HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007 09-04Meridian City Council Meeting September 4,
2007
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 7:07 P.M., Tuesday,
September 4, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Keith Bird, Joe Borton, Charlie Rountree,
and David Zaremba.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Will Berg, Anna Canning, Len Grady, Tracy Basterrechea,
Bill Johnson, Keith Watts, and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll-call Attendance:
Roll call.
X David Zaremba X _ Joe Borton
X__ Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
_X_ Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: Good evening. I will go ahead and start tonight's regular meeting agenda.
It is Tuesday, September 4th. It's a few minutes after 7:00. Welcome to all of you. We
will start tonight's meeting with roll call attendance.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance:
De Weerd: If you will all rise and join us in the pledge.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Community Invocation by Retired Pastor Burton Roberts with
Meridian Gospel Tabernacle:
De Weerd: Before I move to Item No. 3 -- and certainly as we ask Pastor Robert -- or
Pastor Burton Roberts to come up and lead us tonight in the invocation, I would like to
take this as an opportunity to invite you all to the reception in his honor this weekend at
3:00 o'clock at the Meridian Gospel Tabernacle in celebration of 51 years of service to
God and certainly we appreciate what you have done -- you and your family have done
in this community in building it as a community and a desirable place to live. And I am
very grateful to have met you and consider you a friend and I would like to present you
with a City of Meridian pen. And now it's not a lapel pin, it's actually a writing pen, and
thank you for what you have done for the community. And now if you will all join us in
the community invocation or take this as an opportunity for a moment of reflection.
Pastor.
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September 4, 2007
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Roberts: Most gracious and kind Heavenly Father, it is always a pleasure as we come
before you and ask that you would be a part of this meeting tonight. We sense the
need in our community to be sure that we ask for your wisdom, for your guidance, for
your strength in our lives in helping us with the decisions that we make. It's so
important that we remember to ask you to be a part of everything that we do and think.
And so tonight we ask that great wisdom and discernment and understanding would be
imparted to those that are taking part in this meeting. Once again, Father, I ask that
you would bless in a very special way our Mayor. Her leadership has been so
appreciated and, Father, we just ask if you would continue to watch over and care for
her and give her the strength that she needs, for the City Council members and all of
the workers of the city, Father God, watch over and care for each one of them. Bless
them, cause their lives to be strengthened by the knowing that you are real in their
hearts and their lives. So, be with us this night and all of these proceedings and we ask
all these things in Jesus' wonderful and mighty name, amen. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Thank you for joining us. And good luck with the transition.
Yes. Pastor Burton Roberts, would you take one last opportunity to introduce the new
Burton Roberts of the Meridian Gospel Tabernacle.
Roberts: This Ralph Lowe, four generation Meridianite, who I stole away to Kellogg a
few years ago, so I decided I should bring him back and he and his wife Susie are very
capable to fill my shoes and just happy to have him. So, he's going to get on the list
and come and pray for you once in awhile. So, it's good to have him and his wife with
us and -- Pastor Ralph Lowe.
De Weerd: Welcome Pastor Lowe. Welcome home.
Lowe: I went to fourth grade with Will.
De Weerd: oh, a classmate.
Zaremba: We hadn't realized he made it that far.
Berg: Does that mean I was here first or -- I'm really old.
De Weerd: No. They just hired a young replacement, didn't they. Well, welcome
home. And I hope you enjoy your retirement.
Roberts: I'm going to.
De Weerd: It's well deserved.
Roberts: Thank you.
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September 4, 2007
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Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda:
De Weerd: Council, we will get back to our agenda. Item No. 4 is adoption of the
agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: On the Consent Agenda, which I will revisit again. Items O, P, and Q are going to
be moved to Department Reports A and will be under the Mayor's office. We have
been asked by the applicants to continue Item 9, FP 07-027 until 9/11/07. And also 11,
12 and 13, all to be continued to 9/11/07. Item 15 is Ordinance No. 07-1335 and Item
16 is Ordinance No. 07-1336. With that I move we approve the revised agenda.
Rountree: Madam Mayor --
Zaremba: Madam Mayor.
Rountree: -- I'll second that with the clarification that Item 13 is requested to continue to
9/18.
Bird: Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. You're right. I agree with that.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as changed. All those
in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 5: Consent Agenda:
A. Approve Minutes of August 14, 2007 Pre-Council Meeting:
B. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: RZ 07-
011 Request for a Rezone of 0.77 of an acre from C-C to an O-T
zone for Shaylee Estates by Tealey’s Land Surveying – 1402 &
1414 North Meridian Road:
C. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: PP 07-
010 Request for Preliminary Plat approval of 2 office building lots, 6
single-family residential building lots and 1 common lot on 0.77 of
an acre in a proposed O-T zone for Shaylee Estates by Tealey’s
Land Surveying – 1402 & 1414 North Meridian Road:
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September 4, 2007
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D. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: CUP
07-010 Request for Conditional Use Permit to construct 6 town
homes in a proposed O-T zone that do not meet the criteria of the
Downtown Meridian Design Guidelines for Shaylee Estates by
Tealey’s Land Surveying – 1402 & 1414 North Meridian Road:
E. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: RZ 07-
012 Request for Rezone of approximately 22.7 acres from an R-8
to a C-G zone for Valley Shepherd on Meridian by the Valley
Shepherd Church of the Nazarene – 150 West Maestra:
F. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: PP 07-
006 Request for Preliminary Plat approval of 7 single family
residential building lots and 2 common area lots on 1.96 acres in an
R-4 zone for Moose Creek Subdivision by Moose Creek
Construction – 4275 N. Jones Creek Lane:
G. Development Agreement: AZ 07-004 Request for Annexation
and Zoning of 2.48 acres from RUT to an L-O zone for Locust
Grove Professional Office Building by Ruby/Edwards:
Architecture + Design – 1695 South Locust Grove Road:
H. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: CUP
07-004 Request for a Conditional Use Permit for the operation of a
bar, the Busted Shovel, in the O-T zone for the Busted Shovel by
William Kosterman – 704 Main Street:
I. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Denial: AP 07-
004 Request for City Council Review of an Appeal of approved
CUP 07-004 to allow for the operation of a drinking establishment
in an O-T zone for the Busted Shovel by Sherer & Wynkoop, LLC
– 704 North Main Street:
J. Addendum to Development Agreement: MI 07-005 Request for
a Miscellaneous Application to amend the Development Agreement
for Market Square to remove the requirement for Conditional Use
Permit approval for site plan review for structures over 50,000
square feet for Gold’s Gym by Josh Wheeler – 3570 North Eagle
Road:
K. Approve Standard Form of Agreement for the Construction of
the Black Cat Trunk Sewer, Phase 4, Schedule A
(Construction) with Brown Construction Inc. for $862,676.06:
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September 4, 2007
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L. Approve Ada County Sheriff’s Office Records Billing
Agreement:
M. Approve Contract for Heroes Park Tee / Pressure Test for
Wastewater Reuse with H2 Excavation, LLC for $14,850.00:
N. Approve Contract for Task Order 2.4 – Plant Optimization / Filter
Preliminary Design with CH2M HILL for $42,151:
De Weerd: Item 5 is the Consent Agenda.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: On the Consent Agenda we have been -- it has been asked by the Council and
Mayor to move Items O, P and Q, to A - O, P and Q. And with that the rest of the
Consent Agenda I move we approve and for the Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda as changed.
If there is no discussion, Mr. Berg, will you, please, call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 6: Department Reports:
A. Mayor’s Office:
1. Follow Up on Meridian School District Request to Share
Costs to Move Pine Street School House from August
14, 2007:
De Weerd: Thank you. Item 6 under Department Reports. My office, I have the first
item, which I will pass this piece of discussion over to Councilman Bird.
Bird: This is the moving of the Meridian Pine School over to a house over there by -- in
front of the elementary school that needs to be demo'd and stuff. I don't have a lot
more information than what I had last week. We couldn't -- I couldn't get one of my
contractors to get there, he went out of town, and we -- our demolition guy Keith has
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September 4, 2007
Page 6 of 46
been in touch with, but we will have something back the 11th with a not to exceed and,
basically, what they are asking the city to do is to tear down the old structure, put new
foundation in, they will -- they will move the old the -- the Pine School over there and,
then, we will set it up. So, we will have something the 11th, not to exceed figure for you.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: And they need it -- we need to get on it as soon as possible if we can.
2. City Hall Building Update on Value Engineering Options:
De Weerd: Any questions from Council? Item 2. Council, you should have received in
your box and in your packet a value engineering option sheet and as we went through
this exercise we saw that, really, what we were doing are finding pennies and nickels
and didn't want to lose sight of the overarching goals that we have for this building and
that is one that will serve this community for generations. After all was said and done
and certainly in light of the desire to pursue the Silver Leed certification, some of the
value engineering options didn't make sense, because what we risked was losing Leed
points and so what we found was the possible savings was very minimal and I guess
the direction I'm asking of all of you tonight is would you like this as a detailed
discussion at our meeting next week or would you like to proceed as in the plan and
certainly in each of the bid packages or are you interested in walking through this list
and looking at each of these items by item? And I guess there is one final piece to this
discussion. There is an opportunity to take a look at the unassigned areas and kind of
consolidate. It was the team's -- the team's direction was not to do it at this point. If
that's what we wanted to do nine months ago would have been the time to do it. The
Council did approve the floor plans as was submitted, so I would also kind of like to put
that question to rest as well and would look for a discussion on those two questions.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: A clarification on that valued engineering. If you will notice, I don't know why
bookkeeping did it or what it is -- they moved the biggest share of saving is the moving
of the property, clean up and stuff and I mean I don't know why that was moved over to
value engineering or who did it, but I think there is -- I think that the building is designed
-- there is probably some things that we could get away with, but if you got to lose
points, you have to -- you're taking a chance of losing points and, like you said, it's
nickel and diming, so -- and it's a building that -- it's going to last for generations and
generations and on the redesign I'm -- I will take the blame for not bringing this to the
attention nine months ago, but I thought it would have been. So, it's too late to -- the
horse is out of the barn, can't close the door now.
