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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-08-19 Regular Meridian City Council August 19, 2025. A Meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:02 p.m., Tuesday, August 19, 2025, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Luke Cavener, Liz Strader, John Overton, Doug Taylor, Anne Little Roberts and Brian Whitlock. Other Present: Chris Johnson, Bill Nary, Bill Parsons, Nick Napoli, Jamie Leslie and Steve Taulbee. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE X Liz Strader X Brian Whitlock Anne Little Roberts X John Overton _X_ Doug Taylor _X_Luke Cavener X Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will call this meeting to order. For the record it is August 19th, 2025, at 6:02 p.m. We will begin tonight's regular City Council meeting with roll call attendance. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Simison: Next item is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you would, please, rise and join us in the pledge. (Pledge of Allegiance recited.) COMMUNITY INVOCATION Simison: We had no one sign up for the community invocation. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Simison: So, we will move on to adoption of the agenda. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Going to amend our agenda this evening to add an additional provision to an Executive Session at the end of the meeting. So, I'm going to offer that we add 74- 206(1)(d) to our Executive Session agenda and with that, Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the agenda as amended. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 2 of 61 Strader: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as amended. Is there any discussion? If not all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is agreed to as amended. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. PUBLIC FORUM — Future Meeting Topics Simison: Mr. Clerk, do we have anyone signed up under Public Forum? Johnson: Mr. Mayor. Yes. Jen Card. Simison: Good evening. Card: All right. I'm Jen Card and I'm back again to talk to you about Orchard Park Sigarra and, actually, I wanted to bring up something that somebody said last week about being with the development and things like that. It's not that residents are against the development. What we want is the intent of the approved development to happen and we also want the respect of the contractors and the builders back there when they damage our property and they cause harm to our quality of life. Those are the things that we are asking for. We want it built out. We know it's going to be built out and at this point we just want it done, which brings me back to -- I didn't bring any pictures this time, but I had my fence story and here is a little bit of what I went through with that. So, my fence was damaged. I called the developer, he said call Grandview Communities. Oh. And I wanted to say the developer stopped me last week on my way out and said you are not going to get those houses sold back there if you keep showing up at City Council, but here I am again. So, I called the developer, they said call Grandview. I called them they said I will take a look at it and never got back to me. I followed up several times. Nothing happened. So, I finally decided to call City of Meridian. Planners know who is back there. They issue permits; right? The city should know. They didn't know. They couldn't tell me while they were on the phone with me. They had to research and get back to me about a week later and I had some more questions that I came up with in the meantime and they said they would get back to me. Two weeks later they still hadn't gotten back to me, so I decided to stop by City Hall and nobody was available to talk to me. So, then, I was told to put it in an e-mail and copy so and so's boss. So, that's what I did. So, they gave me a name. I reached out to that person at Grandview Communities. They never returned my call and that's where I was. I'm like fine, you know, I will replace my own fence if it doesn't look like what they want to do. If they eventually choose to do that, then, that's on them. But it was the biggest runaround and the response from one person that I spoke to at the City of Meridian was, well, if you told them that happened of course they will take care of it and here we are. They haven't. They haven't even responded at this point and I know that they have been working with the city. So, it -- it's ridiculous and I think we need to take this as an opportunity to improve the process. I'm sure there are so many smart people Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 3 of 61 in this room that can determine, you know, maybe there is a liaison with the neighborhood that can funnel through, because there is no reason that the city should not be able to tell me who I need to call when I get a hold of them, so continued to next week. We will see you then. Simison: Thank you, Jen. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Know that we are prohibited from commenting about what is requested, but I am just going to say, Jen, I appreciate you coming here each week and I want you to know I hope you are feeling heard because you are being heard and I find this public comment information incredibly enlightening. So, thank you for being here this evening. Simison: Okay. Is that the only one, Mr. Clerk? Johnson: The only one that's present. There was somebody signed up online that is not here. ACTION ITEMS 1. Public Hearing for City of Meridian Fiscal Year 2025 Amended Budget Simison: Okay. Then with that we will move on to our Action Items for this evening. First item up is a public hearing for City of Meridian fiscal year 2025 amended budget. I will open this public hearing with staff comments. Fields: Good evening, Mayor and Members of the Council. I'm going to pull up our presentation for tonight. Okay. So, welcome to our Fiscal Year '25 amended budget public hearing. Our agenda tonight is very simple. I'm going to go over our Fiscal Year '25 amended budget of 264 million in the three major reporting funds, the Governmental Fund, Capital Improvement Fund, Enterprise Fund and, then, we will pause and take any public comments and, then, seek Council's approval for our amended Fiscal Year '25 budget. To kick this off we are going to start by looking at the total city budget. Our final amended budget for fiscal year '25 again is 264 million. This is up 3.3 percent from our original budget that we announced this time last year. In the graph in front of you we have depicted our different categories and expenditures and the percentage changes in each of the categories I'm going to dive into a little bit more detail. We have a total of 22 budget amendments for our Fiscal Year '25. I'm going to go through all these changes in the upcoming slide, but just know that these amendments have been presented to you by each department throughout the last ten months. So, this is more of a formal process for us to notify our citizens and the state of our final Fiscal Year '25 budget. So, think of it as this is more of a year-end review for you. In our governmental fund we had a 10.43 percent increase, which is about 11 .5 million dollars. Again the Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 4 of 61 graph in front of you depicts the percentage changes in the respective categories. We had a total of 20 budget amendments in our Governmental Fund that makes up this 11.5 million dollars. 6.3 million is attributed to the various grants. 4.2 million is for the Fields District park property. 1.8 million is our fire truck replacement. These are the big ticket items that was presented to you. In addition we had a reduction in our carry forward adjustment of 2.5 million. Moving on to our next major reporting fund, which is our Capital Improvement Fund. There were no budget amendment -- amendments presented in this fund. However, we did see a carry forward adjustment -- a reduction of 114,000. Last is our Enterprise Fund. Our Enterprise Fund went down about two percent, which is about 2.9 million dollars. In our Enterprise Fund we saw one budget amendment, which was the 2.5 million dollars of wastewater aeration basin retrofit project. I listed out a couple of the governmental fund budget amendments in front of you that had an Enterprise Fund impact, which is our ARPA -- ARPA grant fund, the biosolid dryer project, which is 6.4 million and, then, our medical health benefit trust that had an Enterprise Fund personnel impact and, then, we also saw an 11.9 percent of carry forward reduction in Enterprise Fund. This is a short and sweet presentation. That concludes our Fiscal Year '25 amended budget. Take any questions from the public or you guys. Simison: Thank you, Jenny. Council, any questions for staff? Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Jenny, could you just for the benefit of the public hearing and for myself on the Enterprise Fund, the carry forward adjustment was a pretty significant number. Can you just kind of give me the one-on-one on explaining what the adjustment and why we needed to do that? Fields: Yeah. So, ten months ago when we announced our original budget amendment we had -- Fiscal Year '24 was not closed yet, so we still have three months of operational expenditures that we kind of guess we were going to need the budget for. So, at the end of Fiscal Year '24 we adjust what the actual remaining budget is for the last three -- or the last quarter. So, that's why you will see budget amendment carry forwards of reduction, because that actually reflects the actual budget that was remaining for the prior year. Simison: Thank you. Council, any additional questions for staff? Okay. Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, anyone signed up to provide testimony on this item? Johnson: Mr. Mayor, yes. It's Tanawah Downing, but I believe she's in Washington DC, so she's not online or in the room. Simison: She's not on? Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 5 of 61 Johnson: No. Simison: Okay. Is there anybody present who would like to provide comment on this item? Seeing no one coming forward or raising their hand, Council, do I have a motion? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Move we close the public hearing on City of Meridian Fiscal Year 2025 amended budget. Strader: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the public hearing is closed. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. 2. Public Hearing for City of Meridian Fiscal Year 2026 Proposed Budget Simison: And with that we will move on to Item 2, public hearing for City of Meridian Fiscal Year 2026 proposed budget. Ortiz: Good evening, Mayor and Fellow Council Members. I will go over our agenda tonight for Fiscal Year '26 budget. The first item is our budget process overview and we will go in a high level of all that entails. Second item we will go -- do a high level overview also of our major governmental funds and the last item if -- we are requesting or seeking approval of the Fiscal Year '26 budget. Our -- our budget development process is about nine months long. We begin preparing the proposed budget -- budget in February and in March. Each department, alongside with their Council liaison and Mayor, conducts a thorough review of the budget and examine each line item to ensure alignment. At the end of May the proposed budget is submitted to Council and public for review. Budget workshop was held in June to gather feedback, refine the budget and address any concerns or questions. The workshop play a crucial role in shaping the final budget that gets us where we are at today. The annual budget is approved by Council upon closure of tonight's public hearing. It is important to recognize that this process overview doesn't capture the extensive behind-the-scenes work involved in developing our annual budget. There is a lot of internal discussions, detailed analysis and careful planning that occurs throughout these phases. I wanted to take a quick moment to extend my sincere thanks to the Mayor, Council Members, department directors and staff for their dedication through this nine months and all the hours invested in this process. That being said, we will move to talk about the total city budget is 264,484,996. The graph on the left is the expense categories. Personnel is about 34 percent of our total budget and remains our largest expense category. Carry forward Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 6 of 61 makes about 34 percent of the budget. These are projects that will not be finished during our current Fiscal Year '25 and are carried over into Fiscal Year '26. The distribution of the budget on our right side graph is between different departments and the biggest one is wastewater and it comprised at 36 percent of our budget. Now, I will go over through our governmental funds and our revenue is 101 ,267,935. This is comprised majority of taxes, which is 53 percent. The proposed budget is taking the three percent allowable property tax option, which we calculate on average to cost about 47 cents a month for 100,000 dollars of taxable value. As a reminder we are projected to decrease our levy rate year over year. In other words, if a house value did not change year over year then the property taxes paid would be lower. For our next Governmental Fund total expenditures is 131. Apologize. For our Governmental Fund our total expenditure is 131 ,621,333. Our biggest expense is personnel. It comprised 57 percent of our budget. The distribution of the budget on our right side graph, the majority is for public safety. Public safety compromises at 55 percent of our expenditures. Our next major fund is Capital Improvement Funds. We have a total expenditure of two million. This is comprised of a carry forward for Fire. The project includes fire station remodels and -- for the Enterprise Fund revenue we have 52,428,916. Most -- the majority of our revenue comes from utility sales revenue, which comprises 62 percent of the revenue source. For Fiscal Year '26 Enterprise Fund total expenditure is of 130,863,663. Unlike the Government Fund where personnel is the largest expense, Enterprise Fund largest expense is the capital projects. Between new capital funding and prior year capital projects that is carried forward this compromises 76 percent of Enterprise Funds budget and capital expenditure. On our right we see the breakdown between different departments and the biggest component is wastewater at 72 percent. Now, we stand for any questions or any comment from the public. Simison: Thank you. Council, any questions for staff? Mr. Clerk, anyone signed up to provide testimony on this item? Johnson: Yes. Jennifer Saxton. And I don't believe she's here. Simison: Not seeing anyone. Is there anybody in the audience who would like to come forward or online to provide testimony on this item? Good evening, Terry. Dennington: Yes. My name is Terry Dennington and I reside at 4581 West Big Creek Street in Meridian. Mayor and Council Members, I just wanted to address you and thank staff Jenny and Mr. Lavoie and Ricardo for all of the things that they provide, so that I can understand exactly how this budget works, what you guys are having to look at, all of the different divisions. It's very -- it's really interesting. I wish more people were here and actually taking a part of this and seeing exactly how the monies are being spent and the process that staff and all of you have to go through to try and come up with a decision on how you are going to spend people's money. So, I just wanted to thank you for that, for all of their help, the things that they provide and thank you guys for all the work that you do. I really appreciate that. Thank you so much. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 7 of 61 Simison: Thank you, Terry. Is there anybody else who would like to provide testimony on this item? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Not seeing anyone showing a willingness to provide any additional public testimony, move we close the public hearing for the City of Meridian Fiscal Year 2026 proposed budget. Strader: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. Is there any discussion? If not all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the public hearing is closed. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Simison: So, next steps? Would you like to discuss those? Fields: Sorry. Stopped sharing. Okay. Next steps. We will be working with the Legal Department on our final ordinance that will be presented. Our target date right now is September 2nd Council meeting. So, you will see a formal ordinance in front of you. Simison: Mr. Nary, do we need to take a motion in order to get the ordinance with an actual number? Okay. So, it just said public notice amount, so I want to make sure. Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. Just a quick question. The public notice amount was a slightly higher than the final number that I believe I saw. So, you know, about a difference of a little bit over 10,000 dollars. Will the final ordinance be the 264,498,131 or will it be the 264,484,996 dollars? Fields: Our public -- what we show on the papers is the same amount as this. Simison: Is what? Fields: Is the same amount as the -- what's on the screen. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 8 of 61 Strader: Yeah. That would make sense to me that it would be -- if there is a discrepancy it would be the higher number. But I thought I saw a different number on a different slide. It could have been me. Possible. Maybe I'm off on that. Fields: Yep. There we go. Okay. Our apologies. The public notice is the correct amount. So, this is the correct amount that we will be publishing on our L-2. So, our apologies. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Got it. And do you need an -- do you need a motion to approve or is this going to come back via an ordinance? Sorry I'm being -- Fields: That's okay. Strader: Spell it out for me, please. Fields: It's going to come back as a formal ordinance for you guys to formally approve. Strader: Thank you. Simison: Councilman -- Mr. Nary. Nary: Members of the Council, does it -- taking a motion to approve this publishing number or is this the number you already published? I guess that's what I was -- Fields: It's the number we already published. Nary: Already published. Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Simison: And that's why I thought. I thought that they needed to publish a number, so -- okay. Okay. Thank you very much. 3. Public Hearing for Gramercy Townhomes (H-2025-0019) by Elton Development Company, located at 1873, 1925 and 2069 Wells Ave. A. Request: Rezone of 6.98 acres of land from the C-G zone to the TN-R zone. B. Request: Preliminary Plat for 82 buildable lots and 8 common lots. C. Request: Development Agreement Modification to establish a new concept plan and remove the age restriction on the property. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 9 of 61 Simison: All right. With that we will move on to Item 3, which is a public hearing for H- 2025-0019. We will open this public hearing with staff comments. Good evening, Nick. It's nice to see you. Napoli: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council. Just give me one second. I apologize. All right. So, next item on the agenda is the rezone, preliminary plat and development agreement modification for the Gramercy Townhomes. So, the applicant is requesting a rezone of 6.98 acres of land from the C-G zoning district to the TN-R zone, a preliminary plat for 82 buildable lots and eight common lots and a development agreement modification to establish a new concept plan and remove the age restriction on the property. The site is located at 1873, 1925 and 2069 Wells Avenue. As shown on the screen the existing zoning is C-G and the FLUM designation is mixed-use regional. In 2021 the subject properties were approved for a multi-family development consisting of 164 age restricted units on 5.24 acres of land. The top parcel up here was not a part of that application. However, the applicant has cited due to a change in demand for the project the project was not viable, which is why they are back asking for an amendment to that agreement. The subject properties fall within the mixed-use regional future land use designation. The intent of the mixed-use regional designation is to provide a mix of employment, retail and residential dwelling and public uses near major arterial intersections. The mixed-use regional designation should make up between ten and 30 percent of the total development area, with gross residential densities ranging from six to 40 units per acre and the mixed-use regional area located in the southwest corner of Eagle Road and Overland Road encompasses approximately 165.2 acres. Of that total roughly 25.1 percent of the mixed-use regional area in this quadrant is residential, which does align with the Comprehensive -- Comprehensive Plan's vision and density targets. This is the rezone map and this is the concept plan. The proposed development plan depicts 82 townhomes with -- within the traditional neighborhood zoning as the single use for the subject properties. The TN-R zoning requires two different types of housing and staff finds that the surrounding garden style apartments, single family detached and townhomes provide the mix of units desired in the area, which is why a single product is being proposed with this application. The proposed townhomes range in size from 1 ,650 square feet to 1 ,750 square feet with three and four bedroom units. The net density for the development exceeds the minimum net density of six units per dwelling per the TN-R standards and the net density is 19 units per acre. In addition to the townhomes, the development planned depicts a .6 acre commons open space with parkways, on-street parking and alleys. The applicant has provided an internal pathway that connects from the ten foot multi- use pathway on the southern boundary to help residents connect with Mountain View High School, as well as Gordon Harris Park to the south. The project exceeds open space requirements providing 18.8 percent against the 15 percent that's required in the UDC. Amenities include a large central open space and a dog waste station totaling 3.5 amenity points, well above the one that's required. Each townhome includes four parking spaces and there are 46 guest spaces that are also provided throughout the community in the form of parking on the open space and on-street parking. Access is proposed via three private drive aisle connections. One to the north connecting to an existing drive aisle and commercial property and two to the east that connect the south Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 10 of 61 of Wells Avenue. These drive aisles are currently not named and are considered commercial drive aisles. However, the applicant is proposing to add six private streets in the development that require a minimum of one connection to a public street. Staff has discussed this with the applicant, has determined the southern connection on the eastern boundary would be the best as it aligns with Blue Horizon on the east side of Wells Avenue and this will take coordination with neighboring property owners to name that existing drive aisle, as it is currently a commercial drive aisle and that would be this one -- this drive aisle right here. The applicant will be submitting a private street application with the final plat. They just need to work with those neighboring property owners, which they have indicated will not be an issue at this time. And the applicant has indicated that the build out timeline for the development depends on demand. However, they anticipate the -- the development -- the project developing in five phases with the first phase consisting of the large open space and the amenities and roads, as well as the homes that front on the open space. So, they are proposing these elevations within the development agreement. There may be some color variations that come with the design review process. However, this will be the standard elevation. It is 39 feet 11 inches, which is under the 40 feet that is the restriction in the TN-R zone and to note with that, the neighboring surrounding properties -- I can go back to the beginning and show you. So, this is -- these -- these are office buildings that surround here. They are all one story with -- some of them have parapets that appear to be two- story that exceed around 25 feet in height. The townhomes to the south are two-story townhomes that have a rough height around 25 to 28 feet. So, these will be a little bit taller in the area. However, they are within the UDC guidelines for the TN-R zone. So, the Planning and Zoning Commission did recommend approval as presented in the staff report on this project. And we have not received any written testimony since the Commission hearing and I will stand for any questions you guys have. Simison: Okay. Thank you, Nick. Counsel, any questions for staff? Would the applicant like to come forward. Good evening. Chittester: Hi. How are you? My name is Mike Chittester. 7174 South Angel Way here in Meridian. Happy to be here before you today representing Elton Development. We are a Meridian based company. Our office overlooks this site, so we live it every day and happy to be here to talk about this project. I will speak and then -- and go over -- do an overview of the project and, then, I'm going to ask Hethe Clark, who is our development attorney, to speak to a couple of -- of technical issues when I conclude. As we have discussed, this is a project where we would bring 82 townhomes to this area. I want to speak just briefly about -- briefly just about our company. We are a development company again based here in Meridian. We have done a number of multi- family projects, residential projects. We do some senior living projects as well. That gives you a little bit of background on us. As far -- I wanted to give you just a little bit of history on this site. We -- we have been -- the Elton Companies have been looking at the site for quite a while. First in 2014 and '15 this was actually a candidate site for the New South Meridian YMCA. St. Luke's and the Y, just as -- as they have done at the Tomlinson Center, they were looking at partnering and Elton Companies was interested at that time in locating senior housing adjacent to it to have elderly, you know, around Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 11 of 61 healthcare and exercise and so in 2014 and '15 this was exercised as a potential and that's where our company's focus began on the site. Between 2016 and '19 there was really no active development there. The Y and -- and St. Luke's moved on. No real active development. The parcels were still owned by St. Luke's, the Y, and, then, there was a charter school that owned one of the sites. In 2020 we began looking at -- our company began looking at an active adult senior housing community there. We -- we got very far into the project, but market forces changed the dynamic and -- and we decided that we needed to move on from -- from that project. And, then, in '23 and -- you know, really since that time, late 2022 we have been looking at a number of different projects here. We have looked at office, medical office, flex industrial, destination retail -- a lot of things and -- and what we have run into consistently is -- is what you will see here with the site, you know, that red line you see there is a principal arterial, that's Overland Road. Great access and connection through the city. The blue line is Wells Avenue and there is a light there and so there is still -- it's a -- it's a small collector, but it still can serve fairly well. But these sites are -- as you can see they are just landlocked and so with almost every use we have had it just -- we have run into the issue of visibility and access and, you know, it doesn't look too far away there, but the closest you are from Wells Avenue on the east side is 210 feet and the closest you are from Gala to the north is about 300 and so this has just been a tough thing to try and find a commercial use for and that's the big concern generally when you are taking a commercial use to a residential use is -- is you -- you lose that commercial property. I -- I share these -- these last few slides with you just to say we have worked really hard to look at commercial uses and a number of uses and -- and we have just -- it's been difficult to find that and so that's how we have arrived at -- at what we think can still be a great project that can complement Gramercy. This is the -- as you have seen before a colored rendering that gives you a little bit better idea of what's happening here. North is to your left here on -- on this image and south is to your right. To speak to some of the -- the things that we worked to as we went through design to -- to make this a good community, I think the soul of this property is we were able to find room for that -- you know, that 20 -- it's about 26,000 square foot open area. A lot of grass. A lot of place for people to move around and along that we have -- we know people like pets, so we put a number of pet amenities in the community as well. We worked hard to get on- street parking. As -- as was mentioned we meet code with our -- with our units and the garages, but we all know that for visitors and deliveries, et cetera, having on-street parking is -- is helpful. We -- we -- that red line you see through the property is the -- is what we -- wanted to have a central connection for all of the townhomes to make it to that central amenity and, then, also to connect to the ten foot regional pathway that goes throughout the city and I think a very -- thing you don't notice about this site is if you do get to the southwest you have got about a three minute walk to Gordon Harris Park, which is kind of a hidden gem in -- in -- in this area of -- of Meridian, so -- so, that speaks to what we have tried to do to make this a community that would be a nice place to live. This is a -- this is the -- the rendering of the homes. Again colors and some things we will -- we will work out through design review. These are -- are intended to be for sale product, as opposed to for rent. Again, three and four bedroom models. Three stories. The three story concept -- in this development we had to work within existing roadways, so it wasn't a blank slate and -- and because of that there -- it was difficult to Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 12 of 61 do a two-story townhome with -- with the area we had and so we were going with a three story model, which we -- we still feel can be very successful and if you want an idea of -- of what is going to come here, this is a project that our principals worked on in -- in Garden City called Parkway Station. This is the -- the -- sort of the basis of our design -- our starting point for what we are trying to do here, so this is very big if -- it depends on who you ask in our office if the doors will be those colors or not, but, otherwise, this is a -- a good representation of -- of the project and I will let -- I'm going to step aside for Hethe. Clark: You know I couldn't stay quiet, right, everybody? Hethe Clark. 251 East Front Street in Boise representing the applicant and I just kind of wanted to add a little bit more, because I know over the years of being here, you know, we are always a little bit concerned about taking something out of C-G and so I just wanted to add a little bit more to that. So, this is a snapshot from the Comprehensive Plan. It's speaking to the mixed-use regional. This is my own little bit of private protest on the right. You know, that -- with mixed-use regional where we tend to just look at the areas that are bounded by the roadways. I wanted to put both sides on there, so you can kind of see that that mixed-use regional node has a great deal of commercial that's already been developed and, as Nick mentioned, that with this project it takes it to 25 percent, which is right -- you know, within what we are trying to get in terms of the residential use that's going to be on this site. So, this proposal to go with TN-R is based on the -- on discussions that we have had with staff. You can see that TN-R is actually already existing just south of the project. So, it actually provides for an additional buffer from the residential uses to continue up to the C-G. So, we think it's a good fit and it adds to that overall mix of types of -- of housing in the Gramercy area. The -- we are very confident that there is not going to be an issue with the continuation of the public roads there. I just add that the Gramercy development is subject to a development agreement that requires cross- access and cross-parking and the applicant has always had a very good relationship with the Gramercy developer. I represent the Gramercy developer, so I have worked on this for a long time. So, that is not something that's going to be an issue and so just wrapping up, I -- I did want to just emphasize that the applicant really did work very hard on this. I was able to go to a couple of the pre-annexation -- or, excuse me, pre- application meetings and one of the things that they did was to flip that central MEW lot, that was originally going to be on the south and at staff's suggestion they were able to flip it into the middle, make it all work very nicely and so I think this is a good -- a good change and we would ask for your approval and Mike and I are happy to answer any questions that you might have. Simison: Thank you. Council, any questions for the applicant? Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor. Keith or Mike, I don't know who wants to address this. If the office is close, then, you know what happens when the parents are lined up to pick up Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 13 of 61 the kids from Gem Prep, because I come out on to Blue Horizon and, then, down Wells and it's packed. Chittester: So, we met with -- it -- it absolutely is. We -- we see that every day and it creates quite a lineup that goes down to Blue Horizon. It goes up Wells a little bit, turns into the site. So, we -- we -- the main -- the main person who -- is who is concerned about that was the Goddard School, which is the -- the building to the south -- south most. And so we -- we met with him a number of times and talked about, you know, what is the traffic impact going to be and so we didn't really have to -- I mean this wasn't part of the application, but we actually -- we did a -- we had Keller and Associates -- I wanted to be able to tell the school this is actually what's going to happen and it's not me just saying, oh, everything's going to be fine. So, we had them do a -- a traffic -- sort of a limited traffic study that looked at the a.m. and p.m. peak hour traffic and -- because he wanted to know what's going to happen at that exact intersection that you spoke of and so we -- we had them look at that and the peak hour traffic will be -- p.m. peak hour traffic would be 60 -- I think it's 67 -- 69 total cars and, then, those get distributed. There are actually four exits you can take from the site, to Gala, three of those private drives. And so it -- it turns out that if you -- if you see down here at the bottom where it says Goddard Drive in the p.m. peak hour, which is the most active, about 20 cars would -- would be arriving at that and so the Goddard school felt like, okay, that's one every two -- couple minutes, three minutes, that's going to be manageable. It will still -- I don't know what to do about Gem Prep. I -- I just don't, because it creates an issue. We were able to work with the school in Boise, regional -- who is -- who is north of the school also. Just help them feel like this is not overwhelming traffic and, to be honest with you, if this were a medical office the rate would be three or four times; right? Or -- or office. This is actually a fairly low use. Does that help? I can't -- I can't fix Gem Prep. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Little Roberts. Little Roberts: It does. I appreciate the study. I don't know -- I don't know if Captain Leslie's got anything to add to this, if the police ever help. I don't know if once -- what is it Fierce Cheer gets built if there is a way to run the traffic through there. I mean I just thought maybe we could just all kind of brainstorm on what can be done about that since we are going to have construction traffic and other things added to it with this coming up. Clark: Sure. And, obviously, very mindful of that. The other thing I would just point out, too -- and it's not a one to one -- or 50 percent reduction, but I would just ask the Council to also keep in mind that there is a previous entitlement on it. It was for 164 active adult type units. So, it's not going to go down by half in terms of the traffic because of that, but it is -- already has an entitlement for roughly twice the number of units. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 14 of 61 Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: So, in -- I believe in 2021 the City Council approved an age restricted multi- family development here and I have been kind of comparing these. One of the struggles for me is Mountain View High School is clearly way over capacity. The schools here are very stressed. I understand that district wide there is not the same dynamic, but it still creates an acute issue in south Meridian. So, I would like you to speak to that. I have questions about the driveway width and understanding why those are deviating from our typical standards and what the justification is for that and, then, do have some other ones, but I will briefly mention -- unfortunately -- not your fault, but we have had other projects -- and you may have heard from one of those neighbors that testified during the public forum where we have had some major quality of life issues happening during construction unfortunately on some projects that are in my district and that has kind of led our City Council to have a lot of discussions about requesting from developers a dust mitigation plan of some sort. You are right next to a school. So, to me like this is a more acute situation here, because if you have a lot of dust happening it's going to affect the kids. So, I just want to give you a chance to chew on that, because that might be a new topic for you heading into Meridian, but, unfortunately, because of some very bad circumstances that we are having in my district now this is going to potentially start affecting other developers. So, I just wanted to throw that out there. But if you don't mind talking for now about the -- the school concerns and driveway with that would really help me. Thank you. Clark: Council Member Strader, so on the -- with regard to the schools, the -- I will just start by saying Pepperidge is the elementary school, Lewis and Clark is the middle school. Both have plenty of capacity. With regard to Mountain View High School, the -- the -- the -- the city's anticipated generation of students is -- I think it was 19 across all age group -- across elementary -- excuse me -- middle and high school. So, we are talking about a relatively minor impact over the course of the build out, which was probably five to seven years. Something like that. Yeah. And, then, that goes along with what we have discussed in a number of other hearings that we have had where overall the -- the enrollment at in West Ada has -- overall over the last couple years reduced and, then, as we look at the -- the difference between the number of first graders, as compared to the number of high school students, it's a significant reduction between first grade and high school. So, we anticipate that -- I don't know this, because West Ada is -- as you know is a little bit quiet in terms of what their specific plans are, but as we all know they -- they look at busing, they look at redistricting, they look at portables before they build and we anticipate that that's part of that dynamic. But, again, this is a very -- as these projects go we are talking about maybe ten high school students over the course of a five to seven year build out, so we think it's manageable. I will let Mike take the -- the driveway. Chittester: Yeah. When -- when we were working with staff one of the things you -- you may see, if there is an alley load, is it's a sea of concrete if -- if you don't have some Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 15 of 61 way to sort of break it up and so it was a staff suggestion to create some sort of physical barrier of a planter strip, a rock -- something along those lines to create some variation or -- or kind of denotes where one begins and one stops and breaks it up a little bit and so it's -- they are the same -- that -- that's the origin of that and, you know, we would be very concerned if we felt like that, you know, made it so you couldn't park a truck there, because there are going to be trucks there right from a sale -- being able to sell it. But we feel like it -- it will be a -- a feature that will -- will help break up those -- those long islands of concrete that you get on the alley load, so -- Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just from a practical perspective -- I don't know if you have a picture somewhere -- but how many -- how many vehicles can you fit in the driveway and, then, if there is a car garage in the garage? I --just because a lot of people use their garages now, unfortunately, for storage, it's human behavior, we can't stop it. I just want to make sure we are not going to have a huge parking issue, because -- and I will just say like I hate private streets. I have hated them for a long time and my feelings about them have not changed. So, help walk me through that, please. Chittester: Yeah. In terms of -- you are -- you are totally right. We know what happens in garages. That's -- that's the -- that's for sure something that happens. We have space -- you know, there are -- if you want to go to developments that are going to be very similar in Meridian you can go to Pine 43, you know, some others and -- and the garages we have been in them, we have measured them, they are -- they are the same. They are very typical for the townhome product. If you have got two F-350s it's going to be a little tight. It -- it really will. But I -- I feel like we are similar to other -- other products that seem to be functioning. There -- there is room for two cars, you know, in the garage and, again we -- we -- the -- one of the reasons we work to try and incorporate 40 something of the off-street parking was to help with some of that congestion that could well happen and so I -- I -- I think what we are doing is really what's seen in the valley. I don't think it's -- it's too different and it should fit, you know, three to four vehicles pretty comfortably. There will be people that will use their garage for something else and -- and if there is a -- you know, if someone's abusing that there will be -- it will be a neighborhood issue that will have to be handled through the HOA. Does that help? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I guess how -- how many vehicles can -- do you think you can fit in each garage and in each driveway? Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 16 of 61 Chittester: Two in the garages for sure. No -- really you can fit four. The depth is about 20 -- 1 don't have my plans in front of me, but over 20 feet from the garage. The garage is -- you can fit two cars in there. You know, so I'm -- these are not so small that I -- I don't feel like my wife and I could get our cars in there, so -- it's not as spacious as a large home, you know, but there is room for two cars in the garage and -- and certainly in the driveway. Two in the driveway. Two in the -- in the garage. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Mike, can you -- I think you kind of touched at least on the -- on the impact of the schools, but the decision to move from an age restricted product to -- to something for everybody and -- and the -- the reason why I ask is, you know, I supported this when it came before us the first time, simply because of the age restricted element, due to the -- not only to the impact on our schools, but the impact on -- onto Overland and no matter how you cut it your residence, when they need to get where they need to go, are likely going to have to use Overland and so those are -- those are two big barriers for me to overcome and I'm just trying to understand kind of the rationale behind moving away from that. Chittester: Yeah. There is no one in the room who is more disappointed that that didn't happen than -- than us. We spent two years and a lot of capital in that project. The -- what happened is during that time the -- the amount of inflation that happened over a -- really almost a 12 month period. Cost went almost up 40 to 50 percent during the development and even between the time we permitted it -- you know, we started permitting and -- and went out to bid. So, it's both that and, then, I think Idaho has found more resistance to senior living that is apartments. There -- the Bri at The Village, which is not too far away, beautiful property, well done by Brighton, struggled for a long time and I think it's just now filling up. It began in 2020, which was a tough time to sell a senior housing property. So, we -- it just -- the market demand was not there for it. The costs went a lot higher than -- than anyone anticipated, including our contractor, so we -- we put a lot of heart and soul into that and I would love to see that project there. But, yeah, it just -- it just wasn't a feasible project. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, just -- Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Mike, I -- I -- I'm sorry to hear that part, too, and, you know, I think I am -- I am generally supportive of the rezone, but I'm not in support of it -- you know, removing the DA provision to keep this age restricted. So, I wanted to give you an opportunity to respond about kind of what your thoughts -- you said that a for rent product isn't sufficient. You mentioned in your description that this is a for sale product and certainly you guys are creative and can build a for sale age restricted product that would, you know, keep minimal impact on our schools and minimal impacts on our roads and just Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 17 of 61 help me understand kind of why -- as creative as you guys are -- that -- that type of process, that kind of product isn't going to work. Chittester: Yeah. The -- the biggest issue with -- with -- even a townhome product is -- is stairs, you know, and -- and so for an age restricted property to -- to have two stairs is a lot. Like I mentioned, one of the issues you have with a -- with a two story townhome is you need the length -- excuse me -- you need the length to be a little bit more so you can fit more on two levels. We didn't have that in -- in the north and south sections and so we -- we chose to go the three stories. Three story age restricted would -- would just be out of the question. Cavener: I agree with you. Chittester: Yeah. So, I mean if you are -- that -- that really is the -- as far as the age restriction goes that -- that's the biggest challenge. What you are going to at that point is patio homes, right, where everyone wants everything on one level. Cavener: I guess, Mr. Mayor, I guess that's what I would expect to see. Certainly I don't expect somebody, you know, that's more seasoned in age to want a -- a three story townhouse. Again, why I was surprised to see kind of three story townhouses. So, just trying to be upfront with you. I think this is for me going to be a very big hurdle to overcome simply because the age restriction. It's just going to be too much for our schools and too much for our roads. Clark: Council Member Cavener, if I could just respond to that. The -- again, with regard to the schools, the evidence in the record shows that there is a cap of capacity for both elementary and middle school. It also shows that there is minimal impact on -- on Mountain View. So, I just want to be clear on that. With regard to traffic, it's actually a reduction from what the original is. So, from -- from that -- I just want to be clear on that. The -- there is a couple of other elements I think that go to -- I think what some of the -- the suggestions that you are making. One is that, again, this is mixed-use regional and TN-R -- we are talking six to 40 in terms of -- of density. So, if we went to a patio home -- patio home type project we would be -- we wouldn't be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan any longer and, then, I think just the other issue of requiring an age restriction raises a number of other potential legal questions when it comes to -- Cavener: Mr. Mayor. I'm going to interrupt you, though. You guys asked for that. Clark: No. I understand. Cavener: Oh. So, we agreed to what you are asking and now you are asking to change things. So, I just -- I'm going to stop you right there with any implications. Okay? That's -- that's not appropriate. You guys asked for this and we granted it and now you are asking for a change; correct? Clark: We are asking for a change as I -- Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 18 of 61 Cavener: Thank you. Clark: Thanks. Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Just curious a little bit more about the -- the for sale product. In looking at the schematics here are we talking for sale for the -- like the -- the six -- six-plex unit -- like you are selling the entire unit? Are you talking about individual townhomes, even though they are going to be -- it looks like established in separate building types? Chittester: Yeah. Individual, though. It will be platted as individual for sale to -- to individuals and that's the way we are looking at it, you know, in terms of working with realtors, et cetera, to get the right market value, et cetera. It happens -- sometimes it will happen that someone may come and say I want to buy this six-plex. That's not out of the question. But that's -- it's not the intent and the way it will be platted. Taylor: Mr. Mayor, quick follow up. Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Just to kind of clarify. So, will all of the buildings be six-plexes or is there going to be four-plex, six-plex, three -- like -- provide me a sense of that. Chittester: Yeah. Five, six, seven and eight there -- three will be. Yeah. The north where it's skinnier I think they are five. In the center there is a seven and an eight next to each other. Taylor: Mr. Mayor, just one follow-up question. Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Did you explore making kind of a bottom level retail with some housing on top instead of just strictly residential? I'm kind of curious what -- some of the other options that you looked at, because certainly I can appreciate the fact that having lack of visibility from the street like really hurt some of the commercial, but was there any -- was there any look at how to maybe integrate those a little bit more in that? And I'm kind of curious what your -- what you found when you looked at that if you did. Chittester: Yeah. The -- the floor plan for these works very well for a home -- a home office scenario. On the bottom floor you essentially have a garage and, then, a bedroom with a bathroom. It -- but a lot of people would use that potentially as a -- as a home office or somewhere they could go and -- and work. We are doing both three and four bedroom models and the four bedroom models is intended, so on the top floor you Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 19 of 61 would have, you know, a principal bedroom and, then, two others. So, you could kind of fit a few kids and -- and parents up there and still have an option for downstairs. We have gone away -- and I -- I'm going to speak I think for Bill that we have kind of tried to go away -- and I don't think the city likes the live -- live-work -- to call it that and -- because, then, it brings in -- and it can bring in issues for buyers, because, then, they are saying -- banks says is this a commercial property or a residential property. So, we have moved away from calling it live-work, anything like that, but it does work very well. There are also issues with -- if you are -- if you have a business in there, traffic, people coming in, number of visits, et cetera. So, it works very well for someone who is looking to work from home. Could see someone doing that on a limited basis. We have held back from calling it live-work for some of those issues. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: You won't understand why I'm asking this question, but in the presentation could you tell me are they all going to be a pitch style roof? Not roofs -- nothing on top? Chittester: Pitch style roof. Yes. Nothing on top. Overton: Thank you. Simison: Council, additional questions for the applicant at this time? Okay. Thank you very much. Chittester: Thank you. Simison: Mr. Clerk, anyone signed up to provide testimony on this item? Johnson: Mr. Mayor, there are none. Simison: Okay. Is there anybody present who would like to provide testimony on this item? There is nobody online in -- in the -- in the -- providing testimony area. So, I guess I will -- Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I would -- I know that we have got Kelly on from ACHD and was curious if, Kelly, you could weigh in what Overland's rated between Eagle and Locust Grove. I believe it's better than D, but I can't recall and it's -- it wasn't notated in any report that we received from ACHD. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 20 of 61 Kelly: Mr. Mayor, city councilors, give me just a moment to look that up. I should be able to find that pretty quickly. Give me just a moment and I will chime back in. I will raise my hand. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: While we are waiting for that I would just comment -- which is like I actually really love those live-work units. Like I think they are very innovative. But, you know, I -- they don't work everywhere, so I -- I don't know if using them with a development that has private streets is a great idea, for example. I'm not sure that combination works super well, but I -- I don't know where you have heard that we don't like those. I -- I wouldn't say that's the case, at least in my experience. I think those are pretty innovative and kind of a nice way to try to address getting additional commercial out of this type of an area. So, I'm just going to throw that out there. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: While he is looking the applicant has -- I know that the generation that we provided is from the summer, which I would assume is the '24, '25 enrollment. I know West Ada has reported an increase in enrollment in '25, '26, as opposed to '24. We don't expect you to have updated data, but if they have provided that to you and it's somehow different or more favorable than what we were provided for a '24, '25, 1 would be open to reviewing that information. Clark: -- in the presentation for next -- the next application. So, if -- if we can pull that -- I -- if we have a second I can pull that up. Cavener: Yeah. That would be great. Can you -- Clark: Yeah. I can pull up the next one. We just looked it up the other day. And for fear of stepping -- or putting my foot in my mouth again on the -- on the conversation we had earlier, one of the differences here is this is for sale product and it's more of a question of enforcement on our part later on for people who are going to own those privately, rather than having a multi-family project that we control in its entirety. That was the point I was trying to make, not to -- to create an issue there. So, this is -- these are the most recent counts that we could find. So, '24, '25 was 38,618. Today what we found is 38,220. This is from the city's -- or excuse me -- from West Ada's website. And, then, you can see the kind of overall trend on the -- on the right over the last several years. So, hopefully, that answers your question, Council Member Cavener. Cavener: Thank you. That's -- I -- I know the West Ada put out a release that indicated a slight increase in enrollment. So, it's interesting now that their -- their website isn't Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 21 of 61 reflective of that. I don't know if maybe IT and Coms weren't on the same page, but that's -- this is helpful. Clark: Yeah. We -- we spent a lot of time thinking about this and trying to track it down as you know, so -- Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Just to point to the same conversation, Councilman Cavener, but West Ada just reported their fourth straight loss in enrollment four years in a row this last week. So, their numbers have continued to drop over the past four years. Clark: And that -- this was the bar chart that I mentioned previously where you can see the difference between first graders and 12th graders and there is a difference of about 915 right now between first graders and 12th graders. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: You have a crystal ball. I don't know how in tune it is. You don't have the updated slide that shows numbers specifically for Mountain View do you? Clark: I do -- well, I don't have -- they don't have anything as far as I'm aware -- how did I do the wrong one? Let's see. I don't -- I apologize for that. This -- this was focused on the other project. Simison: Kelly, were you able to find the information? Kelly: Mr. Mayor, Councilors, I have the traffic counts. I'm having trouble finding and verifying whether that met level of service thresholds. So, it's been -- to be quite honest it's been a little while since I have looked up this information, so I'm trying to kind of refresh my memory on where to get those thresholds. So, I apologize for that. Give me just a minute and I can chime in when need be. It's 1 ,500 trips in the p.m. peak hour, which should be well within. However, I don't want to give you a should be. So, give me just another minute and I will get back with you. Thank you. Simison: Kelly, I don't know that we heard that very well. The sound was very light. Could you repeat it clearly into your microphone? Kelly- Yes. Mr. Mayor, City Councilors, apologies for that. I have found the traffic counts. I'm having trouble locating the -- the thresholds for the level of services. It has been, quite frankly, a long time since I have looked at these, so I need to refresh my memory as far as what those thresholds are, so I will continue searching for those. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 22 of 61 Sorry to keep you guys on the hook, but give me just another minute and I will have an answer for you. Thank you. Simison: Nick may have the answer. Nick? Napoli: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, so this isn't for this project, because they were proposing private streets. However, I do have a current application that I'm processing that's just down Overland on the other side of Eagle Road and it is better than E. The p.m. peak hour traffic count for the -- for Overland Road is 1 ,254. 1 don't know if that matches up with what you were looking at, Kelly, but is a p.m. peak hour level of service is better than E for a project that's half a mile down the road. Kelly: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, City Councilors, Nick is correct there as far as those traffic counts. That matches what I have. Simison: Okay. Thank you very much, Kelly. So, we haven't officially called you back up, but I guess we are calling the applicant back up for any final comments. So, we can at least have that officially on the record and, then, continue the -- the conversation. Clark: I'm happy to answer any other questions or look for reinforcements. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just because I'm curious and this has been a big topic, I would be curious about your dust control plan, what that would look like during construction. Again, because you are right next to a school -- Chittester: Yeah. Great point. We fight this on -- on every project and most everyone's probably been impacted by it with all the growth in the community. It's something that we would -- we would work with -- with the highway district and -- and we -- I don't -- but we don't have that developed today; right? We just -- we are not there yet. With the approvals, then, we will finalize our -- our construction plans and we have a contractor on board, but understanding the importance to the Council we would be happy to work with staff, you know, if -- if there was a -- a condition to work with staff to have someone review a -- a dust mitigation plan that's good. But it's just not something we would have developed at this stage of the project. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I -- I kind of just want to preview for you -- maybe workshop a bit what I would have in mind and I'm not sure that dust is really what this project is about for me, but I think it would be a requirement in our development agreement and the findings that you Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 23 of 61 would submit a dust control plan to our staff for approval and, then, you would need to adhere to that plan. So, it would be enforceable by us. So, if you weren't following the approved plan, you know, you might end up with like a stop work order or something like that. Chittester: I don't have any concerns with that. Again, we -- we are on the site and so we are going to -- and -- and Craig Johnson, Taylor Merrill, the folks who own Gramercy are in the building next to us. We know them well. And so I think everyone will be very interested in doing that. I have no concern with a condition like that. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. And I mean it would just be helpful I think to know like would that include, you know, using a water truck, you know -- Chittester: Frequencies and those -- Strader: Right. Chittester: Sure. Strader: Yeah. Chittester: Absolutely. It's a -- a typical -- like a safety plan. Sure. Strader: You know, I actually never wanted to have to regulate this and I -- I think still we are really struggling with that and -- and our Council I don't think has even arrived at a -- at a conclusion about what we are doing on it, but it has been a major issue unfortunately and -- and that's kind of how this works sometimes is the problem projects unfortunately when they are unresolved for a long period of time end up driving where we have to go, which is unfortunate. Chittester: Yeah. Not a good use of your time, but -- Strader: Yeah. Chittester: -- totally understand. Strader: But unfortunately necessary. Thank you. Chittester: Sure. Simison: So, I -- I just want to say from my perspective next -- I don't know how much Councilman Cavener spends his time over there. I know Council Woman Little Robert Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 24 of 61 spends -- I mean I spend a fair amount of time in this area. My favorite restaurant is in this area. I have got good friends that own buildings in this area and spend time sometimes just hanging out with them in this location. So, I -- I -- I feel like I see a lot of it, you know. Got kids that to go to Mountain View. I come up, I see the impacts, a lot of that, but, ultimately, I think this is the right move in this direction and that's -- I get that from talking to the businesses in that area. If you go back to Gramercy Way, I think I was working for the city when the overall approvals for that project existed, but talking to the businesses, with the shared parking, it was clear that this was intended to be an area where people get out of their cars and walk and, frankly, there is not that many places like Gramercy that have the integration of multiple types of commercial all right there in one area and, you know, it's important that we have the residential components to do that. Gramercy Park, the restaurant, they have been waiting for years for the apartments on the other side of Overland to open. You know, some days I think that they were praying that that was -- you know, how they were going to stay afloat was getting more residential units around them to have that walking capacity, because, frankly, the parking is some of the biggest challenges they face because of the school, you know, or because of others that tried to close off their parking to them and we had to go through an effort to make sure people understood. Gramercy was designed to be different. Gramercy was designed to be a place where people would come and live and walk to access commercial services through that area and when I look at that area it's kind of funny, I actually think this is the least busy part of the entire project. You know, definitely going to Mountain View is -- you know, you got cars lining both sides of the street accessing all those office buildings in that area up by the school at two times during the day is definitely a different level of congestion, you know, and -- but, then, really, you go out through the rest of the project, it's people cutting through to trying to cut off Overland to get over to Eagle Road to avoid the -- the corner. It's not even really, you know, traffic generated within the project that is creating some of the traffic congestion -- and I say congestion loosely. I -- it doesn't -- when I leave from Empire Title building area I go that direction to get out to Eagle or I go the other direction, just depends if I want to avoid Mountain View or do I want to avoid Eagle Road. It's not because I want to avoid Overland. Frankly, getting out onto Overland at that light can sometimes take forever. So, that's what I'm avoiding more than I'm avoiding anything else. But I just think that -- I understand the -- the challenges that have happened with the past project that I think everyone really loved the look and feel. It was going to be a first internally parked. You weren't going to have this large parking lot in the middle -- or around like we do most of our other things and that's what I think that really attracted people to this project, but we -- but we get it. I think everyone understands that sometimes things don't pencil. But, ultimately, I think the reduction in units and as well as the overall use in that area, this is a positive outcome in the situation and I don't know that commercial in its -- would make -- ever make sense here. Office. Maybe. But having the beds and the heads I think has a greater value and impact to our restaurants in that area and some of our other service providers, so -- just want to say that. