2019-04-25 Andrea Duncan1
Charlene Way
From:Andrea Duncan <andrea.duncan@gmail.com>
Sent:Thursday, April 25, 2019 9:02 AM
To:Meridian City Clerk
Subject:Concerns With Delano Development
Attachments:Alpine Pointe Recommended Solutions.docx
To the Honorable Tammy de Weerd, Mayor,
To the Members of the Meridian City Council, and
To the Meridian Planning and Zoning Commission:
We, as concerned neighbors, are strongly opposed to the proposed Delano development as submitted, consisting of 85
densely packed single-family homes and a group of multi-story apartment buildings that could be between 96 and 200*
units when the ultimate CUP is accepted at the latter phase of construction. We have several alternate plans to propose
that would allow DevCo to profit from their investment while protecting the quality of life that Alpine Pointe residents
assumed when they bought their homes. One example of an alternate proposal is in attachment 1. We oppose the
Delano development in its current form, for the following reasons:
First, DevCo, the developer, has done nothing to address Alpine Pointe residents’ valid concerns about having thousand s
of additional car trips through our subdivision each day (we have had three DevCo-hosted neighborhood meetings to
date). DevCo’s plan will route the traffic from both this single-family development and the adjoining apartment
complex through Dashwood Pl, a quiet residential cul-de-sac in Alpine Pointe that was never designed or designated to
be a commercial collector road. From the Dashwood stub road, these thousands of cars will disperse throughout Alpine
Pointe to connect to McMillan, Locust Grove and Eagle Road, creating noise and traffic hazards. The outlined traffic
patterns will bring collateral traffic to Settlers Bridge as well. Champion Park will also have thousands of high-density
development neighbors. We respectfully ask you to help us protect our quality of life.
In addition, Alpine Pointe has two school bus stops within our subdivision, thus the additional traffic will pose significant
danger to young school age children as those using our sub as a pass through are more likely to drive at a higher rate of
speed and not have the same concern about safety as our residents do.
To clarify, it isn’t solely the Delano project that will bring forth this heavy traffic burden, but the situation is impacted by
the connection to existing subdivisions and projects under construction that will bring the total density of the block of
land bounded by Eagle Road on the east, Alpine Pointe to the north, Ustick to the south, and Champion Park to the west
to a total population that is significantly greater in density than anywhere else in the city!
To illustrate how this proposal and future land use of nearby undeveloped parcels will result in such high-density, this
Ustick/Eagle area already has the Centrepointe Way/Ustick four-plexes (80 units) and the Brickyard Apartments (279
units). Add another 85 single-family homes and 96 to 200 additional apartments, and we are looking at 540 to 630
homes/apartments and 1,490 to 1,739 or more residents in a small, tightly packed footprint (avg Meridian household
2.76 persons).** This total resident count and an unknown quantity of commercial traffic will use Alpine Pointe
(specifically Dashwood Pl) as the sole northern route into and out of this area. We feel that this much density must not
be routed through a quiet and far less dense subdivision like Alpine Pointe (3 houses per acre).
Furthermore, the future plans for this area will add to the traffic burden; we are concerned that even more high density
apartment projects will be proposed in the future when the com bined 10 acres belonging to Mrs. Wong and Mr. Hedrick
are sold (R4582530100 and R4582530202).*** The future zoning of these parcels and the resident density would route
even more traffic into Alpine Pointe via the future Centrepointe Way to Wainwright commercial collector, N Dashwood
Pl, and at Eagle/Wainwright.
2
Third, over-connectivity: Alpine Pointe, at 90 acres and 211 homes, will be over-connected relative to other comparable
and even larger subdivisions. If we add DevCo’s proposed access point on Dashwood, Alpine Pointe will have eight
entrances/exits when the Rogue River connection and the Centrepoint Way/Wainwright commercial collector are
constructed. This just further exacerbates our existing problem of drivers using Alpine Pointe as a high spee d shortcut to
avoid Eagle Road’s already overwhelming traffic burden.