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September 4, 2007
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De Weerd: Anyone else have a cliche they would like to share? I do think that right
now -- and looking at those spaces, that it has been designed as a -- as the goal was to
-- to look at future spaces and see how those future spaces can be transitioned in.
Some of them, because of the size of the departments, is just not as easy to transition
in because of the particular floor layouts and we are -- we continue to look at options on
that. So, again, I guess the question is on either of those two talking points would you
like more detail brought back -- because we do need to have a decision on this.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Borton: I'm not necessarily interested in bringing it back and having a discussion for
me. The design is done and the layout's done and while we always want to be looking
for any cost savings, even if they are nickels and dimes, I no way support skipping and
scratching so much so that we lose what we all intended it to be is a beautiful landmark
in downtown Meridian and also with this internal layout of City Hall's been decided and
done, in my opinion it's just a done deal and to the extent we might have particular
amenities inside City Hall which allow our employees do the best job possible and
shows the respect and value to them that they deserve, I'm all for it. If it's a little nicer
this or that, I'm all for it. If it costs a little more I'm all for it. I want to have everyone who
works in that City Hall to have a very very usable, valuable, pleasurable, efficient, nice
place to work. So, not only do I not necessarily want to revisit department locations and
grand design, I don't necessarily -- I'm not interested in skipping on any of the particular
amenities that the city employees are going to get when they work there.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
Rountree: Yes, Mr. Rountree.
De Weerd: In pursuing this list I don't see amenities, I see an opportunity to actually
save money in the future, because a good share of these things are suggestions not to
do it now, but they will be needed later. Well, if we do them now they are going to cost
us less than if we wait five years to do them, so that was not part of the value
engineering study and should have been and I guess the other areas that I see here are
change orders in materials that will be of not inferior quality, but lesser quality, which will
result in earlier maintenance activities. So, it seems to me that, you know, I would say
let's go -- let's go with it the way we set it up, the way we got it designed, and move
forward.
De Weerd: Keith?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor --
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September 4, 2007
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De Weerd: I'm sorry.
Zaremba: -- I would only add that I'm a firm believer that quality up front saves you
money in the long run. So, I'm never one for throwing money away, but well spent
money that saves you money later, as has been mentioned, that makes our employees
and our citizens proud, that we need to spend it.
Watts: Madam Mayor, Council Members, I just want to maybe clarify a few things for
me. As far as completing the building as planned, are we -- are we talking the flooring
throughout, lighting, and heating throughout now, as far as putting that off until later?
De Weerd: It sounds like that is what Councilman Rountree --
Watts: I would agree with that as well.
Bird: It's cheaper to do it now than it is five years from now.
De Weerd: You know, there are a couple things on here that make sense in deleting.
The shower and restrooms on the third floor and, you know, those things. But finishing
out the unsigned areas, there will be some TI work needed as those areas are brought
into usable space, but it does minimize what that impact would be.
Watts: I agree. Thank you.
De Weerd: Any further discussion? Any further detail needed, Keith?
Watts: I don't believe so. I can instruct Petra from that.
De Weerd: Thank you. You just added less time to our weekly meetings and that is
appreciated.
3. Change Order No. 2 for LCA Architects for Meridian City Hall
Building Modifications for Re-Design due to raising the
Building 4’0 in Elevation for $23,680.00:
O. Standard Form of Agreement with Commercial Painting,
Inc. for Painting and Wall Coverings for the New City
Hall:
P. Approval of Change Order No. 1 to Sidewalks, LLC for
the amount of $137,108.00 in Conjunction with ASI #’s 5
& 10 (raising the Building 4’):
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September 4, 2007
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Q. Approval of Deductive Change Order No. 1 to TMC, Inc.
for the amount of -$32,348.00 in Conjunction with ASI
#’s 5 & 10:
De Weerd: Item No. 3 is discussion on any of these change orders in front of you.
Certainly, the one listed on number three, but also the three items moved from the
Consent Agenda of O, P and Q, and I will ask Keith to make any comment or field any
questions.
Watts: Yes. P and Q are actually the change orders on item number three. They were
-- they are a duplicate on the agenda. Item 0 is also the contract for the painting, which
was brought to you, I believe, last week. That is from the original low bidder Color Craft
withdrawing their bid. They have withdrawn their bid. We have granted them the ability
to do so. They did not do so within the five days required in order for us to return their
bid bond, so we let them know that we were going to keep their bid bond. They notified
us today that they would like to submit a cashier's check in lieu of a bid bond, which we
have also allowed them to do so. So, as I receive a cashier's check from them I will
return their bid bond and we will keep the cashier's check. And the contract in front of
you is with Commercial Painting with the new contractor for painting.
De Weerd: Okay.
Watts: Which is package number 11, painting and wall covering. Are there any
questions on O?
De Weerd: Any questions, Council?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: I have none.
De Weerd: It sounds like we will need --
Bird: Do you want it done separate or individual? Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve the contract with Commercial Painting. Do you have a sum,
Keith?
Watts: 151,275 dollars.
Bird: Right. The Mayor to sign and the Clerk to attest after the contractor has signed.
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September 4, 2007
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Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? Hearing none,
Mr. Berg.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Watts: The two change orders that are before you tonight are with Sidewalks, LLC,
which is the concrete contractor, and also with TMC, who is the masonry contractor.
The concrete contractor, the additional change order is for 137,108 dollars, which is
directly related to raising the building four feet higher, which is in the stem wall, and the
work that goes along with that. The reduction or change order deduct is from TMC,
which is for a deduct of 32,348 dollars and that is for changing the stone to brick with
the extended stem wall in order to make it flow better artistically and visually, they
decided to -- to replace some of the stone with brick and that -- that is in the designs
and the elevations that you have seen from the change to the four feet. Those designs
have been incorporated from the beginning. This is just a final -- to formalize the
change from the stone to the brick. And that's not all over the building, that was just in
the -- certain areas, which you have seen in the elevations. Thank you. Any
comments?
De Weerd: Thank you. Any comments?
Rountree: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve change order number one to the contract of Sidewalks, LLC,
for the amount of 137,108 dollars.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the item in front of you. Any
further discussion? Mr. Berg.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
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September 4, 2007
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MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move that we approve deductive change order number one to TMC,
Incorporated, for the amount of 32,348 dollars.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second on Item Q. Any discussion? Mr. Berg.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Watts: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Council Members.
Bird: You got one more. Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move that we approve change order number two to the design contract of LCA
Architects in the additional amount of 23,680 dollars.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 6-A-3. Any discussion? Mr.
Berg.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
B. Public Works Department
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September 4, 2007
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1. Memorandum of Understanding with Sunrise Rim, LLC
to Build Water Main and a Dry Line Sewer to their
Development:
De Weerd: Thank you, Council. Item 6-B under Public Works. I will ask Mr. Grady to
introduce that.
Grady: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, you have in your packet a
memorandum of understanding with Sunrise Rim to extend water and sewer to their
property. This is one of those subdivisions that we are trying to work with outside of the
city bounds to minimize the kind of problems we have when we eventually get there.
So, this MOU would, basically, allow them to design so that when we ultimately provide
total services they are more easily taken into the city. You see down in the very right-
hand corner there of the property, you'd probably be familiar with the Black Rock and,
then, the LDS church. The property is shown there on the right. And what we are
proposing is they would run a ten inch -- ten to 12 inch water line into their property, it
would save them from having to drill wells and they would run dry line for their -- for
their sewer. Planning and Zoning has gone through the property. They have a private
street that they are proposing and they have been able to work through those issues
with Planning and Zoning and Justin Griffin is here from Sunrise and he's available to
answer questions as to the kind of houses he's proposing, that type of stuff, if you'd like
to ask him. And with that I will stand for questions.
De Weerd: Council, do you have questions? Would you like to hear from Mr. Griffin?
Rountree: Yes.
De Weerd: If you will, please, state your name and address.
Griffin: Justin Griffin. 2988 South Slay Creek, Meridian, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Griffin: I'm open for any questions that you may have.
De Weerd: I guess if you can give us some detail about why this is needed, what your
plans are, and --
Griffin: We have recently been approved -- our preliminary plat has been approved with
Ada County as a nonfarm subdivision. We are -- we have five lots -- five lots that we
are going to be putting in this, one acre lots, on the property. The total property is 26
acres, so we are going to have the rest of it as an open space. We want to bring the
water in, so we can have fire suppression and the adjacent property owners have
allowed us to bring the road across their property, as we are going to put in dry line
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September 4, 2007
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sewer and water through that area. The homes are going to be, again, on one acre
lots. It's close proximity to the golf course. We will have views of the golf course. They
will be nice homes, probably four to six thousand square foot homes, the five homes
that will be built there. We are excited to be part of Meridian. We are from Meridian.
We are just a bunch of friends that are kind of going in together to build there and Len
Grady has been helping us along the way and giving us direction and we think it will be
a great asset to the city for future development and ease in the future to annex into the
city as city services and the Comprehensive Plan changes to allow that occur.
