of -- and, definitely, I don't know how we can -- whether we
can put it -- I'll ask this to Mr. Nichols, the idea of every two years reviewing these,
because, you know, you look up at the additional cost and impact fees and divide that
by the seven years that that's been in effect, it hasn't been very much. It seems like a
lot right now, because we went seven years without reviewing it.
Keller: Forty bucks a year.
Bird: You know, so -- but is there a way we can put that in the ordinance, Mr. Nichols?
You know, kind of like the audit ordinance, that that has to be done by January 20th of
every year? Is there some way we can do --
Nichols: Councilman Bird, Madam President, Members of the Council. One of the
delays in getting you this project this far was to try to get a lot of the work done, so that
when the impact fee committee meets again, that they can focus on the -- basically the
numbers that plug into these formulas. What's the cost of per acre to acquire the land?
What's the cost per acre to develop the land? What's the level of park space --
neighborhood parks per thousand, community parks per thousand? And so the Finance
Department worked closely with the committee to try to come up with these things in a
type of formula, so it would be easier to do that next time, and as far as every two years,
I don't think you put it in the ordinance as such, it's a requirement under the state statute
that you come back and review these numbers on a -- you know, on a frequent basis.
Two years -- actually, this coming February is going to be about two years sense these
numbers were put into play, in terms of the basis for them. So, we are almost on track
to do it again. But, again, I don't know that you have to have it in the ordinance as such,
it just needs to be a priority for the Mayor and Council to make sure that the impact fee
advisory committee is appointed and that they are given their charge. The
administrative fee that's on there -- originally, we had a ten percent surcharge for
administrative fee, which didn't fit the statute, and BCA and the realtors were quick to
point that one out, and so that administrative fee is, really, almost a trust fund to go
toward revisions or relooking at the capital improvements plan, because that -- that's
another key component that we had to have before we could finish this impact fee work
and so your recent efforts to get that finished allowed us to be to this point. That was a
long answer -- that was a lawyer-like answer to how often you can review it.
Bird: And Nary is sitting there grinning all the time.
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
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Keller: If I might just add one other comment. Really, the impact fee is set up with a
goal in mind over the next six years to raise our level of service from 2.69 acres per
thousand people to four. So, that's the goal and projects are set up with some joint
ventures with a number of other groups. Hopefully, by the end of six years we will be at
four and that's the -- basically, that's the strategic plan.
De Weerd: Now, Jim, our commitment, then, to the development community on
matching impact fees is the 20 percent?
Keller: Yes.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Nichols: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nichols.
Nichols: Yeah. Madam President, that's another factor that can go into this formulation
of the impact fee is what is the projected match, because if circumstances were such
that the city was able to increase that funding, then, that goes into the impact fee
calculations. If the city can't hit that 20 percent number, then, that goes into the
calculations, too. So, that's another reason to revisit this thing is to make sure that
those assumptions are correct.
De Weerd: Thank you. Boy, you laid great groundwork to make it even easier to keep
it up to date. This is a Public Hearing. Is there anyone else who would like to testify on
this item? Okay. Mr. Strong, is there anything you would like to add?
Strong: I'd just like to thank Jim for his work on this project. It's been a very complex
issue. It's certainly something when I came to the city in March that I was not informed
on at all, so it's been very helpful to have people with Jim's experience and
understanding of these issues to carry forward, so I really appreciate his work on behalf
of the commission and the city, so --
De Weerd: Thank you
Strong: -- I think we are ready to move ahead.
De Weerd: Mr. Keller, I would echo or -- echo. I would like to emphasize what Mr.
Strong has just said. You know, this work has been a long time in coming and
appreciate all your efforts. Certainly, it's been something, since I have been on the
commission, that we have been trying to assure happen and bringing all the parties
together to come to the agreement, that's a major -- a major step forward. So, thank
you very much.
Nary: Madam President?
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
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De Weerd: Mr. Nary.
Nary: In addition to that, I would also agree with what you said, Mr. Keller certainly
made it much more understandable than I think it really is, so I really appreciate that
and I also, while we are giving thanks, I also want to thank Mr. Nichols. We changed --
the statute changed in the middle of this process, too, so this not the easiest legal
process to get through, either, and I thinks his help has been invaluable in getting this
done and I appreciate that.
De Weerd: Okay. I guess one final comment is we want to make sure that as our
Comprehensive Plan has been finally adopted by the county, that we do get a letter out
asking them to collect impact fees in our area of impact and recognize that, now that we
have our capital improvement plan and this in hand, it should expedite that request.
Nichols: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nichols.
Nichols: Madam President, we will present to you at a future Council meeting the actual
resolution to -- or the ordinance itself, which adopts the fees, and, then, a copy of the
ordinance can be presented to the county in connection with that area of impact
agreement issue.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Okay. The Public Hearing is still open. Oh. Anna.
Powell: Madam President, Members of Council, I think that Ada County is looking for a
specific memorandum of understanding or a memorandum of agreement and it may be
because they -- it could be just a question of whether or not you want them to collect the
fees or if we are going to collect the fees and, then, they will issue the building permits.
So, that it might be something we need to clarify before I send this letter over there,
because I think with ACHD I think they went through a memorandum process, as I
understand it. But they collect the ACHD fees at the time of issuing the building permit.
Nichols: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Nichols.
Nichols: Madam President, it's my understanding Boise -- that somehow or another
Boise City already gets park impact fees in its area of impact, so whatever they are
doing in Boise City, we can piggy back on the same sort of agreement or joint ordinance
or however they do it. So, we can use that same mechanism.
Powell: I will find out what that process is, run it by Mr. Nichols, and include that in the
letter that we send for your signature.
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
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De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Is there any other further discussion? Testimony?
Okay. I would entertain a motion close this Public Hearing.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we close the Public Hearing on parks -- Park Impact Fees Ordinance
Amendment.
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to close the Public Hearing on Item
13. All those in favor say aye. Okay. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I would move that we get the ordinance written -- I believe it already has been
written, is that -- get that done and bring it forward to us and get it published and get her
done. Going.
De Weerd: Okay. What was that?
Bird: I move that we get the amendment wrote up in the ordinance and get it -- get it
in --
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It's been moved and seconded to ask the attorney to draw up the
formal ordinance to adopt the park impact fees. Mr. Clerk, we will call roll on this.
Roll Call: McCandless, yea; Nary, yea; de Weerd, yea; Bird, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you. It has been requested that we have an executive session.
Bird: Madam President?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move that we go into executive session as per Idaho Code 67-2345 (c).
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
Page 42 of 42
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: It's been moved and seconded to adjourn into executive session. Mr. Clerk.
Roll Call: McCandless, yea; Nary, yea; de Weerd, yea; Bird, yea.
De Weerd: It has been requested that we have an executive session.
Bird: Madam President. I move we go into executive session and ask for Idaho Code
67-2345 (1) (c).
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: It’s been moved and seconded to adjourn into executive session. Mr. Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Nary, yea; McCandless, yea; De Weerd, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
ENTER EXECUTIVE SESSION.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we come out of executive session.
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. It’s been moved and seconded to come out of executive session.
Please note on record that no decisions were made. All those in favor say aye. All
ayes, motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: I would entertain a motion to adjourn this meeting.
McCandless: So moved.
Nary: Second.
De Weerd: It’s been moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor
say aye. Meeting adjourned at 9:50.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:50 P.M.
(TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
Meridian City Council
October 28, 2003
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_______________________________ ______/______/______
ROBERT D. CORRIE, MAYOR DATE APPROVED
ATTEST:
_____________________________________
WILLIAM G. BERG, JR, CITY CLERK