HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-08-12 Olivia Burton
Charlene Way
From:Brian Whitlock
Sent:Tuesday, August 12, 2025 7:25 AM
To:Olivia Burton; City Clerk
Subject:Re: In-N-Out Burger Appeal
Olivia -
Thank you for reaching out to the City Council with your concerns. I am copying the City Clerk on this
response so that your comments can be included in the public record.
I also wanted to let you know that due to a noticing error by the applicant, the hearing originally
scheduled for tonight will be continued until September 9. No conversation or testimony beyond our
action to continue the hearing will take place this evening.
Thank you again for your email.
Regards,
Brian Whitlock, District 1
Meridian City Council
From: Olivia Burton <oburton1357@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2025 8:51 PM
To: Brian Whitlock <bwhitlock@meridiancity.org>; Liz Strader <lstrader@meridiancity.org>; Doug Taylor
<dtaylor@meridiancity.org>; John Overton <joverton@meridiancity.org>; Anne Little Roberts
<alittleroberts@meridiancity.org>; Lucas Cavener <lcavener@meridiancity.org>
Subject: In-N-Out Burger Appeal
External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments.
Dear Councilmembers Whitlock, Strader, Taylor, Overton, Roberts, & Cavener,
I am writing to you regarding In-N-Out Burger's appeal to the Meridian City Council to overturn the
Planning & Zoning Commission's denial which is currently preventing said business from building and
operating at their desired location at the corner of Ten Mile Rd and Chinden Blvd. I apologize for cutting it
so close to the wire as the appeal appears to be on the agenda for tomorrow, Tuesday, August 12th.
As a concerned citizen and life-long resident of Meridian, ID I urge you to deny In-N-Out Burger's appeal
and to let the Planning & Zoning Commission's denial stand. If In-N-Out is permitted to build at the
corner of Ten Mile Rd and Chinden Blvd, it will, whatever their management may claim to the contrary,
undoubtedly bring with it increased noise, light, and traffic that will have negative effects on all of the
residents in the surrounding area, not to mention all those who travel along Ten Mile Rd and Chinden
Blvd and frequent the businesses already operating at that corner. All of these effects, perhaps most
especially the traffic, should absolutely be considered when a business seeks approval to build and
operate. In-N-Out's claims that any increase in traffic will not spill onto adjacent roadways is either a flat
out lie or completely delusional. We need only look at their locations already in existence to see this is
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the case. Even if their claims that additional traffic would not spill onto adjacent roadways prove true,
that means the traffic has nowhere to go except in and around parking lots already in use by the
businesses currently in operation, their employees, and their customers, and all of which are near
capacity already. The management of In-N-Out may claim that their proposed parking lot will be
sufficient to hold any increase of traffic, but again, we need only look at their existing locations to see
that this is not the case. Chinden Blvd is already a very busy road for commuters, as is Ten Mile Rd,
especially where Ten Mile Rd leads to a freeway access. Ten Mile Rd can also be very busy and crowded
when the sports fields at Hero's Park (just down the road from In-N-Out's proposed location) are in use,
much of the time for children's sports. The inevitable increase of traffic brought about by In-N-Out
Burger's being allowed to build and operate at the corner of Ten Mile Rd and Chinden Blvd would also
bring an inevitable increase in danger and likelihood of vehicle and pedestrian accidents on and along
those roadways. In-N-Out appears to have nothing but a flagrant disregard for the negative impact their
business will bring to the safety and well-being of the residents and businesses in and around their
proposed location. Such insensitivity and carelessness is not what Meridian is about, thus making their
business, frankly, unwelcome here. All of this being said, I plead with you to not approve In-N-Out
Burger's appeal and to ultimately deny them being allowed to build and operate at the corner of Ten Mile
Rd and Chinden Blvd.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Olivia Burton
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