De Weerd: Are you going to be building it to the city subdivision standards or the
county's?
Griffin: We are -- well, the roadway is going to be -- Penny Lane is a private roadway
presently that they are going to be built to -- I believe Len has the document, but I
believe it's built to ACHD specifications on the roadway. It's going to be a 24 foot wide
roadway and it's going to get larger when it gets into our actual property. So, we are
making it so it can be easily transitioned into a public roadway when it becomes
annexable.
De Weerd: That's easy for you to say.
Griffin: Yeah.
De Weerd: I guess the reason for that question is we have dwelt with these clusters
before or nonfarm and what they have done is they have developed the first part of the
front part of it and so, then, when it redevelops at higher densities, those higher
densities have to travel through the lower densities and there is no curb, gutter, or
sidewalk, so there is a lot of reasons to -- maybe you only have five one acre lots, but
those five one acre lots have major concerns when that comes up.
Griffin: Well -- and Kyle -- is it --
Grady: Kyle. Yes.
Griffin: Kyle I spoke with and that was a concern that he expressed to me. Initially we
weren't going to put curb, gutter, and sidewalks in on our property. He told us in order
to -- for his blessing and the city's blessing, that we put the curb, gutter, and sidewalk in
at some point. We are going to go ahead and put that in now to avoid any problems.
We are going to build it to the city's specifications or at least ACHD's, so it can be
annexed in and that was part of the agreement with Kyle that we would go ahead and
take care of that now at this point. So, we are not even going to wait until it's
annexable, we are going to do it at this point now to make sure there is no problems.
So, that was to resolve his concern and potential problems. So, we are resolving that
and getting that taken care of now.
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September 4, 2007
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De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Just one if I may. I see on page three of the agreement that you are
agreeing that when it becomes legal eligible for annexation you will annex.
Griffin: Yes.
Zaremba: My question is is do you have a method of notifying the individual purchasers
of the lots that that requirement is there? Quite often we find that this has been agreed
by the applicant and, then, the five property owners sometime later object to being
forced to annex, when, in fact, it's a voluntary annexation that's been agreed to and do
you have a way to notify them when they are purchasing that this is a condition?
Griffin: That's a condition that definitely can be added upon. I have never -- I had never
thought about that. We can put that in our CC&Rs and let people know that that will be
-- this will be annexed and this will be -- if we can put the MOU as part of CC&Rs as is
when they do purchase it they will be able to understand that this is annexable. Don't
know if that word is correct, but that's -- but we are planning on annexing that in and,
too, most of the property owners are part of this group of friends that are going on this.
We wanted this to be annexable in the future. Again, the properties could be sold, but
we will make sure that's part of our CC&Rs.
Zaremba: Thank you.
De Weerd: Any other questions? Anna, I guess my question is to -- to you. I thought
the county was not going to approve any more of these types of developments. Or was
that just a threat?
Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, as I understand it, the county is
considering removing their non-farm regulations, but they have not done so yet.
De Weerd: I was just kind of surprised.
Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, my husband's the engineer on this,
so Caleb did review it, but I just wanted to say that I haven't been involved with this.
Since you asked a very generic question I answered you. But Caleb has been working
with the applicant and Len. Len understands what's going on, but I'm not familiar with
this project.
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September 4, 2007
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De Weerd: Anything else? Mr. Bird.
Bird: I take it Len is agreeable to this?
Grady: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, that's correct. I'm in agreement.
De Weerd: Well, Council, what would you like to do?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: If there is no further questions on it and we need to take action and direction, I
would move that we approve the MOU as presented with Sunrise Rim, LLC.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the item that is before you. Is
there a discussion? Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Would the maker of the motion include in that the commitment of the
applicant that the MOU would be part of the CC&Rs?
Borton: Correct. And I think there is another contract to come from this, so we will
specify now. Included in the motion.
Rountree: Okay.
De Weerd: Anything further? Mr. Berg, will you call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 7: Items Moved from Consent Agenda:
De Weerd: Thank you. Items removed from the Consent Agenda have already been
considered.
Item 8: Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Approval: AZ 07-009
Request for Annexation and Zoning of 22.67acres from R1 to C-G Zone
for Queenland Acres by James Prather – Southeast Corner of South
Stoddard Road and West Overland Road:
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 16 of 46
De Weerd: So, I will move to Item No. 8, the Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law
on AZ 07-009. And, Anna, the developer's in agreement with staff comments?
Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, on these findings I did say that I'd
run this site plan by you, because we were -- we were having a design discussion
without anything before us. We have worked with the applicant to come up with a
suitable traffic pattern for the concept plan. I did run this by Councilmember Rountree
and I believe we have a workable site plan for both the applicant and Council, unless
Council would like further discussion on it or has concerns with it. I guess I will back up.
During the Council hearing there was discussion about this through movement going
actually further passed to the Lowe's site. This is the Lowe's building and there was
concern that this movement would become too easy and may be used as a cut through
in the morning. So, what we propose is that you come to a point here, even with the
back of this building, you would have a stop sign, you would, then, move up to -- there
is a -- kind of a bulb out here that would obscure the view of the through travel lane.
There would be a tree there. You would come up to there, you would have another stop
sign and, hopefully, a valley gutter or a speed bump and, then, you would move into this
traffic movement and, again, there would be somewhere in this stretch another valley
gutter or a speed bump to keep the speeds down. And I believe that the applicant's in
agreement with it.
Prather: I'd like to comment.
De Weerd: Please do. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Prather: Of course. Madam Mayor, James Prather. And Council. 707 East United
Heritage Parkway in Meridian. If I may, in respect to Councilman Rountree, your
comment. Earlier today I faxed over -- or e-mailed over to Sonya, who is handling this
particular application. Councilman Rountree, what we would like to do with your
permission, Madam Mayor, is this stop sign come in this full -- this full access here into
this particular position and put a stop sign in the landscape area just where you see it
here, as designated, and, then, the valley gutter or speed bump, allow that to be in an
area where it is most applicable and I can just tell you this -- this will not be the area
after talking to Scott Stanfield of Mason Stanfield, this is not where this particular valley
gutter would go to handle wastewater, but allow us to put a stop sign in here and, then,
as traffic would flow up this way allow us to put another stop sign in right at this point.
That way we would have a stop sign here, a stop sign here, to -- certainly, if they miss
one stop sign, they will certainly catch the other. As well as put in a -- and I'm a big
proponent of landscaping -- right in this portion put as much as we can get in there to
deter them from looking down this particular area and seeing that they could come from
here and, then, around this little bump and, then, into this way. If you would allow us to
do that, I think that would also prevent traffic from just accessing as they please. As
well as not notated on this particular site plan, but right in this portion right here put in a
sign that would delineate truck traffic only that, if anybody got lost they could certainly --
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 17 of 46
you know, they could come in here and access this parking lot, but if they -- if they
came any further the sign would be right about at this point, notating that truck traffic is
all that's allowed back here. I think we can accomplish, Councilman Rountree, what
you -- what your concerns were a couple weeks ago.
Rountree: Madam Mayor, I believe that will accomplish what we attempted to
accomplish here and I'm comfortable with that. I think we have discouraged the cut-
through traffic enough.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: I'm just concerned about one thing. You -- I think I'm hearing you say that
you do not want to have a stop sign at that point and I guess my question is if we are
successful about making this, essentially, a blind intersection, it would be uncomfortable
not to have a stop sign or at least a yield sign or something there, because we are
trying to make sure that the people that are going this direction don't see the people
that would be coming from there and that, to me, requires a stop sign.
Prather: Madam Mayor, Councilman, that is correct, the traffic -- we are trying to get
truck traffic -- this is all about truck traffic versus any other traffic that might be entering
in this -- from east -- from the west to east or from north to south. It is our opinion that
the only time we are going to have truck traffic -- or vehicle traffic is early in the morning
when everyone in Bear Creek is actually trying to access this light right here onto the
freeway. In the evening we really think this is going to be minuscule, because we are
making it very difficult for them to get in here, because of this little access right here.
The only thing that we'd like to keep in mind is if truck traffic comes in this way to
service the back of these mid range boxes, is that they have a chance to come in here
and instead of swinging out this way, they may have a chance to come straight back out
to Overland Road and, then, out to the freeway. At this particular -- at this particular
junction, in the event that we need anything else in here, if we deem or if the city deems
that necessary, we can do that at a later date, whether it be versus speed bumps or
signs or whatever we might think necessary, we can do that at a later date. The stop
sign that will be notated right here, we feel is sufficient to take care of the traffic or any
other problems we might have. I'm not sure I answered your question.
Zaremba: Well, yeah, I'm still not comforted that we are creating a conflict at this bent T
and I agree with creating that conflict, I like this configuration and I think it solves the
issues we were dealing with, but I'm just concerned that somebody leaving this stop
sign can still get up some speed going around that corner and not be aware that there
may be traffic coming from here, because we have visually made them not aware of
that and I guess I still am in favor of having that second stop sign, even if it's only 200
feet away.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 18 of 46
Prather: Well, actually, Madam Mayor and Councilman, from here to virtually what we
see here is only -- it's not 200 feet, it's roughly about a hundred or less. We personally,
along with -- with our PE, we think this distance here is really -- forgive me for the
expression, but overkill. If we have traffic coming in from here, the only reason why
they are back here is to -- to dock these buildings right here. We don't anticipate the
traffic here. In the event that we do have people coming in from this -- from this
particular light here to get into Bear Creek, say later in the evening, going home traffic,
you know, they can come right in here to the stop light that's being put in right here and,
then, just down. We don't anticipate that. What we might anticipate is traffic at 7:30 in
the morning coming out of Bear Creek, this subdivision here, up, and in the event that
they feel like they can't get out fast enough at this signal here to get down and to
Meridian Road and up to the freeway, they might cross in here, but we have put a stop
sign here and a stop sign here to -- to tell them that this is -- that this is not a road of
easy access.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, again, I'm understanding that, but I'm not so sure there
needs to be the second stop sign a hundred feet away, but I think there needs -- at least
needs to be a yield sign or something that warns them that this, in fact, is an
intersection, and we are --
Canning: Madam Mayor?