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 25 of 61 Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I am pretty concerned about the point that Council Woman Little Roberts brought up, which is the -- basically construction traffic management near Gem Prep. Have you all thought about whether there is some kind of a plan you could put in place to help mitigate that, maybe what times people are leaving the site? It sounds like it is a pretty acute concern. Chittester: Yeah. I -- I think that makes sense. It -- it does -- you know, for the -- for the pick-up times it -- it -- you -- you really just have one fewer lane of traffic, because you have got people parked as they are, you know, snaking up to get -- to get to the school. I don't think it's -- you know, I haven't seen a lot of danger, but it definitely makes you feel when you are driving there you feel like it's tight. I -- I feel like -- I mean we have been meeting with Rick Appell from the school with Cameron from Boise Regional Realtors. We know the owners, Taylor Merrill and Greg Johnson, while we are in that area, so I think that makes a lot of sense and we are -- we want to make that work for everyone and, if not, we will be, you know, hearing about it. So, we are happy to meet with them and try and -- and -- and see what we can do. I'm just trying to think of the times of day. You know, construction usually is kind of a 7:00 to 3:00 type -- type thing and so there may be some congestion, but I think it's a good idea to -- to plan around that to try and avoid that -- really it's the afternoon that I think is the most -- most significant. Simison: Yeah. And I -- I would even argue this -- this -- coming in -- you can come anytime in on that road at any point in time, entering the site. It's exiting the site and, you know, from -- from a safety perspective, not knowing where the people work or what type of vehicles will come in, do you want them exiting the light or would you want them exiting going around and going at a place where there is not a light? Chittester: It's -- it's really pushing the maybe north to Gala to leave the site, as opposed to going out onto Wells to get -- you know. So, there -- there are ways to do that. Simison: Yeah. Yeah. Council, any additional questions, comments, thoughts? Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: If there is no more public testimony, I move we close the public hearing. Little Roberts: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the public hearing is closed. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 26 of 61 MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Some comments. I take -- take seriously, you know, the comments that my fellow Council Member has that lives right there and has to deal with it, because I'm probably at least once a week one of the problem cars, because I -- as a grandparent pick up two of my grandkids from Gem Prep once a week. So, I'm quite familiar with the backup and how all that works and I usually go all the way down and get out at Millennium to avoid Wells and the one thing about this project that I like is the fact that you can go all the way down to Millennium, Gala, Wells, Blue Horizon -- you have multiple ways to get out onto Overland Road or out onto Eagle Road and I think you can't say that about a lot of areas in the city. They are already built, they are already there once they open. You are positioned next to not only a city park, but you have got a high school that's got -- it's like having a second city park. It's got tennis courts and other amenities that people can use that's really close. There is -- as Mayor mentioned there is quite a few restaurants within walking distance to that as well. I didn't want to, you know, jump up and down and say I'm a huge fan of the math, going from 164 to 82 really makes me happy. I think you are going to have a lot less of an impact in that area with the 84 units, even though you may end up with a larger family versus seniors. don't think you are going to have an impact that we would notice in the school district. As I said they just came out last week and said that for four years in a row their enrollment numbers are dropping. There are schools that are overcrowded in the district. They know that, but there is more schools in the district right now that are very low and have plenty of room for capacity and West Ada is trying to work on what that solution is going to be. That means them having to do some district boundary changes. That's not our issue, but they don't stand here and tell us not to build something, because they know they have the capacity in their schools, it's just which schools have capacity. I'm in favor of this project. I like everything I have seen so far. I like the quality. I like to look. I think it's a good fit for that spot. You are coming in as an in-fill project, almost one of the last in-fill projects in that area and I think it's going to be a good fit and a good balance for that area. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I appreciate my good colleague's perspective. I think I just look at this one a little bit differently and I think for me it really boils down to two things that we talk about the most up here right, but we rarely ever have to talk about fire response times or proximity to parks or police department or waterways, all the things that we are in control of we do really really well. The things we often are wrestling with are traffic impacts and school impacts and my good colleague over here Mr. Taylor showed me at least updated numbers for these three schools. The good news is lower student Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 27 of 61 enrollment at the middle school. Bad news is higher student enrollment in high school and elementary and the elementary and for me Mountain View is maybe a sticky wicket for me, because it is either number one or number two most overcapacity high school in the state and if I had a freshman going there this year and I'm seeing what that student is going through and that we are going to generate even more students, even a small amount, I think it's too much in that school. I know there is plans at one point to improve Overland, but those of us that drive Overland at 5:00 or 9:00 a.m. know it doesn't feel like better than E, if feels like another letter and so I -- I struggle with that. Having more density of a retired resident base that to me was like the right fit for this and this just to me feels very much like we are trying to spin a square peg in a round hole and so I can't be supportive of it. Not that I don't think that the project's good and not that I don't think that it will be widely popular, I just don't think it's in the right part of town. Certainly, again, not in a spot that our schools can support or the roads can support. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Little Roberts. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor, despite my complaint about traffic, it is very very limited to 45 minutes prior to school getting out I would say. So, I think it can be mitigated regarding what time construction traffic and things like that leave, but -- so -- but as far as the project overall I feel like it is a good fit. We are seeing some declining numbers in kids coming up as far as schools go and it just seems to really fit with the neighborhood and the feel and what Gramercy was designed for. So, I will be supporting it. Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Just a couple of quick comments. Probably my biggest disappointment will be Fat Guy's Deli might get a little crowded. It's one of my favorite restaurants ever since the first time I showed up and they gave me a free sandwich I became a lifelong fan and it's really good. Simison: Have I got a sandwich for you. Taylor: Well, you can take me and buy me lunch. I will get two free lunches there. I think it's a really good project. I'm -- I share the disappointment in the -- in the -- sort of the deed restricted component. We have had a couple applications where they have come in, you know, before the city where they have asked to change that, because of -- economics have changed. I think that's really unfortunate, because I see that as a growing demographic, but I think a point was made tonight by the applicant about maybe those type of senior housing is just not what people in Idaho want and so I think we have a responsibility as a city to ensure that, again, we are not the ones building these -- these -- these projects. We rely on our good partners in the private sector who have to sell these things and make some money to make these things work. So, I think Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 28 of 61 we have to provide some latitude in -- in what makes some sense. I do like the project. I think it makes sense, you know, in this part of town. I will make the comment I think with respect to the school enrollment, good Council President has been nothing but super consistent about his concerns about Mountain View. But when you look at the year over year enrollment trends -- you know, if you look at first grade this year we are, you know, West District -- or West Ada it looks like it's close to a thousand students less than 12th grade and those numbers start tacking down considerably once you hit 8th grade and -- and -- and continue downward. So, long term trend I don't know, but I -- -- I'm comfortable with the idea that West Ada can navigate this. Again, Mountain View is -- is the most difficult school I think we have in the entire community to kind of manage, so I certainly am sympathetic to that and understand it, but I do have a level of comfort with -- with the school district's ability to -- to manage that. So, I'm going to -- I support this project tonight. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Things I like, things I don't like. I -- I -- I really did feel that the age restriction was the crux of the original approval in 2021 and -- and that's important to me. I think in this case, because it's already been annexed into the city it's a little bit of a different question for me around the -- just thinking through kind of the bar for it here. I think if -- if it had not been for the dramatic reduction in density it would have been a complete nonstarter for me, but seeing that does help me. I think for me if -- if we can have the applicant submit a dust control plan to our staff to approve that would help get me more comfortable, just because the location next to a school. West Ada -- this just continues to be a struggle and I think it's -- it's hard, because we are looking at an overall declining enrollment it seems like, but we have these really acute areas, like this is a really acute area. It's completely swamped with kids in Mountain View. I -- I do buy into the argument that in a five to seven-year build out ten additional students likely at the high school is a manageable number, like I -- that -- that resonates with me. So, I think I can support the project, but I would like to see a dust control plan. That's where I'm at with this one and I would also say I -- I would not encourage you -- like away from -- like live- work units and stuff like that, that's creative. I wouldn't give up on those ideas in Meridian. I think -- where they make sense. I -- I think because the private streets here it would not make sense. So, I wouldn't advocate for that in this particular instance. Whitlock: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Whitlock. Whitlock: Council Woman Strader hit the point that I was going to stress as well. I think in the build out, you know, ten, 15 more high school students is manageable. What's even more manageable in my mind is that it's within walking distance of the high school, so you are not going to have the traffic, you are not going to have the parking issues, so I -- I just like the location of this for a lot of the things that the Mayor talked about. It is a Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 29 of 61 walkable community. Gordon Harris Park is a gem and kind of a hidden gem so we won't advertise that, but what a -- what a great amenity for these 80 families that would be living in -- in this community. So, I can be supportive of this as well and -- and supportive of Council Woman Strader's request that we have a focus on dust mitigation plan being submitted and I think that's important because of the proximity to the school as well. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Real quick before I -- I see where this is going and I saw maybe Councilman Overton reaching for his mic to make a motion, which is just maybe some encouragement. We certainly asked the applicant for some information tonight. Maybe they weren't prepared for around dust mitigation. I know that is part of this Council's effort to level up. So, I would encourage when a motion is made that we should be including in that motion those dust mitigation elements as -- to be included as part of the DA. I think that we should be supporting our staff to make more clear motions, so they are not having to infer or interpret what we are intending. Let's be very direct with them, so that they have some clarity on that. So, that would just be my only request. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Somebody decided to steal my thunder, but with that said, after considering all staff, applicant, and public testimony and the applicant agreeing to work with our city staff and submit a dust mitigation plan on site for the use of water trucks and other devices to help control the dust during construction, I move to approve File No. H-2025- 0019 as presented in the staff report for the hearing date of August 19th, 2025. Little Roberts: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to approve Item 3. Is there discussion on the motion? If not, clerk call the roll. Roll Call: Cavener, nay; Strader, yea; Overton, yea; Little Roberts, yea; Taylor, yea; Whitlock, yea. Simison: Five ayes. One nay. And the item is agreed to. Best of luck. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE NAY. 4. Public Hearing for Rockwell Greens Subdivision (H-2025-0002) by Laren Bailey, Conger Group, generally located at the Northwest corner of State Highway 16 and McMillan Rd. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 30 of 61 A. Request: Annexation of 51.15 acres of land with a R-15 zoning district. B. Request: Preliminary Plat consisting of 412 buildable lots and 27 common lots. C. Request: Alternative Compliance to standards for developments abutting a State Highway. Simison: With that we will move on to Item 4, which is public hearing for Rockwell Greens Subdivision, H-2025-0002. We will open this public hearing with staff comments. Napoli: All right. Mayor, Members of the Council, the next item on the agenda is the annexation, preliminary plat and alternative compliance for Rockwell Greens Subdivision. So, the applicant requests annexation of 51.15 acres of land with R-15 zoning district, a preliminary plat consisting of 412 building lots, 27 common lots and alternative compliance for the city standards for developments abutting a state highway and I would like to mention the alternative compliance request with this application was director level and it was approved with the director level. Actually, on the screen -- oh, no. I apologize. The site consists of 51.15 acres of land generally located at the northwest corner of State Highway 16 and McMillan Road. Actually on the screen the existing zoning is RUT in Ada county and the FLUM designation is medium density residential. There is the annexation exhibit. This is -- so, this is an image of The Fields Sub area plan, a four square mile planning area located in northwest corner of the city's area of impact. This plan promotes a cohesive modern rural character across all new development, emphasizes a high quality design. This is one of the first few projects in that area and the proposed -- the proposed density for the 51 .15 acres of land with the R-15 zoning district equates to 8.05 units per acre. This is on the high end of the medium density designate -- residential designation, which -- which staff does have concerns with as there is currently a lack of connectivity to commercial and neighborhood serving uses. There is no regional park in the area and the nearby schools are over capacity. However, the applicant has exceeded the minimum requirements for open space providing 17.1 percent instead of the 15 percent required and amenities by providing 26 and a half points instead of the ten required in the -- as outlined in the UDC. They have also noted that the new elementary school is under construction in Star and the boundary lines will be adjusted in the 2026-2027 school year, which is anticipated to relieve some of the existing capacity issues and West Ada School District did confirm this with their letter to the city as well. Staff has communicated these concerns to the applicant and recommends the City Council carefully evaluate whether this level of density is appropriate given the current landscape of the area. In evaluating comparable -- comparable developments along State Highway 16, the Gander Creek Subdivision approved in 2019 and the Chukar Ridge Subdivision approved in 2020 had gross densities of 3.42 and 4.0 units per acre respectively. Additionally, the average density within a one mile radius of the proposed site is approximately 5.83 units per acre. The proposed subdivision borders the future Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 31 of 61 alignment of State Highway 16, which is considered a hazard in the Comprehensive Plans existing conditions document. Due to such factors as high -- high vehicle speeds, accident frequency and impacts to air quality. These elements are critical in assessing the suitability of the proposed subdivision and staff -- staff is particularly concerned about air quality -- quality given the proposed subdivision's density at the upper end of the medium density residential FLUM designation. This would expose a larger number of residents to recognize hazard compared to a lower density development. Similar developments on the west side of State Highway 16 as mentioned before Gander Creek and Chukar Ridge were approved at 3.42 and 4.0 units per acre on the lower end of the medium density residential FLUM designation. To address these concerns the applicant has requested alternative compliance to the mitigation standards outlined in the UDC for developments near federal and state highways. This included a sound engineer's report that found the expected outdoor worst case peak hour noise would be 62 to 64 decibels with a berm and wall proposed, which is deemed accessible -- or acceptable. I apologize. There it is. The sound engineer concludes that traffic noise levels are expected to be less than the 65 DBA day-night average sound level. The berm and barrier are required to help mitigate the noise and the residential buildings along the first row nearest the highway should have additional consideration for the floors above the ground floor as a six foot wall and a six foot berm may not adequately block the line of sight from State Highway 16 for these spaces and to show that a little bit better, these units right here are the ones that will be bordering the State Highway 16. They are attached units, so it will be a single family attached unit, so there will be less separation than single family detached. The applicant's mitigation proposal includes a six foot berm, top of the six foot wall, to mitigate noise alongside the use of enhanced building materials designed to meet stricter -- stricter sound