HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-09-09 Robin Friehling
Charlene Way
From:Friehlings1 <friehlings1@aol.com>
Sent:Tuesday, September 9, 2025 9:44 AM
To:Clerks Comment; CityCouncil2@MeridianCity.org; Mayor Office Feedback; Josha
Iverson
Subject:Fwd: In 'N Out
External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments.
Sorry - I failed to Reply to All so I am forwarding this.
Begin forwarded message:
From: Friehlings1 <friehlings1@aol.com>
Date: Sep 9, 2025 at 9:37 AM
To: Josha Iverson <jiverson@meridiancity.org>
Subject: Re: In 'N Out
Good morning,
Where does public safety come into consideration with regard to land use?
When a particular business has a documented track record with respect to number of visitors and need
for overflow (stacking) space - doesn’t the volume of traffic on existing roads and the ability of the roads,
traffic flow, etc. come into consideration?
I certainly hope so because the consequence of not taking those facts into consideration is likely to be
serious injury and/or death to citizens.
Thank you,
Robin Friehling
On Sep 8, 2025 at 7:59 AM, <Josha Iverson> wrote:
Good morning Robin,
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your thoughts about the proposed project. Your email has been received by
the Mayor’s Office. Because this project is part of an open application, the Mayor and City Council members are
prohibited from commenting outside of the public hearing process. That said, we take public feedback seriously
and want you to know that we have received your email and have read your comments.
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Your email has been forwarded to our City Clerk and has been included in the project public record. As you may be
aware, the City does not determine which food service or business locates at a property, the City regulates the
land use of various properties while businesses decide to locate at given sites or areas based on market
conditions. This project’s City Council public hearing is currently scheduled for Tuesday, September
9th. Additionally, we invite you to check the City’s website, meridiancity.org for any upcoming public hearing
notices and additional information regarding the development. I have also copied the Planning Department if you
have additional questions on hearings or should that date change.
Thank you,
Josha Iverson| Executive Assistant
City of Meridian | Mayor’s Office
33 E. Broadway Ave., Meridian, Idaho 83642
Phone: (208) 489-0529
Built for Business, Designed for Living
All e-mail messages sent to or received by City of Meridian e-mail accounts are subject to the Idaho law,
in regards to both release and retention, and may be released upon request, unless exempt from disclosure by law
From: friehlings1@aol.com <friehlings1@aol.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 6, 2025 7:25 PM
To: Clerks Comment <comment@meridiancity.org>; Mayor Office Feedback <MayorOfficeFeedback@meridiancity.org>;
CityCouncil2@MeridianCity.org
Subject: In 'N Out
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To my representatives,
My husband and I live in the Bainbridge subdivision in the section closest to the proposed location for
In 'N Out. We strongly object to their application to operate one of their restaurants at the corner of
Ten Mile and Lost Rapids Roads.
Currently, there are certain times of the day when traffic at that corner backs up from the left turn lane
from ten Mile North onto Lost Rapids North, as there is currently more traffic than that left turn lane
can handle at certain times of the day. At the hearing before the Meridian Planning Board, the In 'N
Out rep stated that the turn lane can handle 10 cars. That might be true if cars could back up to
parallel park to get into that lane. With traffic traveling at 40 mph (and typically over the speed limit)
as it approaches that intersection, when the left turn lane traffic backs up into the left lane on Ten Mile
North, there is the potential for read end collisions. As it is, when there is enough room to pull into the
left hand turn lane, with my signal on, while decelerating to get into that lane, I have nearly been
rear-ended on numerous occasions.
To make matters worse, the highway department recently painted arrows in that turn lane indicating
that turns can be made from both the left lane on southbound Ten Mile AND the left lane on
northbound Ten Mile using that same turn lane! The people turning left from the southbound side are
heading into the auxiliary parking lot for the LDS Church that exists at the corner of Ten Mile and Lost
Rapids (south side of Lost Rapids opposite to the proposed In 'N Out location). You might think that
the church lot is only being used on Sundays or for church events, however, people are permitted to
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use the lot when there is not a church event and it is not Sunday. Today (Saturday) the lot was
packed with cars due to the many soccer games held in the park adjacent to that parking lot.
Another concern is for the potential for traffic to try to avoid that left turn from North Ten Mile onto
Lost Rapids by cutting through the newly approved Adero subdivision which will connect with
Bainbridge via Fairborn Avenue. This will send traffic down Fairborn through the Bainbridge
neighborhood. That is a particularly risky stretch for increased traffic as there are many children on
Fairborn and there is a playground and a swimming pool that is accessed from Fairborn to
Vanderbilt. There are kids crossing the street frequently to get to the playground and/or pool. Then
there is a community mailbox on Fairborn where many of us stop our cars to get out to get our mail,
narrowing the roadway at that point. Following the mailboxes there is a sharp curve onto Wolf
Rapids. For those of us who live here, we know to take the curve slowly as there is a high risk of
hitting someone head on coming from the opposite direction. Many near misses have occurred when
drivers go too fast coming around that corner from Fairborn.
I will let other people address all of the concerns regarding traffic coming and going into and out of
the proposed In 'N Out site given the already heavy traffic resulting from COSTCO.
The bottom line is that this is a residential area with many children and a significant volume of traffic
already. Please represent us and our safety concerns when you consider In 'N Out's
application. They did not elect you. They have not been paying taxes here. They are not raising
their children here.
There is so much space available on Ten Mile near the I-84 interchange that would be appropriate for
the business that they are proposing with the volume of traffic that particular business
generates. That's where they belong - not here in our neighborhood!
Thank you,
Robin Friehling
5698 N. Calcutta Avenue
Meridian, ID 83646
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