Zaremba: -- they may not be aware of that and I hope that all the other things work and
there isn't that much traffic there, but for the one guy that's going to come racing
through that and already be irritated by the first sign and accelerating out of there, I
think there needs to be some warning that this is an intersection and a yield sign is fine
with me, but I would want something there.
Prather: Madam Mayor, Councilman, at what point, Councilman, would you like that
yield sign?
Zaremba: Right where the second stop sign is indicated. I agree with this stop sign.
What I'm objecting to is having no indicator there at all. I feel that stop sign should at
least be a yield sign.
De Weerd: Anna.
Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Councilmember Zaremba, perhaps
instead of this -- I'm not sure that -- I think you're right in that this stop sign may be the
more important one, because you do have this traffic movement where you can't see
perhaps what's coming this way. We may not need the stop sign right here at the edge
of the building and perhaps that's the one that moves up there. So, you would still have
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 19 of 46
two stop signs, one here and one here. This stop sign would really just protect this
travel lane, but it's likely not to be as busy as the one next to it. Does that make sense?
De Weerd: But isn't that where the pedestrians were going to cross? Where -- James,
where were the pedestrians crossing?
Prather: Madam Mayor, currently the -- this stub street, Alaska, is at about this point
and instead of bringing them here and, then, out to this traffic light, we can do that.
That may not be the safest and we have a tremendous togography issue right in here,
from probably about five feet from the low side down to our site. What we were
considering is bringing them in here and bringing them around and, then, up to
Overland this way in the event that they wanted to access the water park or anything
else, Boondocks, or whatever else is over there, they can -- they would enter
Boondocks from this point going north or in the summertime access to this point across
into the water park. We are more -- we are more than happy to accommodate in any
manner that is most efficient for -- for pedestrians to get from this area to access
Overland Road, however that may be done. This point, again, I may reiterate, is
probably not the most accessible. It may be crossing over the enclosure here, down,
and, then, through a sidewalk right through this particular portion to Overland Road and,
then, they can cross at whatever point they --
De Weerd: Well, then, it might make sense moving the stop sign closer to where those
pedestrians would be crossing
Bird: And that second one is there, Mayor.
De Weerd: Yeah.
Bird: The second one's right there.
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Prather: At this particular point.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, not to recreate this whole thing, but I -- this is the one that's
going to be signalized, am I correct?
Prather: That is correct.
Zaremba: I would have the pedestrians cross there.
Bird: Yeah. And that's the one that goes into the water park.
Prather: Correct, Councilman.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 20 of 46
De Weerd: And, then, we will have a signal for walk and don't walk.
Zaremba: Uh-huh.
De Weerd: I guess to follow up on Director's Canning's suggestion, the difficulty
removing that stop sign is, then, that my one example speeder is going to come roaring
through here, has the opportunity to turn up this aisle and out here and miss all of the
stop signs. So, my inclination would be to have the stop sign at the end of the building,
a yield sign at this intersection, and the additional stop sign up there I think would be
discouraging enough.
Prather: Madam Mayor, that is -- Councilman, that's fine with the applicant.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: I think that Mr. Prather has tried to -- and, you know, this is -- I don't -- he could
put 50 stop signs in there and if a person wants to speed through, they are going to
speed though. I think he's really tried and -- and I'm like Councilman Rountree, he's
shut that back thing, that was the one I was scared of, because through traffic coming
down and across like that, he's taken care of that, so -- and I think as this development
progresses and you get tenants and stuff in there and find out what kind of traffic flow
you're going to have, you can always add stop signs and everybody -- especially the
owner is going to want a safe parking lot. I mean he don't want wrecks out there in his
parking lot every five minutes or something, so he's going to do something right. So, I
have no problem with what -- that deal. I do like the closer stop sign and -- I mean the
other one you could eliminate and, then, put the other one -- I like that one taking it up
there to the north, so that's my two cents.
Prather: Madam Mayor, Councilmen, one of the reasons why we want to put a stop
sign in here in, one, we have an opportunity to put it right in the landscape, because this
full access is the access that comes across and it goes right in front of Lowe's and,
then, eventually, will articulate down into Meridian Road. So, we feel that this is very
appropriate, in the event that we get traffic in and heading north and, again, I only see
this from 7:00 o'clock in the morning until maybe 8:00 o'clock at best. But I'm here to do
what the Council deems appropriate.
De Weerd: Me, too. So, Council --
Bird: Me three.
De Weerd: -- what would you like to do?
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 21 of 46
Bird: I'm like Councilman Rountree, I think you did a good job.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, my other comments aside, I do think this is a good project
and has been well worked on and just for sake of discussion I would propose -- or are
we ready for a motion?
De Weerd: Yes.
Bird: Just go for it.
Rountree: We can talk for another half an hour.
Bird: Well, we could talk for another hour.
De Weerd: And you could change your mind a couple more times.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I move that we approve AZ 07-009, to include all staff
comments of the previous meeting and this meeting, with a couple little adjustments.
The expectation that pedestrians will be taken to the signal at Overland. The
expectation that the left-hand stop sign will stay in line with the building. That the stop
sign just to the right of that will change to a yield sign. That there will be another stop
sign approximately where the upper valley gutter or speed bump sign is, although not in
the middle of the road where that indicates. And a tree where indicated. And that
applicant may move the valley gutters and speed bumps where ever they wish. End of
motion. And that those be incorporated into the findings and conclusions.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion?
Bird: I have got one question for Mr. Prather before we vote. That -- if we go up that --
how much of that ground -- how much of that do you -- you don't own that roadway, do
you, just -- the road -- do you own the west side?
Prather: Are you referring to this --
Bird: Yeah. Doesn't Lowe's got --
Prather: I was once the owner of all this --
Bird: I know you were, but do you have control of it now?
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 22 of 46
Prather: No, sir. Only inasmuch as that we have cross-over access into these points
right here. To access this particular drive.
Bird: Okay.
Prather: And I have --
Bird: And are you responsible for putting in the sidewalks and the landscaping and
everything on the west side of the road?
Prather: I will be, sir. Councilman, yes, sir.
Bird: That's my answer. So, we are okay with bringing the pedestrian up there.
Zaremba: If I understand the question, you physically are able to put the sidewalk
where we are talking about.
Prather: Madam Mayor, Councilmen, inasmuch as the property line actually -- to where
this landscape area is, that's where I own to this particular point right here and we have
a reciprocal agreement with Brighton and Lowe's to access back and forth. So, where
ever we deem -- where ever the Council deems amenable, we will cross over from this
access from Bear Creek, if the Council would like, up this way and we will bring them
right up through the light and, then, they can cross over or come down and access
Boondocks however they would like. We are here to bring all of the residents in Bear
Creek into this future development, whether they be on foot or whether they be in a
truck or whatever means, we are here to get them into this project and where ever else
they deem to want to go.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any further discussion?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: None.
De Weerd: Okay. Mr. Berg, will you, please, call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Bird: Mr. Prather, are you ready to announce the grocery store yet?
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 23 of 46
Prather: I am ready to announce some sort of a soft goods user there. More than
ready, sir.
Bird: It's a nice project.
Prather: Thank you very kindly. Thank you.
De Weerd: Whatever we can do to get a grocery store there.
Bird: Whatever we can do to help --
De Weerd: You have our help.
Bird: The Mayor would love to help you.
Prather: Thank you.
Zaremba: Her phone number is –
Item 9: FP 07-027 Request for Final Plat approval for 11 commercial building lots
on 18.47 acres in a C-G zone for Gardner-Ahlquist Subdivision by
Ahlquist Development, LLC – Southeast Corner of Eagle Road and
Franklin Road:
De Weerd: Okay.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Zaremba: I was going to make a motion. Let we continue the next. Actually, do you
need to open it first?
De Weerd: No, it's not a Public Hearing. You can go ahead and --
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I move that we continue FP 07-027 to our regularly
scheduled meeting of September 11th, 2007.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to put this FP 07-027 on September 11th's
agenda. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 24 of 46
Item 10: FP 07-025 Request for Final Plat approval for 26 single-family building lots
and 3 common lots on 5.17 acres in an R-8 zone for Portico Place
Subdivision by Portico, LLC – north of East McMillan Road and east of
North Locust Grove Road:
De Weerd: Item 10 is FP 07-025. I will ask Anna if there are any issues.
Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we do have a letter from the
applicant stating they are in agreement with the letters of -- or the conditions of
approval. I do want to note that the applicant suggests a minor change to one of the
conditions and staff is in agreement with that change. It's just -- staff had asked for
something to be depicted on the plat. They have noted that they will depict it on the
landscape plan, which is the appropriate place to depicted it, so --
De Weerd: Any -- any need for comment in the motion on that?
Canning: I don't think so.
De Weerd: I'm not sure what that meant.
Canning: I think we are fine, Madam Mayor.
De Weerd: Council?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve FP 07-025.
