HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-10-13 Michael Arnold
CityClerk@meridiancity.org
This letter is being sent to advise the City Council that we are strongly opposed to the Planning
Divisions proposed amendment (ZOA-2025-0001).
Over the past Thirteen (13) years we have watched as developers have presented plans for approval of
the City Council, and then upon approval of the council, see the development grow and evolve in ways
that the city council did not approve. ( i.e. Sagarra phases 1&2). These experiences have caused me to
earnestly believe that our Planning Division has it’s priorities backward! Instead of working with the
developers to ensure projects adhere, not only to the letter of the Development Code, but also to the
spirit of that Code, the Planning Division appears to be bending over backwards to give the developers
everything that they want, in spite of what the Development Code dictates (the Sagarra high-rise height
debacle comes to mind).
We need internal checks and balances to ensure that the Planning Division works for the Council and
the public, not the developers. The last thing we need is to give Planning Division even more latitude
to approve developer requests without supervision from the City Council and the knowledge of the
public. Planning Division level approval needs to be significantly reduced, not expanded! Developer
requests need to be viewed “in the Sunshine,” where the public can see and exercise their right to
express their opinion, not “in the dark, behind the Planning Directors door”!
We urge you not to approve this request.