HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-11-18 John Elliott
Charlene Way
From:John Elliott <boisevikings@mac.com>
Sent:Tuesday, November 18, 2025 5:22 PM
To:Clerks Comment
Subject:Borough Village (H-2025- 0037) P&Z Written Testimony
External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments.
Thank you for your consideration of our concerns about this project. We will be out of town
on the evening of the hearing but wanted to submit our testimony. We live about three houses
away from the proposed development. Our concerns about the Borough Development fall
into several large categories.
Traffic and Safety Impacts
The proposal would significantly increase vehicle trips through a neighborhood never
designed for this level of density or traffic volume. Changes to the traffic patterns on Chinden
have already rerouted substantial traffic through the residential neighborhood south of the
site. This project compounds that impact. The developer admits that access to the site is
now “a circuitous route from SH-20/26 to N. Saguaro Hills to E. Everest Street to a common
drive.” That circuitous routing means more trips will funnel through Jericho which is a
residential street with single family homes on both sides. The addition of 20 new dwelling
units could conservatively generate 160–200 new daily vehicle trips. ACHD’s 2008 decision
to close Jericho’s highway access explicitly acknowledged the need to reduce through-traffic
in this corridor. Reversing that intent through densification undermines that earlier public
safety decision.
Incompatibility with Surrounding Land Use
The requested R-15 zoning and 20-unit configuration are out of scale with adjacent
residential development.
South Westborough Subdivision is zoned R-2, with one-acre lots and single-family homes.
Across the street: smaller-lot detached homes, still low-density residential.
The proposed duet and multi-family units represent a jump from roughly 2 units per acre to 8–9
units per acre — a 400%+ density increase immediately adjacent to established single-family
properties.
Even the developer concedes this sensitivity, proposing two single-story homes as a
“transition.” Two homes do not mitigate the scale, parking, and density contrast of 18 multi-
family dwellings behind them.
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It appears the City denied a similar rezoning in 2016, citing lack of a compelling reason to
change the zoning. The circumstances have not materially changed — except now there’s
more traffic and less access than before.
Questionable Consistency with Comprehensive Plan
While the developer cites the “Mixed-Use Community” designation, the intent of that
designation is integration and connectivity — not isolated multi-family infill without
supporting commercial or pedestrian infrastructure. The site lacks walkable access to retail,
transit, or employment — core features of a Mixed-Use Community.
The elimination of Jericho Street access removed the “Neighborhood Center” concept
entirely.
The City’s Comprehensive Plan emphasizes compatible transitions between intensity levels.
Placing R-15 directly against R-2 without buffers, open space, or gradual density step-down
conflicts with that principle.
Site Design and Quality Concerns
The project design sacrifices livability and visual quality for density. The level of landscaping
and the list of proposed amenities is limited and not consistent with the housing that exists
around it. Similarly, the development calls for outdoor parking with no garage access which
also is a substantial variance from the surrounding properties.
Parking and Spillover Impacts
Parking is already problematic in this area, and this proposal does not solve it. The developer
admits that existing Borough Subdivision residents already overflow park along Jericho and
Everest Streets. Their solution — to allow overflow use of this new development’s parking —
shifts the problem but does not solve it. There is no assurance that on-street parking won’t
further impact nearby single-family neighborhoods. This is a significant issue.
Precedent and Long-Term Consequences
Approving this rezoning sets a precedent for up-zoning isolated office parcels into high-
density residential without proper traffic or infrastructure mitigation. Other limited office
parcels in the Chinden corridor could seek similar changes, undermining corridor planning.
The City has already denied this very conversion once — approving it now under even more
constrained access conditions contradicts that decision.
Constructive Alternative
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We believe the community supports measured, compatible infill, not the elimination of all
transition between highway-adjacent and low-density neighborhoods. We have sought to
engage the developer in conversations that might result in a reasonable compromise. The
community meetings have been exceedingly frustrating because the developer’s
representatives have been non-responsive to those conversations. We believe there is a
pathway forward here if the developer will engage in further conversation.
Thank you for your consideration of this submission.
John and Robin Elliott
6124 No Jericho Road
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