Borton: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve Item 10. If there is no discussion,
Mr. Berg, will you call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 11: Continued Public Hearing from August 14, 2007: PP 07-011 Request
for Preliminary Plat approval for 18 commercial building lots on 18.5 acres
in a C-G zone, for Paramount Commercial Southwest by Ustick
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 25 of 46
Marketplace, LLC – Northeast Corner of North Linder Road and West
McMillan Road: Request to be Continued to September 11, 2007
Item 12: Continued Public Hearing from August 14, 2007: MI 07-007 Request
for a Miscellaneous application to Modify the Development Agreement to
remove the Conditional Use Permit requirement for all commercial
development in the C-G zone and instead require design review approval
of all commercial development in the C-G zone for Paramount
Commercial Southwest by Ustick Marketplace, LLC – Northeast Corner
of North Linder Road and West McMillan
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes.
Bird: Oh. Go ahead.
De Weerd: Items 11 and 12 are continued public hearings from August 14th. These
two items have been opened. They have been requested to continue to September
11th. Do I have a motion?
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we continue Items 11 and 12 to until September 11th.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to continue Items 11 and 12 to September
11th. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 13: Public Hearing: PP 07-013 Request for Preliminary Plat approval for 11
building lots and 2 common lots on 26.35 acres in an I-L zone for
Kennedy Commercial Center by DBSI Meridian I84, LLC – 1250 West
Overland Road:
De Weerd: Item 13 has also been requested to continue. I will open this Public
Hearing on PP 07-013 and request a motion to continue.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 26 of 46
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: See if I can get it right this time. I move we continue Public Hearing PP 07-013 to
September 18th, 2007.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to continue this item to September 18th. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carries.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 14: Public Hearing: AP 07-008 Request for City Council review for an
Appeal of the Planning and Zoning Commission’s decision limiting the
hours of operation from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. for Anytime Fitness
located in an L-O zone district within Sundance Subdivision No. 5 by
Dave Evans Construction – 3220 North Meridian Road:
De Weerd: Item 14 is a Public Hearing on AP 07-008. I will open this Public Hearing
with staff comments.
Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, this is the Anytime Fitness project.
It's located on the northeast corner of Meridian Road and Ustick Road and it's currently
zoned L-O. The application before you tonight is a City Council review or an appeal of
a Conditional Use Permit that was approved by Planning and Zoning Commission. So,
the task of Council tonight is two fold. To consider the conditional use application,
because this is the full new hearing, and to also consider the conditions that the
Planning and Zoning Commission placed on this project. The proposed project -- oh, I
did want to point out on the vicinity map that there is a stub into this -- a stub street from
a residential neighborhood into this Sunset -- Sundance Subdivision No. 5 and this a lot
within that subdivision. They also have access to -- via drive aisles to both Meridian
and Ustick Roads. So, the public street access comes from the east and, then, you will
see the drive aisles -- this is a very difficult site plan to read, but you see the drive aisles
coming in from -- just Ustick in this case. The access to Meridian is further north. The
Conditional Use Permit was for a 24 hour fitness center within a 4,750 square foot
single story building and that building is already under construction or it has been
approved for construction. This would be a -- basically a tenant improvement within
that already approved structure. The site is .91 acres and it is currently zoned L-O.
Indoor recreation facility is a conditional use within the L-O district and it is located on
Lot 10 of Sundance Subdivision No. 5. So, here we can see better the -- the access
points and the landscaping and here is the structure. At the August 2nd, 2007,
Planning and Zoning Commission meeting the Commission approved the Findings for
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September 4, 2007
Page 27 of 46
Anytime Fitness Conditional Use Permit. At that hearing the Commission required a
condition limiting business operation on this site between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and
11:00 p.m. Due to the limitations of this condition the applicant Dave Evans
Construction has filed a Council review appeal to review this condition of approval, but,
again, it's not just that, it's also the use in general. So, the Commission
recommendation was really a final action on their part, but it was for approval and at
that hearing Travis Burrows representing the applicant spoke in favor of the application.
Resa Brown, one of the neighbors, spoke in opposition and we also received written
testimony from Vance Barber. The key issues of discussion by the Commission were
the facility security and disturbance to the surrounding residential neighborhoods and,
then, the 24 hour operation in the L-O zone. As you may recall over the years it has
been very common for the Planning Commission to either recommend conditions or
require limited hours of operations within that L-O zone. Key Commission changes to
staff recommendation were that they added a condition 1.9 limiting the hours of
operation to between 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Since that initial hearing we have
received written testimony supporting the Commission's decision to add that condition
of approval and those letters came from Resa Brown and Vance Barber, who also
provided testimony at the original hearing. So, the outstanding issues before City
Council are two fold. I suppose the primary one is should the use be approved and the
secondary one is should the hours of operation be limited for this business. So, with
that I will answer any questions. The applicant is prepared to give you more details on
the use itself, but those are the highlights of the Commission findings.
De Weerd: Council, any questions for staff at this time?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: And, Director Canning, I guess this view shows it, so I will discuss with this
view. At the time this came before the Planning and Zoning Commission I was there
and there was a great deal of discussion about the accesses to Ustick and part of the
reason that we -- in the recommendation of making this an L-O zone that this public
roadway needed to continue on into the site, was that I believe both ACHD and the staff
believed that some time there would be no access to Ustick from this site and I believe
it was either part of the development agreement or Conditional Use Permit for this
whole rezone, that they be prepared to give up all access to Ustick and even though we
would allow them for now, that they would understand that those were not permanent.
I, actually, have thought that this one had been denied outright and that this one farther
east was the one that they were understanding was only temporary and that they
eventually would have to use this street as their only access. So, I guess my question
is I'm surprised to see that there is an access here at all and, then, my further comment
is the original application was with the understanding that they may lose all access to
Ustick and I guess I'm asking am I remembering that correctly.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 28 of 46
Canning: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I do remember discussing a
temporary access to Ustick or McMillan, but I don't believe it was on this project. I think
that the actual access point is over here. So, here is the Anytime Fitness building. This
is the access point. I don't believe it's temporary. The issue we have with temporary is
they are so difficult to make them be something less than temporary -- or to be less than
permanent over time, because there is just no money there to make them go away. So,
I think ACHD did approve this as an access and, then, the other access point is on the
very north property line, as I recall. And I'm not -- unfortunately, this one doesn't show
the full site, but on the paper drawing I have in front of me I do not see a drive aisle.
This looks like a drive aisle and that was from the original Sundance plat, but that one is
not being used as an access. It's further north. And the applicant may be able to tell
me if I'm wrong, but he's nodding, I think I'm correct on that one, but --
Zaremba: Just to clarify, Madam Mayor. I'm sorry. And Director Canning. Just to
clarify for me. There is another slide that I think followed this one. Yes. That one. And
it sounded like you were indicating that that was an access to Ustick --
Canning: Yes, I was --
Zaremba: -- right at the end of their building.
Canning: -- I was misspeaking. I couldn't read that first one. I'm not sure what this is
showing, other than it's showing the landscaping around the building.
Zaremba: If that's a pedestrian access I'm comfortable with it. If it's a vehicle access I
question it.
Canning: It is not a vehicle access.
Zaremba: Then, I'm fine.
De Weerd: Anything else?
Zaremba: No. That was it. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you. Is the applicant here?
Canning: And, Madam Mayor, while the applicant's coming up, this is the parking aisle.
It's not striped, so -- but I have got this figured out now. So, this is part of the parking
aisle and, then, you would drive up that way. So, this is the sidewalk around the
building and, then, these are just the plantings around the building and finishing out the
rest of the parking lot.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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De Weerd: Thank you.
Burrows: Madam Mayor, Council members, Travis Burrows of Dave Evans
Construction. 7761 West Riverside Drive. Travis Burrows with Dave Evans
Construction. 7761 West Riverside Drive in Boise. Just further clarification. That does
-- is the perimeter of the building here and this is the sidewalk access, pedestrian
access, which would tie into the -- this is existing bermed landscaping that's here and
the notes would say that it would coordinate -- tie in with the new landscaping at the
perimeter of the building with the existing and there is a pedestrian -- there is a sidewalk
that runs out here to this corner, as well as running north at this point. So, just further
clarification on that. The application originally submitted was a Conditional Use Permit
for -- it was an indoor recreation facility that was 4,750 square feet in an L-O zone and
the facility that will be occupying that space is Anytime Fitness, which is a national
franchise, and they do run a 24 hour facility. That is their standard model that they run.
They have, you know, several -- actually, quite a few hundred facilities across the
country and they run very tight security with the cameras, the key cards, access cards
for the members. They have their indoor security device that the members can choose
to wear around their neck if there were any type of emergency and they could push the
button. The response time -- I'm not sure of the location of the fire department and
police in proximity to this vicinity here, but I understand in a few other locations the
response time is very quick. The Planning and Zoning department did feel that this
would be a nice addition to the neighborhood. The model of Anytime Fitness is also to
be within very close proximity to neighborhoods that the majority of their members live
within a mile radius of that facility and being right next to a city park, as well as several
neighborhoods in that area, and with the adjoining access through the neighborhood
into this development there, it would allow for a lot of pedestrian and bicycle use, rather
than vehicular use. With the hours of operation, the rest of the commercial uses in this
development generally run at 8:00 to 5:00 business hours and there would be kind of an
off hour and shared use with the parking. That's already written in the CC&Rs in the
development is shared cross-access and shared parking and I guess I'd stand for any
questions at this point.
De Weerd: Council, any questions?