attenuation standards. The applicant has also exceeded the minimum number of requirements for the open space and amenities as earlier mentioned and this approach aligns with the alternative compliance granted to Gander -- the Gander Creek development in 2020 -- 2024, though their current -- their current proposal is at a higher density than that prior approval. The director did support the alternative compliance for the sound attenuation as meeting UDC's requirement for a ten foot wall above the center line of State Highway 16 would necessitate a -- roughly a 30 foot structure, because this is the overpass at McMillan. In addition to this, the applicant has worked with city staff to propose thicker vegetation coverage along State Highway 16 in the form of one tree for every building lot and one tree every 20 feet in the open space, instead of the one tree every 35 feet as required by code and roughly the building lots are 28 feet wide along the State Highway, so you are going to be having one tree about -- one per 28 feet, instead of the one per 35. So, you have about a 20 percent increase in vegetation coverage for trees. In addition to this, the applicant has agreed to 80 percent vegetation coverage along State Highway 16, instead of the 70 percent required by the UDC excluding the 12 foot irrigation road that will actually run parallel directly adjacent to State Highway 16. Access is proposed off of North Ersatz Place, which was constructed by ITD and remains under ITD ownership and this is the only access provided to the -- to the development. ACHD has not accepted this right of way from ITD yet and this will require the applicant to work with the transportation authority for approval of work within the right of way with future submittals and this was addressed in the development Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 32 of 61 agreement for that. This collector road is shared between the proposed subdivision and the future Cole Valley Christian School, which will be -- get a better image for you guys -- just right here and it's been -- it was approved, we just cannot sewer it at this time. So, they are waiting for sewer services. Northernmost access point is not supported by staff in this case due to it being a collect -- designated as a collector roadway and it requires limiting access points to a collector and arterial roads. The UDC does. A secondary emergency access was a concern from staff with the original proposal as it did not meet MFD standards. However, since the publication of the staff report the applicant has coordinated with MFD and has come up with a proposal that will satisfy -- satisfy the requirements. This will be submitted with the first final plat. Additionally staff would like to note that we have received a finalized report from ACHD since the P&Z hearing. They did require some changes. The applicant has stated that the first homes are -- would be occupied -- or planned to be occupied in 2027 with a projected build out rate of 50 to 60 homes per year. Full build out is anticipated to be between 2035 and 2037. In summary, staff finds the proposed preliminary plat and R-15 zoning designation to be generally consistent with the future land use map and UDC. However, due to the development's density, its location next to this -- a future state highway and current service limitations in the area, staff recommends that City Council closely evaluate whether the proposal aligns with the broader goals and readiness of the surrounding area. Staff work with the applicant since the publication of the staff report to modify some conditions. The Planning and Zoning Commission adopted these conditions and that are these on the screen. This would have been included in the Commission recs to the City Council. So, the Planning and Zoning Commission is recommending approval and we have not received any new written testimony since the Planning and Zoning hearing and I will stand for any questions at this time and two conditions that are still outstanding for Council to consider -- I did want to touch on this. So, providing a stub street alignment. I talked with the applicant prior to the hearing and we are in agreement with that and, then, the DA provision E -- so, ACHD actually, with their new publication since the Planning and Zoning hearing for the -- for finalizing that staff report, they actually do not want those curb cuts to align. So, we are asking you to strike that condition tonight in agreement with ACHD. And I will stand for questions. Simison: Thank you, Nick. Council, any questions for staff? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: We can also ask the ACHD rep, but I believe McMillan is an F, but could you remind me if you have it handy, Nick? Thank you. Napoli: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, so, yes, McMillan Road currently p.m. peak hour traffic count is 386. Which is better than E. McDermott Road is a peak hour -- is at one hundred traffic count and better than D. So, that is where we are currently lying with traffic counts. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 33 of 61 Strader: Thank you. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Nick, as always appreciate you presenting an application. I noticed something new and different in the staff report that I'm -- I'm curious you can talk to us a little bit about. I can't recall a time when there has been items that have been highlighted in our staff report. Is that something new that you are introducing? Is there a reason that we are adding that? It -- it -- it helped me to flag, oh, boy, these are things that Nick thinks is really important and maybe I have missed it before, but can you just kind of walk us through why you are doing that? Napoli: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Council President Cavener, it's a great question. You know, as far as with this -- as you guys know I'm into this role for a year now. As I have developed in this role and I have, you know, talked with the team in our staff reports we try to -- we are going to try to highlight more important key things that we want you guys to focus on that, you know, while it may meet the UDC it is important to consider some of these things given the data that we have. So, really, with most of my staff reports currently -- and I haven't been in front of you guys a whole lot lately -- there is a lot more coming. All my staff reports, you know, in the last really six months have really included highlighted in bold. I try to include all the issues slash concerns that I have or we have as a team or that may not meet the UDC or the Comprehensive Plan what we feel as staff, so you guys can make the best informed decisions. So, we just wanted to highlight that for you guys. Cavener: Mr. Mayor, quick follow up if I can. Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Nick, I think -- I appreciate that and as particularly, you know, you are -- I think the first thing that you flagged about concern with the -- the soundproofing I think these enhanced soundproofing, to me it seems like the applicant is proposing a solution that addresses that concern, but I feel like that that was proposed within the application, but because you highlighted that that led me to believe that maybe you have got concerns beyond that and I'm just trying to make sure that I'm reading what you are trying to tell us correctly or if I'm just not following the bouncing balls appropriately. Napoli: Mr. Mayor, Council President Cavener, no, good question. Well, with that really I highlighted that primarily so, yes, it is -- it's their proposal for alternative compliance for sound attenuation is consistent with what we have approved previously with the Gander Creek development. However, this development is at a higher density and if you guys feel that there is a further action that is needed on sound attenuation you guys can require that with this application. Obviously, in a perfect world we would meet what our standards are in the UDC. However, with the McMillan overpass, building a 30, 40 foot Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 34 of 61 structure, engineering that would be a significant cost. So, that's really why I highlighted that for you guys. Cavener: And maybe, Mr. Mayor, just one more then I will -- Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: -- to that point I guess I have never seen -- because a -- a product type is more dense that it would require more soundproofing; right? If -- if we are -- if -- if -- if we are soundproofing we are soundproofing and I -- I -- I'm -- I'm struggling to see how density is -- is involved in that. Can you just educate me real quick? Napoli: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Council President Cavener, so with that -- Simison: Can I piggyback on that real quick? Just a similar -- air quality was a similar issue. If it's bad for one, why does it matter if there is a hundred there? So, just in context why -- we get it, there is more people that are impacted, but help us understand the difference between people are impacted versus one person impacted. Napoli: Mr. Mayor, Council President Cavener, good question. So, with that, you know, and talking with the team, primarily -- so density -- obviously, correct, there is going to be more people that are impacted by it. Typically -- and we have it designated as medium density residential on the Comprehensive Plan. So, yes, R-15 is allowed. If it's in the density range it is allowed. However, in talking with the team there was comparisons to the Gander Creek, which was medium density residential, which was significantly lower on the density chart, which means you typically have larger lots, which put you further away sometimes from the state highway and that's really the idea behind it is -- exists -- it is a hazard in the Comprehensive Plan. It is called out as a hazard in the existing conditions report. So, with that we felt that it was important to call out the density in comparison to what we have previously approved with the sound attenuating standards. So, at this point we are kind of comparing the previous development and what we have approved with the current development noting that there is a higher density with this development. So, if you guys did feel that there was additional provisions that would be required, it's possible that that could be required at this point from you guys. Correct. Simison: If I can -- if I can put words in your mouth just follow up on that. So, air quality is -- is the example. It's not that there is more people impacted, it's that the homes are located closer to it, because of the standards of the density, is that what you are really trying to articulate or are you trying to say there is more people near it that -- because I -- I kind of heard this -- the first thing I said, that the standards play something further away, but these standards make it closer, so that's why the concern. Napoli: Mr. Mayor -- so correct. It would be a mixture of both. So, yes, there will be more people living in the subdivision, but also typically in the R-15 zone compared to an Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 35 of 61 R-4 zone, the lot sizes are significantly smaller, which could also mean deeper -- or less deep and narrower, which, then, puts people in closer proximity. Simison: Right. That helps, but -- Council Woman Strader. Strader: Mr. Mayor, thank you, that was very helpful, because I did not pick up on that distinction. So, I appreciate that. My -- my question is on something that is kind of unrelated, but I think it does impact us quite a bit, so we were going back and forth with ACHD and ITD about the underpass on McMillan Road to actually go under Highway 16 and from what I recall about this it is like two lanes and extremely narrow. I don't even know if we ended up getting pedestrian connections. Could you just -- if you know and maybe ACHD needs to do this -- if they are on, but could you walk through where that ended up, because I have like -- almost all my concerns, besides school stuff, which know Hethe will really dig into, is really like this whole area on McMillan Road -- and I'm just concerned that this is going to be a major choke point. So, I just wanted to understand where did that end up? Napoli: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, no, great question. So, yes, it's a two lane road currently that does have a ten foot multi-use pathway on the southern portion of McMillan as far as -- and we may want to check with Kelly, but in conversations with ACHD that intersection of McMillan and McDermott has some complications I should say that do restrict certain lights from being put up. So, signalizing that intersection and actually widening it at a future point is going to be an -- it will be tight. I don't know if there is enough right of way there for us to add a third lane to actually have a third turning point with that ten foot multi-use pathway on the southern portion. I know that there is some complications here that could create a choke point; correct. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you. So, I just want to preview that for Hethe and team. At some point in your comments if you could address that concern I think that would be really helpful, because what I -- what I recall is that the city advocated for this, but it was like we were kind of late to the party, because they had already started all these plans in motion and the best that we could squeeze into this -- there was literally not a foot of space left -- was one pathway on one side and, then, these two lanes and we know already because of the stupid connect -- excuse my French -- the canal that it can never be widened from an economic perspective like feasibly on McMillan, so this does need to be a big focus I think in the application. Thank you very much. Simison: Council, any additional questions for staff? Would the applicant like to come forward? Clark: Hey, everybody. Hethe Clark. 251 East Front Street in Boise representing the applicant. So, let's dive right in here and I got too many papers sliding around. So, you Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 36 of 61 are aware of the location here. We are right on the side of the east side -- or west side of Highway 16, just north of McMillan Road. You can kind of get a feel from this picture that the block to the east of us is largely built out. So, this is part of the -- kind of orderly progression of the development of the city. Within the comprehensive planning this is the -- an MDR area, but as we look at The Fields in general, it's a -- there is a lot of variety of what's intended to be there and this is an area that the city is investing in, has signaled to the development community that this is where -- where things are going to go. So, we have mixed-use areas. We have a school site is our immediate neighbor and I will talk about that a little bit more and, then, this map is a little bit tough to read, but that green area there to the south, that's Owyhee High School and that includes a future elementary school site that the -- that West Ada already has and as I mentioned this is part of The Fields sub area plan. So, that sub area plan was adopted in 2021. Everybody here is probably more familiar with that than I am, but it does set the stage for development in this area and there is residential development that's planned -- development that's planned for this site, but I did want to kind of emphasize the city's investment in infrastructure. So, you know that the Fire Station No. 8, the new police station, are both open down on Owyhee Storm, just, you know, not quite a stone's throw -- I guess if you have a really strong arm you can get there, but very close to the site. And, then, in addition there is new sewer infrastructure that's going in with this -- within this area and I think this is important to talk about real briefly, so -- and Nick kind of previewed this. So, water and sewer have already been pulled underneath Highway. 16 to prepare for the development of this site. This is the end of the sewer shed. The sewer shed ends on our immediate west boundary. That was why Nick mentioned that the school was waiting for the new sewer shed to open up. So, we are kind of -- even though we were kind of at the beginning of The Fields, we are at the end of the sewer shed, so it's a kind of a unique position to be in here. That -- that new lift station that the city is investing in is -- you can see it down at -- where you see McMillan on the very west portion at the end of that green line, that's where that new lift station is going in. So, in a -- in a very real way the -- the city's Public Works Department is kind of driving, you know, when things will be able to -- to happen here in The Fields, because the city is putting in the investment to make that happen. Again, this is kind of at the end of the existing sewer shed and that investment. This is, you know, in our view kind of the -- the next logical step as a result of all of that and Council Member Strader as -- as I understand it, in talking about like that infrastructure looking at McMillan on this site, it's our understanding that there is space reserved for four lanes and you may be able to squeeze in the five. But that's -- that is our understanding and I'm having our group check on that to confirm, but that's -- that's how -- that's our understanding of that. Another element of The Fields sub area plan is that it's a little unique in the -- the look. It's asking for this kind of high quality rural theme attic and we redid our landscape plan to try to make sure that -- that we matched with all of that. So, this is the site plan you have seen. Fifty-one acres, all R-15 zoning. We do exceed the open space requirements at 17 percent. Pedestrian connectivity is provided throughout the project. You can see the kind of local sidewalks in red and, then, the regional pathways in blue. It's about a half mile of -- of region -- just shy of a half mile of regional pathways. Amenities as with this applicant, you know, way above the -- the actual numbers in general. So, ten points required, we are at 26 and a half with a community pool, Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 37 of 61 changing rooms, the fenced play structures, pickleball, dog park, the -- the kind of things that you would expect to see from this group. Three types of homes. We have detached single level. We have the two-story. And, then, we also have the attached, which as Nick mentioned is going to be largely along the Highway 16 side of things and I will talk about that here a little bit more when we talk about sound mitigation. Okay. So, I know the elementary -- or the schools are going to be a -- a -- a major question for everyone, so I wanted to make sure that we focused on that and then -- and really focus on -- I think on elementary schools, because that's been the -- the question in this part of the -- of the city. So, as always, you know, West Ada provides the data, then, they tell us what they are going to do with that -- with those four options that you guys have heard me say ad nauseam over and over again every time I come here. So, that process of -- of looking at boundaries, of looking at busing and looking at portables and, then, looking at when you are going to build is very much well underway for this part of the city. So, Hunter Elementary School currently has capacity. That is going to absorb some of the pressure on Pleasant View. That's already been announced by West Ada. West Ada also announced that there will be follow-up meetings this fall with regard to boundaries. So, that planning is all happening. In the meantime they have actually got the shovels out and there was -- they -- they -- there was a groundbreaking on the new elementary school in Star just a couple days ago. You can see this is a picture from the -- the news reporting from that. That will be opened as I understand it next year, July of 2026, which means that it will be available prior to the arrival of any students at this site and, then, in addition, you know, if -- in the future we still need elementary school capacity. I have pointed to the new elementary school site that's attached to Owyhee High School that is part of that planning and would be available if West Ada so chose to -- to -- to build more schools. So, we think that this is -- you know, sometimes we don't -- it's harder to see what the answers are. This one seems pretty clear that West Ada has done the planning and -- and they are prepared for this -- development in this area. Okay. So, noise attenuation. And, again, the -- the question here as we understand it is the -- and as Nick mentioned, the -- you know, the -- the code is if you -- if you applied it as it's currently written we would have a 35 foot wall on the side of -- on the side of our project. So, it's not -- that doesn't make sense; right? So, question is alternative compliance. We have tried to go above and beyond on all of this to make all of this work. You can see in this picture -- and -- and -- and this might actually help Council Member Strader in kind of seeing how big that area is under -- under the -- the underpass there -- the overpass there for McMillan. Highway 16 doesn't -- oh, you got another one? Okay. Yeah. We have a -- we have a zoomed in digital picture of the -- of that underpass that we can pass around here in just a second if you like. Okay. So, the -- that right of way extending away from -- from Highway 16 is -- is pretty wide as you can kind of get a feel from that picture, but starting at the Highway 16 right of way we have the required Meridian city buffer that goes 35 feet over to the rear property lines. Now, we have provided for a six foot fence that sits six feet above the ground level of the new pads. So, you get six feet of buffer -- or, excuse me, a berm and you get six feet of fence to help with the sound attenuation. That fence alone attenuates the sound down to actually 62 to 65 decibels, which takes you kind of below that threshold and that's like normal conversation is 65 decibels. That decibel reading is actually before installation of the additional landscaping and as Nick mentioned we agreed to do Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 38 of 61 the additional landscaping, both with the additional trees, so we have at least one tree with each lot, so that is -- I think it was 20 percent more than the -- the current standard. In addition, in the areas that are not on the lots, it's one for 20 feet. So, that's even more. And then -- and when we went from 70 percent vegetation -- vegetation cover to 80 percent vegetation cover and it includes that unknown fescue and I always have a hard time saying fescue for some reason, but fescue grass that is called for as part of the -- The Fields sub area plan. So -- excuse me. With that I -- I would just mention that we are in agreement with the revised conditions presented by staff. We -- we agree with the -- the note that Nick had about modifying the condition -- I think it was F. Do I have that right? To -- he will -- he will confirm that for me. I, unfortunately, didn't take the note -- to make sure that the conditions are consistent with the ACHD report. That's the condition that deals with the alignment of the intersection at Ersatz -- was it F? E. But, otherwise, we are in agreement, but I just wanted to emphasize as well that, you know, we -- we do think that the city is invested in The Fields sub area plan. We -- we respect and acknowledge that. I know the whole development community has been watching that investment. We think we have provided an application that's consistent with The Fields sub area plan and takes advantage of the infrastructure that's available now and, again, we are in agreement with the conditions. We would be happy to add a dust control condition, Council Member Strader, and we -- we would also -- just been talking that that may be a good topic to bring some industry professionals together to come talk to the -- to city and city staff and talk about best practices and try to come up with something that makes sense for everybody. So, we are not really doing it on an ad hoc basis. So, we are -- and we are happy to help work on all of that. So, with that I'm happy to answer any questions. Simison: Thank you. Council, questions? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Okay. So, I think a lot of my questions are going to be transportation related for right now. So, the underpass is something that we need to revisit. I -- I am just expressing what I remember that came before us and that was a two lane road with only enough space for a ten foot multi-use pathway on the south side. So, I would like you to just keep that in mind. Could you walk me through your pedestrian connection, because you were saying you had a pedestrian connection to McMillan, so if we could start there. Clark: Oh. Yeah. There is a couple things that I could mention about that, Council Member. So -- so, as you can see these are the -- the blue is the regional pathways. One thing I would point out -- and let's see if the -- the mouse will keep up with me here. I have got another slide that shows this as well -- is that as Nick mentioned one of the conversations that we had with the -- with fire was to confirm the location of the -- the emergency access and I will just show you that. So, that -- this -- this was something that we present -- we showed at P&Z this is the location of the emergency access and Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 39 of 61 ultimately based on the conversations with ACHD the -- that can't -- the revised conditions of approval call for that to be a temporary full access in the event that these other roadways are not completed, so that there is additional access there beyond the regional pathway on the -- on the west side going south, if that answers your question. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Maybe -- actually, let's just take a big step back, like from a really high level perspective. How would someone living in this development get onto the new Highway 16? Clark: Good question. So, we were -- oops, I lost -- we have -- we framed it a little bit differently and framed it -- how do you get to Costco. Strader: Okay. That's fair. Clark: So, I can show you a couple of these different scenarios. Yeah. You got it. Thanks. It's a little -- it seems like your system's a little bit more reactive than mine. Okay. So, if you wanted to get to Costco -- so, there is a couple of different ways. So, primarily the -- you know, if you are going during a day when traffic on McMillan is not a concern, you are probably going to go take this pink route over and head -- head straight up. The area is actually pretty porous in the sense that the roadway network to the east of us is largely built. So, another alternative, if you have got a mid-mile collector at Rustic Oak that can get you up to Chinden and over. Another alternative you could go west, catch Star Road, come around and that's actually a location where you could get onto Highway 16 if you wanted to -- to make that approach or you can continue east to Costco and, then, the other options are to head south, the -- you know, you would probably head over onto McDermott -- onto Owyhee Storm and, then, loop around or take a right onto McDermott and come back up. You can see here that that is basically a function of some of the ITD planning. So, the -- the O's here are the overpasses where there is not access and, then, the X's are the interchanges where there would be access. So, you have got to -- you got to do some parallel driving to get to some of that, because this is not an interchange location here, but it's really not an insurmountable thing and we actually, I think like everyone, expect that Highway 16 is going to take a lot of the burden off of these area roads, including Ten Mile. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I think we definitely hope that is the case, but it also opens up convenient commutes for new people all the way out in Star and Emmett and so I'm not sure if it will end up being like that, but let's start from a really basic level. If you are in this subdivision and you would like to go west -- actually no -- east on McMillan Road how Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 40 of 61 are you going to turn out of the subdivision if it's a two lane road? Like I -- I face this challenge already in Paramount, which is not as dense as this project. If I want to turn left onto McMillan at peak traffic hours there is hardly any center lane to speak of. There is a sliver of one and you can often have to wait for like ten minutes at a time to even find an opening to turn left. So, this -- it's hard to know the scale, so that's kind of what I'm getting at, but is there going to be a center lane here that people can turn into? Like how will people make that turning movement even to go down McMillan Road from this subdivision? Clark: Yeah. So, the -- part of -- and -- and maybe what helps is if the -- the ACHD report one of the things that it required was that we had to construct a center left turn lane and a dedicated right turn lane on McMillan Road at Ersatz. So, that will -- I think that will help with part of it and, then, perhaps to answer your other question, the -- on the mitigation requirements in the ACHD report -- I have just been able to track this the -- the segment between -- of McMillan between Owyhee Storm and McDermott is -- -- is going -- is -- let's see. These -- the -- the roadway segment is listed as funded improvements in the CIP and it speaks to it being five lanes. So, eventually -- it's going to take some time, it's going to take some rooftops, it's going to take some impact fees, but that is in the plan. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Right. But you are saying there will be five lanes on McMillan basically to the west; right? But I'm telling you, at least from what I recall, I remember looking at -- for the underpass itself I don't think there is any space to add additional lanes. So, what I'm trying to understand is -- I'm just concerned we are going to be creating a really horrible choke point for traffic on McMillan right where Highway 16 is and I just -- I think we need to drill down into that, because it's going to be a big concern for me. Clark: And McDermott's on the east side of the overpass and it's -- the CIP calls for it to be five lanes between Owyhee Storm to McDermott. So, that -- that would suggest to me that that's not going to create the -- the choke point that you are talking about, but -- Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I mean I -- at least I recall clear as day having it -- having renderings shown to us in a City Council meeting about what the underpass would look like and it could be that there is a -- an old plan that -- that calls for five lanes, but my understanding is that it -- it -- it's an impossibility, that it is like not physically possible. So, we -- we do need to get clear on that. Maybe there is a -- Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 41 of 61 Simison: I think you are correct, but there was also understood that there is no turning movements under that span, so that's why it would only be four lanes under the span, because you are really not queuing for any turning movements underneath that and there is no access points to it. But I don't recall what they ended up -- I am looking -- I -- I feel like -- I know it's designed for four, two lanes in each direction. Strader: Really? Okay. Maybe. It could be my faulty memory is just -- Simison: But no center turn lane. Strader: Okay. Clark: Find that little -- sorry. If it's helpful to the Council I know it's not typical to have a digital, because it's harder to leave something with you, but I'm happy to hand around this Pad that has a better picture of it, but you can see the room on either side of the current two -- two lane roadway. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Hethe, can you send it to the clerk and, then, they can add it to the packet and we can all take a look at it up here. Clark: Yeah. I agree with that. Thanks. Appreciate it. This picture kind of shows it, but it's a little hard to see because of the distance. Maybe we will -- we will get that e- mailed and, then, maybe that's something we can pick up again at -- at rebuttal. I don't want to make everybody wait. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Maybe we still have our partners at ACHD on. I know part of it's ACHD, part of it's ITD, but if they have something to add to this about what the underpass at McMillan Road and Highway 16 is expected to look like that would just be extremely helpful for me. Kelly- Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, I do not know off the top of my head what that underpass is going to look like for McMillan. I can certainly reach out, see what the plan is for that. I haven't been in any of those conversations. I'm happy to do that. I don't know if I could get something tonight, though, unfortunately. I can maybe shoot out a text and see, but I cannot make any guarantees on that. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 42 of 61 Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: If you could at least make the information request I would -- I would really appreciate it. I don't know what will happen tonight. You know, for me -- like what I really would like to see is exactly how is this going to work from a traffic perspective here at McMillan Road with this underpass, but, then, also all of the -- I -- I want to understand the interchanges here as well and how a resident from this side of The Fields -- you know, from this part of Fields District is going to likely get onto the new Highway 16 and I know that's not strictly an ACHD question, but it has enough to do with you guys, because you are building the connectivity to ITD's work. So, yeah, I -- -- I think I will need to understand that a little bit in more detail as well. Kelly: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, yeah, certainly happy to help with that and will do my research and I will get back in touch. Strader: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Simison: Council, other questions for the applicant? Okay. All right. We are going to go and take a ten minute recess, just so everyone can stretch their legs and -- before we get into further conversation. If there is any way this information can be found by the time we get back that would be great. (Recess) Simison: It looks like we are all back in the room. I will say for the record that I used my downtime to phone a friend. Mr. Hood confirmed that the span is 83 feet underneath, which does allow for up to two travel lanes in each direction, but will -- does not allow for our full design, which is ten feet sidewalks on both sides. There would have to be some constraints likely, but it's originally only going to be built out to two lanes initially. But kind of coming it up to four long term. Clark: Mr. Mayor -- this is Hethe Clark again for the record. I think -- I don't think I did a very good job of explaining the Highway 16 access before, so maybe if I slow down and kind of walk through that a little bit I think it might help. So -- and Council Member Strader, maybe to answer your question directly about what do you do when it's busy on McMillan? Like how do you get out? So, if it's not busy, you know, the world's your oyster; right? But if it is busy you are probably going to be taking a right turn, okay? So, if you take a right turn you are going to have multiple options. You are going to go over to Owyhee Storm would one be -- would be one option. There is a light at Owyhee Storm that allows you to turn left, then, make another -- and there is another light down at Ustick on Owyhee Storm and, then, you have the ability to access Highway 16 pretty easily right there. Another option. Rather than turning left at Owyhee Storm, you know, say you want to -- just whatever direction you are going on a Highway 16 -- and -- and let's be clear, Highway 16 is a little bit of a different model than what we are kind of used to when it comes to the interstates and these -- this is going to be a hop on, hop off kind of transportation model and it's going to make life way nicer in this area. You are going Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 43 of 61 to be able to get down in three or four minutes down to the freeway and, then, head out to the -- to the airport. So, we are -- we are really excited about the proximity to Highway 16. When we hear hazardous area we -- that's not what we see, we see a real benefit. So, coming back to that question of what are our options. So, you could go south on Owyhee Storm. You could continue west on McMillan, take the right on Star Road, take the right on Chinden and, then, you are also at Highway 16. So, multiple options for our residents and -- and multiple pretty easy options to make a right out of McMillan and not deal with that traffic situation that you were mentioning. Council Member Strader. So, hopefully that is a little bit clearer than the -- the muddle I created earlier. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. I -- I think we are getting closer, but, actually, had one of my colleagues point something out to me, which is -- I guess maybe what I'm not understanding is -- so, at the intersection of McDermott and McMillan like -- not the part where -- I mean the part I guess to the east of Highway 16, like how is that going to work? Is that going to be a four way stop or -- or is it going to be signalized? Like how -- if -- if you are, you know, trying to make a turning movement -- because, you are right, the underpass is a straight shot, but, then, if you are trying to make it -- like a left turning movement how is that going to work? Clark: So, Council Member Strader, so McDermott -- that -- that is a -- that will be signalized. You are not really going to be going north on McDermott unless you are local traffic, because McDermott is going to terminate at a cul-de-sac and I think it may already. If you are going right, then, you can head down and, then, that's kind of what that area that has that boot -- the intersection there for Ustick has been oriented to pull away to allow for enough room to -- to make that -- that interchange fit. So, that's why we have got that design there is where we kind of swoop around and out to -- but that is another option. So, the -- the northbound -- I guess the answer to your question the northbound McDermott option is probably just a local traffic option, it's not -- you are not really going to be turning left there eastbound off of McMillan. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: I can't help but -- and I had to talk to Captain Leslie over here, because our -- we put our old hats on -- well, his current hat. My old hat. And we look at maps and think I'm blue line. Sorry. I'm going to Owyhee Storm down to Ustick and I'm hitting Highway 16 and that's how I'm getting out of there. I live in Woodbridge. I have traffic issues every day. Certain times of the day I do not go up to Locust Grove and try to turn left. I do if I want to get frustrated, but if I want to be successful I pick a different way to get out of my subdivision. You have to be strategic. And I look at this and I think that's Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 44 of 61 -- it's obvious to me that -- you might try it once or twice turning left on McMillan and going underneath, but I don't think that's going to be a preferred route. I think folks are going to figure out they want to get under the limited access highway, figure out the best way to do it and choose that as a path. Clark: I think you are right. Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Whitlock. Whitlock: Hethe, just, again, kind of getting back to the underpass. So, to turn right into Rockwell you are being required to put a right turn access and a center lane on McMillan or -- can you just review that for me again? And I'm just wondering from Highway 16 at what point can you begin a right turn access if that's being required? Clark: So -- so, from Highway 16 -- so, the -- Council Member Whitlock, so there is not a -- it's just an overpass at McMillan at Highway 16. So, you would be approaching probably, you know, from the east on McMillan itself rather, so -- is that what you are referring to is the intersection? Whitlock: Correct. And maybe just to clarify once. You get through those two lanes on the underpass -- Clark: Uh-huh. Whitlock: -- how far -- how far before -- I mean do you have enough space to even put a turn lane in to go north into your property? Clark: Council Member Whitlock, we do. So, the -- this picture here might help. So, the -- there is quite a bit of room and that is the mitigation that was required was to do the center turn lane and the dedicated right turn lane at Ersatz. So, yeah, we -- we do believe that it can accommodate all of the mitigation that ACHD required after they reviewed our -- our traffic impact study. Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Kind of got lost in some of the discussion, but I want to ask a question about access and some of the interaction with Meridian fire. So, I might be missing the detail, but the -- the temporary access that's intended -- or you are going to be making it an initial kind of a permanent access or a -- I'm not sure how to describe it. My understanding is it's a temporary access. That's to provide another access point for emergency personnel, but can you just walk me through and -- and, Steven, maybe if you have anything to share, I'm trying to understand the access requirements and Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 45 of 61 limitations on how many homes per year in the access. If you could -- I think you have touched on it, but if you could walk me through that again. Clark: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Council Member Taylor, so there is a couple -- there is a couple of different things that are playing there. So, generally speaking on a single access you are only allowed to have like 30 homes and so you would generally build just a temporary -- an emergency only to address that issue and allow you to go beyond the 30. In this case we had this additional ACHD requirement of a -- a single access on a collector and so we had to talk that over with ACHD and come to a -- the -- the right solution. So, if you look at the ACHD report what it says is that with this temporary full access onto McMillan that has to be done after 200 single family building lots have been platted and it will be restricted to a maximum width of 24 to 30 feet and paved. So, that -- it's an ACHD single access issue versus a fire single access issue and with the ACHD single access issue it's a temporary full road, whereas if it was just fire we would just be doing an -- an emergency only. Hopefully that's clear. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Do you guys have like a -- like a rendering or something of -- of kind of what ACHD is proposing in terms of -- I guess what -- what this will look like at kind of the intersection of McDermott and McMillan then? Like I -- because I mean we have some developments that are built out there already. It doesn't look to me like you could fit a roundabout there. Is it -- is it going to be a signalized intersection and exactly when is that going to be built? Clark: This -- the intersection at McDermott and -- Strader: And McMillan. Clark: -- McMillan, is that what you are asking? Strader: Yeah. Clark: So, I don't believe that it is planned for a roundabout, because there is not -- think you are correct that there is not enough room there and it doesn't make sense that there would be one. I -- I guess what I would say -- yeah, I guess I'm -- A, I'm not completely sure what -- how to answer your question or what -- what it is that would provide that answer. I can tell you that, you know, what's in the CIP and I can also tell you what's in the -- the traffic impact study, you know, the -- obviously, you know, we spend tens of thousands of dollars on those traffic impact studies, so that ACHD can tell us whether the roads are going to function or not. This one was about a 50,000 dollar traffic impact study and so it's our understanding that that intersection is on the CIP. The exact layout I'm not -- I don't have that in the packet and I don't know exactly what Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 46 of 61 that would look like, but based on their review of our TIS they did not see that as being a problem and didn't condition it that way. Simison: Kelly, do you have anything that you can add? Kelly: Mr. Mayor, City Councilors, the applicant touched on everything that I would have as well. Clark: I might note, Council Member Strader, that as part of the -- the recommendations in the ACHD report they didn't recommend signalization of McDermott and McMillan at this point anyway, because they wanted to see how -- when -- when State Highway 16 comes in how that affects the traffic patterns. So, that's -- that's another element of it. But that -- that is -- that has been studied and they have arrived at their conclusions on it. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. So -- and maybe Kelly could help with that. So, I guess when -- when would that occur then? Because -- and -- and it feels like important infrastructure to make this area function. Like I -- I -- I think -- I -- I -- I agree Highway 16 is going to dramatically change the traffic pattern in this whole area -- hopefully for the better. Like selfishly I really hope it improves the situation. I just -- I -- I -- I guess maybe what I'm struggling with is -- I need someone to paint me a more complete picture of exactly what the roadway network's going to be around your project. Like in a lot more detail. I -- I'm not -- I -- I -- I -- I'm feeling concerned about McMillan specifically. I think we are getting closer. I -- I just don't think we are there. Like -- like, Mr. Mayor, like that -- that comment concerns me. Like if McDermott and McMillan are not going to be signalized at any point in the near future, that -- that's a head scratcher. Is it -- and I do recall they -- they were planning to do some kind of a cul-de-sac around there. It was very strange looking. The whole roadway network in this area I think it's going to be a mess personally. I just want to see what it's all going to look like and I think ACHD is probably the entity that needs to provide some more guidance on that. Mr. Mayor -- and just to explain further my concern, you have a pretty dense project. A lot of people are going to be living here and if we are dumping a ton of people into one spot really close to all these intersections I just want to understand how it's going to work. I don't have huge amounts of heartburn about the project besides, honestly, the roadway network -- you did a decent job convincing me that there is a solution somewhere on the school front, but -- but on this I'm still struggling. Clark: I'm trying to think of what else that I can give you, given the -- the studies. But, you know, we had already mentioned that McDermott -- excuse me -- McMillan between McDermott and Owyhee Storm is on the CIP to widen to the four lanes. I have provided you with the mitigation that ACHD has required after doing the review. It's my understanding -- and I think it was just confirmed that the signal is on the CIP, but ACHD Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 47 of 61 would like to see what the impact of Highway 16 is on that to confirm that timing, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. That just means that they want to look at the timing based on those developments and, then, I think I have also shown what the alternatives are if there is a busy morning on McMillan that folks are going to go right and they have -- and the world's their oyster. So, I'm -- I'm not sure what else I can give you in terms of additional information. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. I think what I would like to know is I would like to see a rendering from ACHD about what exactly will be under the underpass. Like I think that would be really helpful. If we could nail down exactly how many lanes it is and, then, I want to understand if -- if it's a signalized intersection what is it? If it's at McDermott and McMillan when are they -- when is it in the CIP for; right? Like what is the timing? I -- I -- I mean I think those are some of the questions I would have and, then, I think it would be helpful to understand the proximity of the entrance to your subdivision from the underpass. How many feet is that, because if the traffic gets really backed up, right, I want to make sure people can get out. Simison: And I think that even answering the -- because if you are going to have a light there you are going to create a natural traffic break. Yeah. That's a chance -- that's an opportunity to get out and turn left, but if you are not, then, what does that mean? And, you know, the reality is I don't know that -- you know, I'm not a traffic engineer here, but I don't think McDermott is ever going to warrant the light at that location, because you don't have enough people probably heading south as a through fare. Now, I could be wrong, but just the way that road network is if I go by what they tell us for other places where we think we need lights and they say it doesn't warrant it, then, that -- I think that's just a question, because if you are just all one way traffic predominantly that definitely impacts your training movements, but I'm scouring their five year work plan, I'm trying to find anything about that project and I can't find it yet, so -- Clark: Well, I -- I think the Mayor -- I think you already confirmed that it's a four lane configuration underneath the overpass. Simison: Can have four lanes. Clark: Can have. Sorry. And, then, the other point about the distance, it's over 600 feet. So, there should be enough distance, you know, two football fields to be able to accommodate that -- any -- any backing. Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 48 of 61 Taylor: A couple of things. I -- I would like you to show me the -- the -- it looked like you had a slide on phases, but while you are scrolling to that and can walk me through the timing of the phases and your development, I don't want to hold you accountable for other entities' poor transportation planning, but it is interesting -- I did not realize it as it looks like McDermott Road does not go through north, which I think, actually, is a significant consideration with what that traffic will look like. It will just be very localized traffic. It seems like they are trying to push people onto Highway 16, as opposed to taking some of those arterials. So, I don't -- I don't really see that as much of a concern now that I have that understanding with that intersection. I somewhat shared the same concern with Council Woman Strader about where the access point is, but if the main access point is 600 feet that would seem like that would not be as much of an issue. So, I think my concerns for the most part are okay. But if you could walk me through this --just not the -- the -- the phases, but also sort of the approximate timelines of when each phase will -- will happen. It sounds like we have got a pretty long horizon here we are looking at, but if you could walk me through that I would appreciate it. Clark: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Council Member Taylor. So, it's -- as I always say when we talk about phasing plans, it's all market dependent and crystal ball work. But, you know, given your -- your typical size of a phase, given the typical timing it takes to get a final plat application in, to get your infrastructure in and do the bonding and do all of that, you know, we would anticipate that these eight phases, which will start at that kind of main entrance on -- or in the blue with phase one, work your way down to phase two against McMillan and, then, kind of flow back north at that point, but somewhere in the range of ten years. So, I think Nick's comment about 2035 to 2037, depending on, you know, starts and how things go is -- is -- is about right. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: So, if I'm -- this is helpful. So, if I'm looking at this picture -- so, are you saying it's 600 feet to the phase one entrance or 600 feet to the phase five, I guess dark purple entrance? Clark: Council Member Strader, keep in mind that this is on its side, so -- Strader: Oh, yeah. Clark: -- McMillan is on the right side, so it's -- Strader: Okay. Clark: -- to the -- to the entrance. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 49 of 61 Strader: Ah. I -- I forgot. Okay. So, you are saying it's 600 feet from the underpass to Ersatz, which is this little road here kind of on the bottom right-hand side of your picture? Clark: Correct. Strader: Okay. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Just to update as I'm going through line by line the updated ACHD staff report that was submitted with this on August 13th, on page 11, top -- bottom of page 11, the top of page 12, they address -- they address it several times, but they finally address that McDermott and McMillan Road, a traffic signal will be warranted at this intersection based on the four hour and peak hour vehicle volumes in 2030. So, they are not going to warrant it for a signal until that time. Previously to that -- and this is the one just a few days ago, they talk about how they will -- they are looking at adding lanes, but even ACHD appears to still be in the mode of we are not exactly sure how it's going to look yet. So, I think having the applicant get ACHD to commit -- this is only a few days old and it doesn't look like ACHD has exactly decided how that's going to look. Simison: I don't know, did we ever take public testimony? I don't remember if we -- don't think -- okay. I think we are still on the primary. And, you know, I'm not going to -- I don't want to dissuade, but we only have the two other members of the team and one member of the public and only city staff online, but -- is there anybody present else that would like to provide testimony on this item this evening? And I couldn't even see her, because Hethe was blocking -- no. You are good. No. You are good. So, without -- we will -- we will just pretend like we are in final comments if you want -- have any additional final comments or we will continue with the Q&A as part of that. Clark: I'm happy to continue the Q&A. Otherwise I would just ask for approval with -- and just keep in mind that Condition E that needs to be modified to match the ACHD staff report. Overton: And, Mr. Mayor, one follow up, not to try to confuse everyone, but they are all over the place in the staff report on what they want to do at that intersection. Just to clear this up, just one page further the traffic study recommends that McDermott Road and McMillan Road be signalized. However, there is not enough right of way to construct a signal making this improvement infeasible. Additionally, staff does not recommend signalization of this intersection as part of the application as traffic patterns are anticipated to change once Highway 16 opens, which is why they are not committing to what that's going to look like. They are doing what we are doing. They are waiting for 16 to open and seeing where everyone goes. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 50 of 61 Clark: I think -- maybe I would make one comment on that, too, Council Member Overton, is that this is the -- these are the items that are called for for the applicant to take care of, that -- that language that you are reading from and when additional right of way is required ACHD doesn't require the applicant to go acquire the right of way, because we can't; right? That's the issue. So, that I believe is what they are speaking to in terms of, you know, there is additional right of way that's required. They are going to have to do what they do with any other public project where they may have to go condemn additional right of way or do what needs to be done to acquire additional right of way. That doesn't mean it's not going to happen or hasn't been planned, it -- it -- what it means is that they are not going to make us go do that, because that's not within our power. Kelly: Mr. Mayor, City Councilors, I just want to confirm that's correct. So, what's essentially being stated there is based on the traffic impact study mitigation would be required -- or mitigation is warranted at that intersection. However, due to a couple factors, including right of way and an uncertainty of what that intersection will look like, the signalization of that intersection is not being required from the developer as part of this application. Hopefully that sort of clears things up. Strader: It doesn't really clear it up. Simison: Okay. Thank you. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Sorry, that -- that's not really clearing it up for me, so -- okay. So, just so we are on the same page, so ACHD thinks mitigation would be warranted here, but because of uncertainty you are not requiring it, because of Highway 16. I'm getting that. But are you saying it's physically infeasible to ever put a signal there? I want to understand that. Is it -- is there a physical constraint where that intersection would go that makes it impossible to put a signal there or economically unfeasible to do so? Or are you just saying you are just not requiring it yet? Kelly: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, that is not being required as part of this development. As the applicant stated, there are right of way constraints there now that currently exists that would interfere with signalization of that intersection. However, if ACHD determines in the future that a signal is something that's warranted there based on how traffic plays out after Highway 16, then, we can have -- we can create our own project, our capital project or something along those lines, and we can acquire that right of way, we can go through our process, but that's not something that we can require of the development. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 51 of 61 Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: What are the right of way constraints? I think I -- I think we need to understand that. Do you mean in terms of availability of right of way or do you mean in terms of like the physical -- kind of what I'm getting at is -- is there -- is there a physical condition that would make it impossible to put an intersection there? Kelly: Mr. Mayor, Council Woman Strader, the -- when I speak of right of way requirements I speak of where currently the property lines are. So, that doesn't necessarily mean physical constraints, whether that be, you know, irrigation or various structures or whatever, that just means where -- where the property lines currently sit there is not enough room for us to house the -- the poles and the masks and the power boxes for signalization of that intersection. Strader: Yeah. That's not great. Clark: Mr. Mayor, if I could, I -- I think maybe if -- if I'm understanding the concern, Council Member Strader, I -- the -- the signal as I understand it would not be under the overpass. Is that the assumption that's being made? I think the signal is outside of the overpass. Strader: I agree. Clark: Okay. So, I -- I don't know what would constrain it other than acquisition of right of way, which is, you know, a pretty standard -- Strader- Mr. Mayor, I -- Simison: Just -- I mean, again, Google mapping that they already have the bridge deck. It looks like the bridge deck is one hundred feet from the intersection by where the map does and using the stuff for comparison the Cole intersection is over 500 feet from the -- that structure. There is also nothing that appears, it's just -- it's landscaping for two subdivisions on the west -- or east side of that intersection. So, I don't -- again, I don't see anything on -- on top of the ground, though, that would seem to prohibit more right of way. Below the ground, though, I don't know. Whitlock: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Whitlock. Whitlock: Can I open up another can of worms? Simison: Only if you are going to eat them. Whitlock: I -- I just might. Hethe, if you could go back maybe to the -- the rendering you had up right before this one. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 52 of 61 Clark: You are talking this one or the -- Whitlock: Oh, it showed -- Clark: The -- the Costco one? Whitlock: Yeah. The Costco one would be good. And I mean this -- this is the first piece of a puzzle and we are turning it every which way to see where this might fit in the overall picture that we are trying to put together here in The Fields District. So, we are a little bit of a disadvantage. We are trying to figure out traffic coming down McMillan, we are trying to figure out what Highway 16 is going to do, you have got 51 acres here that goes about halfway up this square mile, got Ersatz Place -- I'm just -- I'm curious about the name of place. To me that doesn't say it's a drive or any throughway that's going to get people from your project to the north and will there be a way that they can move to the west once those other puzzle pieces get figured out? So, again, I'm -- I'm just -- I'm trying to turn this every which way that I can and figure out are there some challenges that we are concerned about today that might be addressed by future puzzle pieces that get put into this? Clark: Okay. Council Member Whitlock, this is one of the items that I'm -- I wanted to make sure that I was understanding, so I did phone a friend, too. So, the -- the Ersatz Place is a roadway that is currently under the IT -- under ITD jurisdiction. It's going to go over to ACHD. It is not intended to go all the way north to Chinden, but on the master street map it turns west and -- and there -- it's intended to go over to Star Road. So, that would be -- you know, call it the mid-mile collector type setup that would be part another additional way through this block to give folks yet another option. I didn't put that -- we didn't put that on this map, because we are not sure about that timing. We kind of wanted to emphasize these are the options, day one, phase one, and -- and we think those options are pretty darn good. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I think if there was a copy of the master street map of like what's planned for The Fields District that would -- that could be very helpful, because I think that was an excellent question. Clark: Yeah. That's the -- The Field sub area map. I think that's -- so, that -- that would show Ersatz, yeah, that -- where Nick is pointing coming up and turning either west there and, then, you also have that interchange area commercial that's just to the north of it. So, I -- I would assume that that was the thought process was to go around that, so it's not the -- the interchange area -- the mixed-use interchange area isn't bisected. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 53 of 61 Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: So, will -- will Ersatz go all the way through to Owyhee Storm, then, with this development? Clark: Not with this development. We don't control that. Strader: Oh. Okay. Where -- where does it -- where does your section end on this map, if you don't mind showing me? Sorry. It's just kind of hard to follow with this rendering. Clark: Yeah. It's -- I mean, obviously, it's kind of an artistic -- but, yeah, about where Nick's at on the arrow there is where we end. And, then, that area where it says potential civic site, school, church, that whole area down to -- as I understand it down to McMillan is the -- the school site that was previously approved and it's waiting for sewer. I guess the -- the larger point would be that it's in accordance with what's been planned out there. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. I -- I think part of the worry is that it -- it doesn't -- and I -- and I -- I want to be careful, because this is going to come across as kind of critical to ACHD, but we have had kind of a history of planning challenges along McMillan and -- and -- and just generally speaking our whole experience with this underpass was very concerning. Like I -- we found out about it because an old council member who was retired from decades ago like sent us this big red flag e-mail that was like there is a huge disaster that's going to happen at McMillan and Highway 16. That's kind of how it was elevated to our attention. So, ACHD saying something's -- something is warranted here, but we are not requiring anything because we just have so much uncertainty, like that doesn't give me a lot of confidence and I am kind of just worried, because we are putting such a huge amount of density in one place, it's like if we are -- if we -- if we end up creating a huge bottleneck or a huge challenge here I think it will just get exacerbated. I -- I -- I get what you are saying. I think there are a few workarounds, but, I don't know, it's -- it's not -- it's -- anyway, that's my concern. I'm just trying to really understand the plans for transportation and especially the local roadway network and like the McDermott and McMillan intersection doesn't give me a lot of confidence hearing that from ACHD and it's a really short amount of distance from the underpass to where that will be and, you know, again, so, you know, McMillan runs through my district and it's already a disaster. Clark: Yeah. And I -- my client just reminded me of something and this -- I think this kind of goes with what the Mayor was saying -- is that the -- and I'm no traffic engineer, have no crystal ball, but I -- I -- I just have to emphasize that that McDermott intersection may have a hard time hitting the signal warrants. I mean it says that it would at 2030, but because of those movements where it's just going to local -- local Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 54 of 61 traffic on the north and ending in a cul-de-sac and, otherwise, you are just making a right turn, I mean it -- it's -- I -- I don't want to downplay the concern at all, but -- sorry? Strader: Mr. Mayor, unless you are just -- I mean it's not just for people turning, like it's also going to be people that just, you know, want to go east; right? Maybe people that want to go to the Capri or the Delsas or like, you know, there is plenty of local traffic that will come from this and there are plenty of shopping centers now along McMillan. I mean you have got a Walmart there. You have got like quite a lot that I would think people would want to access. So, I -- I think if -- if -- if this is like a four way stop right there -- Clark: I don't think it would be a four way stop. That would -- I -- I wouldn't -- I wouldn't want and be in favor of that either. Strader: Yeah. Clark: If folks are going east they are going to be better off with no signal there. They don't -- they don't want to be interrupted. They are just going to continue on. So, I -- mean that's -- that's my perspective on it, Council Member Strader. Strader: Okay. Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: Maybe try to kind of summarize what I'm hearing in my -- kind of my own personal views. I think it's a good project. It's kind of tucked in a spot that's a little awkward next to a state highway. That's not an ideal place to put a development. So, think you have done a pretty good job figuring out how to make that work. I like that it's a fairly long phased out approach. I think having that time built in there for the rest of the developments that come around, I think there is some benefit. It almost feels like you are, you know, we are looking at these different planning entities with our transportation network, to which no one here has any control, other than input, and what we are getting back from them is, you know, who controls what road now versus in the future and what is the traffic pattern going to look like. Nobody knows -- and to our -- our sister agencies who are doing the work, they don't frankly know and so they are reserving judgment and decisions and committing capital dollars until they have a better understanding. It's a -- kind of a -- this feels like a very unique situation for us to be in with that -- with that. I like what I'm hearing with the application. Concerns with school crowding, et cetera are fine. I -- I do think that the surface road network, you know, Councilman Whitlock's question was a really good question, but it seems like there is some -- a plan for that. I think Council Woman Strader's drilling in on what probably is the biggest issue, which is are we accidentally creating a bottleneck to which we cannot back out of. I don't know if any of us have the -- the answers to that right now. That's kind of how I'm seeing it right now. The application itself I think is a pretty solid one and Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 55 of 61 1 don't know what other further information we are going to get from ITD or ACHD. I don't know. I mean I wish there was more information that we could look at, but I just don't know that we can get it, because I don't know that they have it. That's kind of where -- as I'm trying to kind of synthesize where I see this right now that's what I'm -- that's where I'm at. Overton: Mr. Mayor, if I can follow up -- Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: -- on what Councilman Taylor just said. I'm having the same feelings you are. I like the application. I like the way it's laid out. It's one of the first developments we have got on that side of 16 and what I'm -- I -- I literally almost read the entire report, again, from ACHD and what I see them doing is talking a lot about, well, we may do this or we may do that and I think we are looking for concrete answers and those aren't going to come, because they are waiting to see what those warrants look like. They are waiting to see how -- what effect Highway 16 has. I think we have to come to terms with that and go back to just looking at our application and what we are talking about in local roadways that exist right now. Clark: Mr. Mayor, if I could, too, you know, the -- this entire thing is not just a guess though either. You know, I -- I -- I -- I don't think it's fair to ACHD or to the traffic engineers who looked at this to suggest that -- that they are leaving everything wide open. They actually did review each of these intersections. They -- they identified what mitigation needs to be there. With regard to this particular intersection ACHD has decided that, hey, it doesn't make sense to go do this now when we got state Highway 16 that's coming and may change some things and so we are going to reserve the ability to do that later. They are not saying it's not going to happen. They are just looking at this and doing something that I think is pretty obvious. State Highway 16 is going to change a bunch of things and they want to make sure that they understand it before they put it in there. But that doesn't mean it's not going to happen. And so -- and, again, tens of thousands of dollars on a traffic impact study to try to understand all that so that we can put that in front of you guys and have something for ACHD to comment on. Whitlock: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Whitlock. Whitlock: More a comment than a question. So, this slide on the screen I think helps me a lot, because you didn't -- you didn't design Highway 16 and the underpass there, but the fact that you have 600 feet from that underpass to Ersatz Place answered my question of is there enough room there to do a dedicated right turn into your project and I think there is enough to do that center lane and -- and address some of those issues of egress from this property. This map also shows me, you know, a potential civic side of school, church or something similar to that, which it's not going to be homes in there Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 56 of 61 and there will be some traffic, depending on whether it's a school or a church and time of day and those kinds of things, but there will be another egress point out onto Star Road; is that right? At some point. Clark: Owyhee Storm is -- Whitlock: Owyhee Storm. Okay. Next one is Star. So, you know, I -- I think there will be additional options as the other puzzle pieces get put into place here, So, this -- this helped crystallize some things in my mind despite all the uncertainty of -- of traffic and other entities not being able to tell us what their plans are. Clark: Thank you. Simison: And if I could piggyback on that, I mean, you know, I have got my own views on -- you are -- I'm never going to turn right and go a mile and go a mile to go a mile, I'm -- I'm going to be in that left-hand turn lane forever. I'm going to make that left-hand turn no matter what happens. I don't care who is getting in my way type of mentality. That's just me. I'm not going to -- you are not going to -- gas is too expensive for me to drive three miles to make a left-hand turn. My wife, on the other hand, she will only make right-hand turns, you know, that -- yeah, but -- but -- but my main point, though, is the connection to Ersatz over to Owyhee Storm Avenue is actually going to -- in my opinion say that the maps that you have shown really aren't going to be the way that people are going to function, because three quarters of the way down they are going to access -- they are going to go north a little bit and go over an eighth of a mile, quarter mile and, then, take that up to the road, so the -- you are going to access that probably at Owyhee Storm Avenue at some point. That's where you are going to have a light in this area to allow breaks in traffic and people to access more than likely the -- you know, I don't know what's going to happen to McMillan, that's just a -- or McDermott. That's -- no -- no idea, but -- so, that actually to me says that's how you can get out of this long term in my opinion, more so than any place else and I think it's -- it's a little bit more reasonable than the previous maps on how you are getting to Costco components for people like me anyways, so -- Clark: And I think, you know, part -- you know, maybe to our to -- a little more explanation on that. Part of the -- the thought process with that map was to show how you are going to get to Highway 16, the interchanges, where we don't have one right there, so -- and -- and maybe some -- another point and maybe this is the larger point is that, you know, the -- the city's invested a bunch in the -- in this Field sub area. You know, the -- those first few steps in developing these areas are a little more tentative, just because you got to work with the other agencies and make it happen, but, you know, we are never going to get the -- the park and the mixed-use interchange and all that stuff if we don't get some rooftops out there. So, hopefully, that helps to -- this helps to prime that pump. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 57 of 61 Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: It's all going to happen, it's just a question of how long it takes us to get there. Like I -- I -- the infrastructure investment argument doesn't give me the same sense of urgency, because we are -- we are building these on a decades' long timeline. It will all eventually be fine. I -- I just think it's a question of is like is the timing right for this development right now? And from where I'm sitting I'm not getting a lot of confidence from ACHD on how this is going to play out and so that -- that's my struggle. I'm not sure where I'm going to fall on this one. I -- I am very worried that if we do create a bottleneck that we cannot fix it could create a really acute situation that already McMillan is a bad situation and -- and I have already vowed not to put more traffic on McMillan in other applications. I was thinking maybe I would make an exception for this, because it's kind of on the other side of Highway 16 and that might make more sense, because I was thinking maybe we will have all the connectivity we need. I guess I'm just not getting a clear enough picture of how this would all work. I do agree, I think long term Owyhee Storm is the answer. I think Councilman Whitlock completely nailed it on that. But that -- that may be a ways; right? Because you don't control that other property and that would make that connection, so a little bit of a timing issue. Simison: Onto a different topic. The one thing I really -- yeah. I -- I understand the sound issues, but I'm glad that the -- in theory Highway 16 will be open before anything is out there along that, so people understand what they are getting. You know, it's one thing to have it be louder than you like, it's another thing to have it happen after you move in. Clark: Yeah. I think I agree with that. The timing is good. You know, you never want to have the -- the folks come back to you later and say that this wasn't that the -- what the realtor told me, which is the inevitable phone call that I get from the cold calls at my office, but, you know, in this case we are pretty confident in that sound mitigation, because we did put the attached product there in addition to the berm, in addition to the -- to the wall. So, you know, the combination of those things should be a real benefit to the rest of the area in fact. Like if you -- if you -- you know, maybe going back to some of the conversations earlier, if you put in more porous product, you know, with yards and whatnot, that sound is just going to travel through the whole neighborhood and so we think that actually this -- that's another reason to do what we have done is it creates a real sound barrier, not just with the fence, but with the actual housing type. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: If we have no more public comments, I would move to close the public hearing. Little Roberts: Second. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 58 of 61 Simison: Have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. Is there any discussion? If not all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? They ayes have it and the public hearing is closed. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. Overton: Mr. Mayor, I think we have all had a view of this application this evening and have to go back to one of the first lines that they talked about having to build this out, 50 to 60 homes a year until 2035, 2037. As we watch how this area develops I think even the applicant has to be very cautious and watch how this all goes and how the roadways are going to go as well. I have a lot of confidence in this area that we are going to see a lot more applications coming as the plans for the roadways get more solidified. Confident enough I will kick off the first run as a motion tonight. After considering all staff, applicant and public testimony, including keeping in Condition 2-C and adding in the request that the developer work with our staff on a dust mitigation plan, I move to approve File No. H-2025-0002 as presented in the staff report for the hearing date of August 19th, 2025. Taylor: Second. Simison: I have a motion and a second. Is there discussion? Napoli: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, did you want to strike provision E from the development agreement as well to align with ACHD on not having the alignments aligned with the school. Overton: Yes. Motion maker would like to strike that. Napoli: Thank you. Taylor: And the second agrees. Simison: And the second agrees with that. For discussion. Taylor: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Taylor. Taylor: I will just be pretty brief. I already kind of shared some comments. I think it's a good project. I kind of like it. The more I have thought about it I think it's a pretty good project for where it is. Do you think trying to can -- hold this application to the same standard I would with others with respect to the fact that we rely on our -- our sister agencies and entities when working through the challenges with -- with transportation. It's kind of unique, it's, you know, one of the first ones out there. I do think that this will spur additional applications and interest. Obviously, we -- we know we have a -- a park out there that we would like to get built and we need some impact fees. We need some Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 59 of 61 other things to get going. I think once Highway 16 is done I think we will see a lot of interest out there and this is -- it's always a little bit rough when it's the first one out there, because there is so many unknowns, but I don't think it's fair to hold this application sort of hostage with some unknowns that even are planning division -- or planning departments and our other agencies still are looking for some information on that. So, again, I do think it's a good application and I -- I -- I don't think holding off for another time is going to change anything. I think it's okay to move forward. So, glad to support it. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I'm just not going to get there tonight on it. I was pretty close. I actually thought maybe I could, but I just -- I just don't feel good about it. It really for me it's -- McMillan Road is already a disaster in District 2 is my opinion. It can never be widened -- at least the segment that's along the canal and here I just hear so much uncertainty from our partner agency and I agree we have to rely on their judgment, we have to rely on them to do their job, but we also need to try to help them see around some corners and we need to stop ourselves I think from creating a huge bottleneck here. I just haven't received enough information to satisfy me that we are going to avoid that. So, I -- I -- I just -- for me I haven't hit the bar yet. Thanks. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: I will -- I will be brief. A lot of my Council Members have summed up my thoughts and, you know, I -- I talked about our last application and -- and the -- the right application in the wrong spot and this is different, this is -- this is the right application in the right spot at the right time. I really want to commend the applicant in really responding to the perceived concerns about sound. I think ultimately that benefits your future residents, it benefits our community, it's a win all around and going to the alternative compliance seems to be the most appropriate. Like my good -- my good colleague Council Member Taylor, if I had written concerns from the highway district about some of this I would -- I would be more sympathetic to slowing it down, but I think that certainly this application is going to -- Councilman Taylor's points -- spur some development to the west, which I think will also provide some better connectivity to our future residents. So, I don't see any reason why I'm going to be opposed about this application tonight and look forward to seeing it be a success. Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Little Roberts. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 60 of 61 Little Roberts: Mr. Mayor, I will be supporting the application tonight. I agree, I wish we had a crystal ball and knew what was going to happen exactly with the roads and when Highway 16 opens, but we don't, but I think we need to trust our partners. This is a good application in a great spot that will kick off kind of the start of what I believe is going to happen out there and I'm going to believe that our partners are going to do their very best to mitigate traffic as they see fit and after they know what's going to happen with Highway 16. So, again, I will be in support of it. Simison: If there is no further comments ask the clerk to call the roll. Roll Call: Cavener, yea; Strader, nay; Overton, yea; Little Roberts, yea; Taylor, yea; Whitlock, yea. Simison: Five ayes. One nay. The item is agreed to. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE NAY. FUTURE MEETING TOPICS Simison: Council, anything under future meeting topics or do I have a motion for Executive Session? Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Real quick before I -- I make a motion. I just -- I want to flag for -- for Council next week in our work session we will be hearing from MDC. Our -- our good clerk passed out a memo that MDC had provided, but hadn't necessarily been forwarded on to us. I would encourage you all as part of your weekly preparation -- I know you go through all the application. This may not have necessarily been seen on the agenda, so I wanted to flag it for you that it's in your inbox. It is sections of the destination downtown report, but some questions that MDC is asking of us. So, would encourage you to review those questions and be prepared to provide a perspective. We are going to be talking about design standards next week. Moving forward. I have also asked MDC to provide this to us on a little bit more of an earlier update, so we have time to prepare particularly here is what they are going to present and maybe what questions they are going to ask of us. So, it's a little bit more of an efficient process moving forward. EXECUTIVE SESSION [Action Item] per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(f): To communicate with legal counsel for the public agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation, or controversies not yet being litigated but imminently likely to be litigated. Meridian City Council August 19,2025 Page 61 of 61 Cavener: And with that, Mr. Mayor, and move we go into Executive -- Executive Session pursuant to Idaho State Code 74-206(1)(f) and (1)(d). Strader: Second. Simison: Have a motion and a second to go into Executive Session. Is there any discussion? If not Clerk call the roll. Roll Call: Cavener, yea; Strader, yea; Overton, yea; Little Roberts, yea; Taylor, yea; Whitlock, yea. Simison: All ayes. Motion carries and we will go into Executive Session. MOTION CARRIED: ALLAYES. EXECUTIVE SESSION: (9:20 p.m. to 10:02 p.m.) (Motion and second -- out of Executive Session - Cavener/Strader.) (Motion and second to adjourn - Cavener/Strader.) MEETING ADJOURNED AT 10:02 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON 9-2-2025 ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK 9-2-2025