Bird: Madam Mayor, I do have some questions. Talking about 24 hours. I'm looking at
the elevations here and I can't tell. What -- you have got some second story windows
or -- I don't think you're probably second story, but at least you have got some dormer
windows. How high up are they?
Burrows: Looking at the elevations up here, approximately the top of these windows is
about seven and seven a half feet and the ceilings are vaulted in here and so these
would be probably another five, six feet above that.
Bird: How about your dormer over there?
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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Burrows: This would just be -- it would be vaulted again. This is the entry. You can see
it from --
Bird: No. I'm talking about the dormer window. Right there.
Burrows: Oh, this dormer would just allow for additional light. You can see it coming
from this side as well, just through -- I guess in a sense a sky light.
Bird: Are you going to -- are you using tinted, opaque, any -- or just clear glass?
Burrows: No. They would be a darker -- let's see, this is north --
Bird: They would be a tint?
Burrows: They would. I believe on the west elevation, which we are not seeing here,
the west and south along Ustick and Meridian Roads, those would be -- I'm not sure if
we have decided on tinted or mirrored at that point to help with the evening sun, as well
as, you know, heat and those --
Bird: Because I'm sure some of the concerns of the opposition is light flashing out in
their surrounding homes and stuff, but that isn't very high and there isn't a whole lot of
them, so -- thank you. You answered my questions.
De Weerd: I guess I would have a question. I believe I saw the answer somewhere in
here, but this is not 24 hour staffed.
Burrows: That's correct.
De Weerd: And you're depending on response times from our police and our fire or do
you have a private security firm if there is a security issue?
Burrows: I don't believe there is a private security involved. It would be the fire
department and police department that would --
De Weerd: So, if it's not a medical call and they hit a panic button and our police are on
higher priority calls, those calls remain unanswered, then?
Burrows: I believe that would be the case.
De Weerd: That would be a concern.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 31 of 46
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Bird.
Bird: Follow up to your question, then. What hours are you going to staff?
Burrows: I might -- can I defer to the -- the clients may be able to answer quite a few of
these questions more thoroughly than myself.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Hi.
Nelson: Hi. Madam Mayor, Councilmen.
De Weerd: If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Nelson: Genesis Nelson. 2688 North Springtime Way, Meridian, Idaho.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Nelson: Sorry, what was the question?
De Weerd: The question was what are your hours that you have staff on site.
Nelson: Our general staff hours are about 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We also have
personal trainers that sometimes work early in the morning or late in the evening.
Depends on what their schedule is with their clients. They make their own schedule.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: In other words, they are not there every morning at 5:00 o'clock or -- if they are
scheduled they could be there, but they could not be there.
Nelson: Right. If they have appointments, then, they would be there at 5:00 o'clock
that day.
Bird: So, if something happened -- the Mayor did a good point that something happens
out there our fire department, yeah, they are right around the corner and could respond
real fast, but if it's a non-medical and our police, they could be out on another call or,
you know -- man, I -- you guys run these all over the country without staff there?
Nelson: Yes, sir. There are current -- there are over 450 of these clubs -- it's just simply
not something that happens very often. We train our members, they get a thorough
consultation orientation with the facility, how -- where the panic devices are located. We
have signs posted that say these are for emergency use only. You know, we train them
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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not to play with their -- you know, they are not a toy. If something happened that is an
emergency, push the button.
Bird: What about the guests?
Nelson: There are no guests allowed during non-staffed hours.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor? How would you monitor that? How would you know
whether somebody's bringing a guest with them or not?
Nelson: Well, we don't really have a way of busing them on site, but we do have what --
we call -- it's called the tailgate system and if more than one person will come through
the door, it sends an alarm to our computer and we will know about it first thing in the
morning and it's something that -- another thing that we go over very thoroughly with
our members, you're not allowed to bring somebody in with you. If you do you could
lose your -- all of your membership privileges. It's a very high tech operating system.
It's been tested and tried, it's been used for five years, there are I don't think any
incidents of anything bad happening in five years. As far as criminal activity, we have
cameras, everything is video recorded and our members know that, we make them
aware, you know, this is your responsibility and it's actually -- it's opposite from the way
that you would think that people might take advantage of it, because we are not there,
but in actuality they will have a key that gives them access. It's a computerized
magnetic key, so we know who is there all at times. They know they are being recorded
and that gives them a sense of responsibility and so what we see is I could actually
leave stuff out and it will still be there the next day. It gives our members -- they feel a
sense of responsibility, since they have the key to get in the place and they know they
are being watched. It's simply not an issue.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: What facilities do you have there? Do you have dead weights, machine weights
I'm sure, swimming -- do you have a pool?
Nelson: We don't have swimming, sauna, steam room, anything like that, where people
could really hurt themselves. We do have cardiovascular equipment. We have circuit
training weight equipment and we do have free weight equipment. Something that we
don't have is like an olympic style bench, which is probably what you're thinking about,
because somebody could just have the bar and drop it on themselves. That's a piece of
equipment that we do not have. We have -- we have it set up where they can do the
same exercise, but it has safety bars on both sides, so they can't drop it on themselves.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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Bird: But nobody there to spot for them or anything like that, unless they have a
partner?
Nelson: Right. It has a built-in spotter. Our machine has -- has a bar on both sides
that act as a spotter for you.
Bird: Okay. Thank you.
Nelson: You're welcome.
De Weerd: Do our police or fire have any concern or comments they wish to add to this
discussion?
Basterrechea: Well, I guess, obviously, one of the biggest concerns is access of people
who are nonmembers and those possibilities. That's certainly a liability that the
company takes upon itself. I do know that there is one of these out in Kuna. I don't
know if it's the same company, but it's very similar, and there have not been any
incidents out there that I know of as far as any problems. It's well lit. Those would be
the only concerns we have. Obviously, if there is a panic alarm, if that is -- if it's actually
a panic alarm that would actually end up being a priority for the police for response. So,
that would become one of the highest priorities that one of our officers would respond
to. So, I don't really see that being an issue as far as police response time.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor? Is there any kind of a knocks box or anything that would
allow police and fire access?
Nelson: There is always a -- yes. Absolutely. There is a knocks box always. We have
-- in response to that, we do, we have -- we have a club in Kuna and we have a club in
Nampa also and haven't had any issues with problems.
Zaremba: Thank you.
Johnson: And Madam Mayor, Councilman Zaremba, yes, all commercial buildings are
required to have a knocks box for fire entry, so -- and we can also work with the police
department on that. I wouldn't see any real major concern with this from the fire and
EMS standpoint. It would be no different than someone working out in their own garage
with weights or something by themselves. Where they have the panic button to get
help that might even be an advantage over someone working out in their garage.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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Rountree: Question for Chief Johnson. What would fire code allow in terms of number
of occupants in a facility this size at any one time?
Johnson: Madam Mayor, Councilman Rountree, it would depend on the fire code and,
unfortunately, I don't have it in front of me, but it would be posted based on the
occupancy use per square footage. I can get with Chief Silva and get that answer to
you.
Rountree: Thank you.
De Weerd: And there is -- you know, I guess this just baffles me and I'm -- typically
think I'm an out-of-the-box type of thinker, but why you haven't had concern from the
public on this kind of practice -- and I guess I'm looking at this business using taxpayer
supported EMS and public safety people as your employees. I just -- I'm struggling with
this concept and I don't want to be close minded to it, but, you know, one of the greatest
risks at fitness facilities is the potential harm those of us that are trying to get in shape
really pose to ourselves and by having the staff member there that gets them out of a
particular situation without calling out city staff every time, you know, I don't know, I'm
struggling with this one, so -- don't you have any concern from Nampa or Kuna on the
use of -- I mean you're not restricting one person in there at one time, so you can have
two paying members that are doing things that they shouldn't be doing, because they
are both allowed in there. I'm sure you don't have cameras in the locker rooms or the
changing rooms or the bathroom stalls.
Nelson: Unfortunately -- actually, we do not have cameras in there, but how we monitor
that is we have private shower rooms. We don't have locker rooms. So, you lock the
door behind you and that's how we protect our members that way. And I do understand
your concern. However, if it had been an issue at any of the other 450 clubs that are
open, then -- you know, then, I would give it a lot -- you know, a lot higher merit as far
as reality, but the reality is we really train our people not to use the panic buttons unless
it's an emergency and not to overwork themselves when they are all alone to a point
where they would have an emergency. And so it hasn't been an issue, so -- I mean
that's really the best way that I can answer that is it's not common, it's not -- we are not
calling the police or the fire department all the time and, frankly, we have a lot of police
and fire department that are members of our club. One of -- we ask members what is
the thing that you like most about Anytime Fitness and the answer is -- there is two
answers. It's close to home and it's the hours of availability. We have a lot of members
who might be a hundred pounds overweight and they are embarrassed or ashamed to
workout in front of a lot of people, so they don't want to come in when there is, you
know, 20 people. They want to wait and come in at midnight or 3:00 o'clock in the
morning when there might only be one or two other people working out. And so until
they get down to where they -- the way the want to be or feel comfortable working out
around a lot of people and that is fairly common.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I wish you wouldn't talk about me, but anyway -- the problem I have is if -- and
don't get me wrong, you have got all the facilities and I'm sure you're -- if you have got
an insurance company that will write your liability and stuff, they are a lot smarter than I
am. The only concern I have is the individual that goes in by himself -- maybe this don't
ever happen -- has a heart attack on the treadmill or something, you know, like that and
there is nobody there. Now, if you had a staff -- I'm sure within each facility you have
one of those jump starters that -- these little kits that you could use, but as long as your
insurance says it's fine and stuff and -- who -- what am I to say. I don't have no problem
with it. I do have a problem, but not enough to stop it.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I have a question for Anna. And I know she's not been in Meridian as long
as some of us have, but I'm trying to recall and I can't, but it seems to me we have been
extremely consistent in Meridian as it relates to limited office zoning to limit hours of
use. Am I correct at least in your tenure?
Canning: Yes, sir. As long as I have been here, if there is any residential nearby there
have -- generally there have been conditions placed particularly on the ones abutting
residential. And this one is a relatively small parcel, so even though this lot itself does
not abut the residential --
Rountree: Pretty tight.
Canning: -- it's very close. Yeah.
Rountree: Thank you.
De Weerd: Any further questions from Council? Okay. Thank you.
Nelson: You're welcome.
De Weerd: Okay. This is a Public Hearing. Is there anyone who would like to provide
testimony on this application? Okay.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I would comment, as has been noted before, that we have
received some written testimony from neighbors that were opposed to especially the
hours and because of that the use.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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De Weerd: Thank you. If you will, please, state your name and address for the record.
Perot: Lynn Perot. 5410 North Terret Way in Boise.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Perot: Madam Mayor, Council Members, I think that part of -- and I read the copies of
the letters from those residents. I think they have a perception that this going to be a
big loud business that's going to bring people from miles around. It's not. It's a small
club. It's there for the convenience of the residents, so that they don't have to get in
their car and drive down to Gold's Gym that's -- you know, that brings more traffic out on
the roads and takes them out to Eagle Road or to Fairview Avenue. These are very
neighborhood oriented businesses and the thing that makes it so popular in terms of the
24 hour availability -- we have a lot of shift workers, Hewlett Packard, Micron, they
particularly -- and keep in mind we are talking about maybe ten percent of the overall
membership. This is not going to be some all night, middle of the night, party that goes
on with, you know, tailgating in the parking lot. People come in ones and twos and
quietly workout, either after work or before work and some people are off work at 3:00 in
the morning. So, I -- their fear of this big noise and this big draw are unfounded and I
think it's a wonderful addition to any neighborhood. It's an amenity. It's like one of
those big complexes that have a clubhouse, you know, with weights that are for the
residents of that subdivision. This is the same thing on a grander scale and I think if
you -- do any of you live in that neighborhood? Not allowed to answer that? I think you
would find that you'd really enjoy it.
De Weerd: I don't.
Perot: Okay. Oh, well, anyway, I just thought I'd throw that out there. So, I think there
are a lot more benefits than not for this kind of use in this type of office campus, if you
will. They are also the furthest from all the residents. They are right up at the
intersection. And if the street noise that comes and goes through the intersection is not
keeping people up at night, this won't either. So, I just thought I would throw that out
there. It would be a very good thing to have this club in the neighborhood.
Bird: Madam Mayor, can I ask her a question --
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Bird: -- maybe she can't answer it, maybe the other lady will have to, but I -- this is only
a 4,000 square foot club. What kind of membership -- I mean you have got a 400 --
you've surely got something's that pretty close to --
Perot: Six hundred, eight hundred.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 37 of 46
Bird: -- this area. Six to seven hundred?
Perot: Six to eight hundred. It could max out at 1,500.
De Weerd: Thank you. Any other questions?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you.
Perot: Thank you.
De Weerd: Please restate your name for the record.
Nelson: Genesis Nelson. 2688 North Springtime Way.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Nelson: I just would like to address that, Councilman Bird. We could have up to maybe
1,500 members. It's not real likely that that's going to happen. And in our other clubs
currently I did a check on the -- like the last week. Our average use is anywhere
between 65 and like 85 members per day. And that's in a 24 hour period.
Bird: Can I -- Madam Mayor, can I ask a question? Okay. You surely are keeping
track. How many of those 60 or 65 members are between 6:00 and 6:00 -- or 6:00 and
10:00 let's say?
Nelson: Sorry, I need just clarification on the question. Between 6:00 and 10:00 --
Bird: 6:00 and 10:00 -- 6:00 a.m., 10:00 p.m., out of your 60 to 65 members a day how
many of them participate at that time?
Nelson: Boy, I didn't check between 6:00 and 10:00. Probably over half. Well, yeah.
probably a little over half.
Bird: So, 60 percent there and, then, from 10:00 to 6:00 -- 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. you
have 40 percent?
Nelson: Yeah. I have a record I can look at. What I tracked, actually, was -- because
the conditional use originally had limited hours from 5:00 to 11:00.
Bird: Okay. 5:00 to 11:00.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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Nelson: And during that is probably -- probably about -- more about 70 percent.
Bird: And, then, 30 the other time?
Nelson: Right. There is many people that need to come in before 5:00 o'clock in the
morning. But they are going to get up at, you know, 3:00, 4:00 o'clock in the morning to
come work.
Bird: So, 30 percent in the off hours, 11:00 to 5:00, and if you had 1,500, that's 450
people.
De Weerd: Mr. Bird, quit talking through your hand.
Bird: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just talking to myself.
Nelson: But my point was that we have 700 members and out of 700 members we
have an average daily use of 80, so only ten percent per day, because they don't --
everybody doesn't come every day. So, about ten percent per day are going to actually
use the club.
Bird: Okay. Eighty. So, in other words, 24 is using off hours. Twenty-four people if 30
percent are.
Nelson: Possibly.
Bird: Okay.
Nelson: Over the course of that five hours or so.
De Weerd: Any other questions?
Bird: I have none.
Nary: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Nary.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, as you know, this is a conditional use
request, so if you're going to structure any type of conditions, I think one of the
concerns that I would like you to at least articulate, if the Council is of a mind to approve
this conditional use as being requested, part of what Planning and Zoning wrestled with
and why the ordinances are written such to limited hours and Councilmember Zaremba
and probably Councilmember Rountree, as well as Madam Mayor remember
discussions at Planning and Zoning about hours of operation, delivery of goods,
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 39 of 46
cleaning of facilities, the cleaning of the parking lots, I mean those are things when they
are adjacent to neighborhoods that are very concerning to the Commission and this
Council and that's why the hours of exist in our code. If the Council is of a mind to grant
a 24 hour use, we would need to distinguish why this particular type of use would be
allowed that, so that we aren't revisiting the same issue continuously over every other
use that likes to operate and there have been numbers of occasions where businesses
wanted to operate outside the hours of the ordinance for office uses that were
contained within their office space, yet they would be off the times of the ordinance and
they have not been allowed previously. So, if you want to grant this 24 hour use in this
setting in an L-O adjacent to neighborhoods, you will need to come up with some
distinguishable reasons why this is different than all the other ones that you will see in
these types of business locations.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Director Canning, could I ask you to put back the slide that I think was the
very first slide in your presentation. Yes, it would be that one. And thinking back to a
time when there was an application to make this property something other than L-O, I
think it was C-G, they wanted to put a gas station and several other uses on it. We got
testimony at least at the Planning and Zoning Commission where I was at the time, we
got testimony from a lot of these people, some of these people, a lot of these people,
that they didn't want that kind of intensity, they didn't want a 24 hour business there
and, consequently, the recommendation from Planning and Zoning Commission was
not to change it from L-O. Apparently, the City Council agreed with that.
Canning: Councilmember Zaremba, I don't think it ever got to Council. It didn't get to
Council, they withdrew the application before --
Zaremba: They withdrew?
Canning: Yeah.
Zaremba: Okay. So, at any rate --
Bird: We've seen it as another --
Zaremba: There is a great feeling in the neighborhood not to have 24 operation in that
vicinity, regardless of which corner it's on. And I would say I -- I understand the concept
and I can see the need for a 24 hour operation and I'm intrigued by the high tech nature
of it and the surveillance and all that. The question isn't whether it would be a good
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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business for Meridian or in general, the question is whether this is the right location for
it. And just to express a personal opinion, I support in an L-O zone having limited
hours. That pretty well precludes a 24 hour business, but I would also suggest that
locating this business in an area that would have more public surveillance on a 24 hour
basis, such as any one of the corners at Ustick and Eagle, instead of Ustick and
Meridian, I mean there is enough public traffic around there that anything going on in
the parking lot would be monitored, there aren't any residents next to it, you know, I can
see the need for this business and I would be excited to have it in Meridian, my instinct
is this is not the right location for it. I can see as Meridian grows, as the clientele grows,
there will be more and more pressure to run it 24 hours a day and since that's the type
of business that it is it should be run 24 hours a day. Not in this location. And I think
there are better places that it could go and run 24 hours a day. I support the ordinances
that do require limited hours in an L-O zone, particularly that close to residential.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I'm going to be the ugly duckling on this, because I think that's a very good
location for a deal, because we are -- we are the biggest complainers about traffic on
the roads and if you move it down to Ustick and Eagle, you have people traveling a mile
and a half, two miles in their cars. Right here you have, I would guess probably three,
four, five thousand people within walking distance and I'm sure that's the reason they
selected the site. I don't have any problem with the site. I have -- I have a problem with
the hours, but I can also understand very much why they need the 24 hour or want the
24 hours, if 30 percent of your people are coming in at that, but they would have to
prove to me between 5:00 and 11:00 -- I don't know of any shift workers that can't
participate between 5:00 and 11:00, whether you're on day shift, night shift, or
graveyard shift. I mean swing and graveyard. You would -- there is still a time between
5:00 and 11:00 that you could come and workout. That's -- but I have no problem with
the location. I think it's a very good location.
De Weerd: I guess, Councilman Bird, I would agree to you on public record that --
Bird: Mark that down.
De Weerd: I know. I know. On public record. To a certain degree. You know, the
neighborhood retail or neighborhood office -- this is -- this is the kind of thing it should
be, when people should be out walking the roads or driving them. You know, the time
that we are talking about, the concern in going against what we have established as
pretty tight parameters in the L-O zone are really not when people are going to be
walking there and it's not really a time where there is a lot of congestion and it is a time
when there are 24 hour facilities in regional shopping areas that do have staff 24-7. So,
you know, those things do exist. I love the location for it. I -- I just can't get over the
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
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hours of operation and the concern of the neighbors that are tied to it and the
precedence and the difficulty in distinguishing this to something else in the L-O. We
don't allow deliveries between those times, we have been very conscientious about
that. There are neighbors just directly across the street and those neighbors were the
ones that were concerned about the southwest corner of Ustick and Meridian Road and
what kind of hours could potentially be going on at theirs. So, you know, I guess -- I
love the idea of the fitness center and the neighborhood scale, I just struggle with the
hours, I'm sure, just like the residents do. Any other comments? Otherwise, we will ask
the applicant for wrap-up remarks. You can consolidate them or -- if you will restate
your name and address for the record.
Burrows: Travis Burrows of Dave Evans Construction, 7761 West Riverside Drive in
Boise. Unfortunately, the hours -- the limited hours of operation would not allow this
business to be in this location, being the national franchise, they are not allowed to
change the business model, which is a 24 hour operation. Again, just kind of restating
that this location would be ideal for every neighbor -- well, all of the folks in every
neighborhood here. There is adequate sidewalks, pedestrian usability, bikes. The
location of this building -- it's kind of hard to see. This was the original lot as when we
first submitted this. It's been replatted since this application and the building that sits
approximately right in this little portion here and we have -- I believe there is a pad site
here and a dentist right at this location and, then, this entrance is the other -- no. I'm
sorry. This is the entrance off of Ustick and this would be the one off Meridian. So, it is
in approximately this location. The other buildings in this would line -- this portion of the
property and was stated by Planning and Zoning during that Public Hearing, that it
would, essentially, create a buffer between the neighbors to the north and to the east
here and with these -- not so busy, but I believe they were -- I don't know if they were
arterial roads or collectors or what the term was for those -- with the newer stop light at
this location, that stop light is going to be quite a bit brighter than the lights on the
building -- in the building. We have the recessed can lighting, which is similar to what's
above you, will be in the soffets and the perimeter of the building and will be facing
down on the building itself and the landscaping at the perimeter there, with the tinted
windows or mirrored, which ever we have -- have gone with, it's not going to allow a lot
of light to leave the building. You will be able to see that there is something happening
in there in the evening, but it's not going to shine into the neighborhoods across the
way. And with the proximity to the neighborhoods we believe that it will reduce the
amount of vehicular traffic in there because of the access for the pedestrian and
bicycles and, again, unfortunately, this business will not be able to operate there if --
without being allowed the 24 hour use. Any other questions or comments?
De Weerd: Any other, Council? Okay. Thank you. Okay. If there is no further
discussion, Council, I would entertain a motion to close the Public Hearing.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 42 of 46
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I would move we close the Public Hearing on Item 14, AP 07-008.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to close the Public Hearing on Item 14. All
those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Council, is there any further information needed or do I have a motion?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I don't know which Council Member said it, but I agree with whoever did, that
this is a -- it's a great business model and it's all or nothing with regards to the hours of
operations and I can tell you I'm probably one of the first ones actually using this thing
after meetings that go late and I think it's wonderful and is definitely needed in the city.
It can be very successful. But I do not agree that this location works, because of the
hours of operations and its proximity to the residential development. I don't -- I can't
reconcile that concern. It's consistent with restrictions on other uses which in a vacuum
might seem appropriate to extend beyond the L-O operation hours that are permitted. I
can't make the exception that would justify approving this CUP. I do think it's fantastic, I
think it needs a different location, I think it will be successful in the city, but I'm not
comfortable approving it and I couldn't vote to approve as is in its current location.
De Weerd: Okay. Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Madam Mayor, my comments are similar to Councilman Borton's. Very
simply it seems to me that this is a request to change what we have been very
consistent in in Meridian in terms of L-O and that's limiting office hours. I don't know of
a place or a time in about 24 years where we have done that. So, for that reason alone
I agree with the Planning and Zoning Commission in terms of limiting hours and
apparently limited hours is a deal breaker and if that's the case, then, there is really no
point in taking action on the Conditional Use Permit, but we will have to one way or
another. I really don't have a problem with the use, I just have a problem with the
timing.
De Weerd: Okay. Council, do I have a motion?
Borton: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 43 of 46
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Borton.
Borton: With help from Anna or Bill, is it the Conditional Use Permit itself or -- clarify
again what's the specific deciding point. Is it hours of operation and the permit?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, what you have in front of you is an
appeal of the Planning and Zoning Commission's approval of a Conditional Use Permit.
When you appeal that decision, then, it is a new hearing in front of you, so you can
grant the conditional permit with the same conditions that were granted by the Planning
and Zoning Commission with those limited hours that are found in the ordinance or you
can -- and, then, deny their appeal, which they have appealed that specific finding that
limited their hours. Or you could -- well, I guess you could grant their appeal, but it
doesn't sound like that's what you want to do. Or, thirdly, you could deny their
Conditional Use Permit, but the state statute does require -- and they have told you that
would be, essentially, what you would be doing -- the state statute requires that if you
do that, then, you have to list the reasons of what they could do to be approved. So, I
guess those are your three options.
Borton: Okay.
De Weerd: Mr. Nary, the Conditional Use Permit, though, would be tied to this particular
use and application.
Nary: Madam Mayor, yes, that's correct, it would be.
De Weerd: So, if it was approved, the applicant said this didn't meet their business
model and someone else would come, they would have to go through that CUP process
over again?
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, the conditional use, if you approve it,
then, those conditions stay with that conditional use, but it can change ownership, as
long as it's the same use.
De Weerd: Okay.
Bird: Yeah. And they agreed to the hours; am I not right?
Canning: If those hours are in the conditions of approval, then, yes, those would still
apply.
De Weerd: Okay.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 44 of 46
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: I would move that we affirm the decision of P&Z in its approval of the
Conditional Use Permit, inclusive of the limitations on the hours of operations, which I
guess thereby also is a motion to deny the appeal concerning the hours of operation for
Anytime Fitness.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second as stated. Any discussion? Mr. Berg.
Roll-Call: Bird, nay; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: THREE AYES. ONE NAY.
Item 15: Ordinance No. 07-1335 : AZ 07-004 Request for Annexation
and Zoning of 2.48 acres from RUT to an L-O zone for Locust Grove
Professional Office Building by Ruby/Edwards: Architecture + Design –
1695 South Locust Grove Road:
Item 16: Ordinance No. 07-1336 : Annual Appropriation for 2007 /
2008 Fiscal Year Budget:
De Weerd: Okay. Thank you. Item 15 is ordinance 07-1335 and Item 16 is ordinance
number 07-1336. Mr. Berg, will you, please, read these two ordinances by title only.
Berg: Madam Mayor, I'd like to, but I'm only going to read ordinance 07-1335.
De Weerd: Okay.
Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I had discussion with my staff today. We
did not have the ordinance for the budget for tonight, we had it for the 18th, but I think
that's just the reappropriation ordinance, so we moved it up. We will have the budget
ordinance on next Tuesday for your approval, so it can be published before the end of
the month. I just want to verify, Mr. Berg, is there any other concern -- I know you
expressed another concern about having to assert the approval that the budget has
gone through, it just hasn't been approved by ordinance. If that's problematic -- I mean
I guess our only other alternative is a special meeting and I would defer to you, Mr.
Berg, if that's the case. I'm sorry we didn't get it done. We thought it was on the later
date that we needed to have it done and that's our error, but whatever you think, Mr.
Berg.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 45 of 46
Berg: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I just have to fill out the L2 form and I
think you have approved the numbers, which means I can fill in the blanks and get that
sent to the county by the deadline.
De Weerd: Okay. Does that work? So, you can put this on next week. Okay. So, if
you will, please, read just Item 15 by title only.
Berg: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Ordinance 07-1335, an
ordinance for annexation of property being a portion of the northwest one quarter of the
northeast one half of Section 19, Township 3 North, Range 1 East, Boise Meridian, Ada
County, Idaho, as described in Attachment A and annexing certain lands and territories
situated in Ada County, Idaho, and adjacent and contiguous to the corporate limits of
the City of Meridian, as requested by the City of Meridian, establishing and determining
the land use zoning classification of said lands from RUT to L-O in the Meridian City
Code, providing that copies of this ordinance shall be filed with the Ada County
assessor, the Ada County recorder, and the Idaho State Tax Commission, as required
by law, and providing for a summary of the ordinance and providing for a waiver of the
reading of the rules and providing an effective date.
De Weerd: Thank you. You have heard this read by title only. Is there anyone who
would like to hear it read in it's entirety?
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we approve Ordinance 07-1335 with suspension of rules.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve this item. Mr. Berg, will you,
please, call roll.
Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Okay. We are at the end of our agenda. Is there any further business?
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Observing that Ralph has already left, I move we adjourn.
Meridian City Council
September 4, 2007
Page 46 of 46
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:00 P.M.
(TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
APPROVED:
_______________________________ ______/______/______
MAYOR TAMMY de WEERD DATE APPROVED
ATTESTED:______________________________
WILLIAM G. BERG JR., CITY CLERK