Finally, DevCo’s current proposal makes an abrupt leap from Alpine Pointe’s 3 homes per acre to 15 and then to multi-
family. We would like to see a more fluid transition from our mostly R4 to perhaps R8 in the portion of the Delano
development that is closest to Dashwood, and then a transition south to R15 (north of the Brickyard project). Perhaps
consider designating the Delano apartment paddock to R-15 as a transition as well to cap population density (parcel
R4582530300).
Ladies and Gentlemen, we respectfully ask you to consider these issues with an eye towards not only the future of
Meridian, but the quality of life of its residents. We trust you to act in our best interests.
Sincerely,
Dave and Andrea Duncan
2596 E Lacewood Dr
Meridian, ID 83646
(208) 890-7688
andrea.duncan@gmail.com
deduncan@gmail.com
*Without indoor fire sprinklers, multi-family dwellings are limited to 100 units. With sprinklers, they can go up to 200
units on a parcel this size, or more with an accepted variance application.
**Based on Meridian’s average household size of 2.76 persons per residence (source
http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/meridian-id-population/ )
***Wong and Hedrick parcels (10 acres, R4582530100 and R4582530202) could result in +/- 400 total apartment units,
or +/= 1200 or more residents (a density of +/- 120 persons per acre).
Below are a few solutions to the N Dashwood Pl/Alpine Pointe and DevCo Delano project
problem:
1. N Dashwood Pl becomes connected to the Delano project as an emergency
lane/pedestrian/bike path, utilizing bollards. This prevents N Dashwood Pl from becoming the
de facto commercial collector in the absence of the Centrepointe Way/Wainwright commercial
collector. Emergency access is available at N Dashwood Pl, E Kern/Centrepointe Way (created
by modification of the Delano plan, and at Jasmine St/Centrepointe Way (widened for Delano’s
entrance).
2. DevCo is compelled by public agencies to modify plat to reduce the potential and imminent
traffic burdens thrust upon peaceful neighborhoods such as Alpine Pointe and Settlers
Bridge. DevCo could create another access point at E Kern St and Centrepointe Way for the
Delano single-family home area, thus eliminating the need for any Alpine Pointe
connection. The apartment plan could be flipped (north to south) and Jasmine St continued
east for future connection to the stub streets created at the Brickyard Apartments and the
future road at the NW corner of Fast Eddy’s, which would increase traffic flow quality in this
high density area. When the parcel (currently for sale) at Jasmine and Eagle sells, this Jasmine St
could be developed to loop between Fast Eddy’s and the Brickyard Apartments, and
furthermore Jasmine could potentially be developed to connect at Eagle Road (in cooperation
with ITD) for a vital and needed road for this pending and for potential future highest density
development plans, for Meridian is planning on increasing densities from their previous
comprehensive plans re. this application (N Dashwood connects as an emergency
lane/bike/pedestrian path with bollards in this instance).
3. DevCo is compelled to divide the Delano single-family homes (R-15) of the proposal into two
sections (see attached drawing). The northern half would be a closed- loop neighborhood
connecting at N Dashwood Pl and E Della St. E Della St would have two turnabouts at the west
and at the east end of the street. The park would be relocated west, and an emergency lane
abutting the park at the east would be an emergency lane/bike path/pedestrian path with
bollards. This would create 15-20 lots, more in line with R-8 zoning and much more transitional
in nature to Alpine Pointe (R-4). This would greatly reduce the traffic burden upon Alpine Pointe
and Settlers Bridge if N Dashwood Pl must be connected as a public street (terminus points E
and W at E Della St). Examples of previous neighborhoods with a closed-loop are Grantham
Square off of East of Locust Grove, South of Ustick and Solterra, North of Fairview Ave off of
Hickory. The southern portion of the development could be the R-15 zoning as sought by
DevCo, and the creation of the E Kern St/Centrepoint way entry would be utilized, and the
Jasmine St could be modified to be the main entry to this R-15 section, giving Delano access at
two streets off of Centrepoint Way.
4. Future zoning and pending zoning of parcels should be more transitional in nature, thus
capping population growth and density in such a way as to not overburden the future
commercial collector at Centrepoint Way/Wainwright, and the light at
Eagle/Wainwright. Furthermore, we respectfully ask ACHD to design the future commercial
collector with enough buffer zone for consideration of those residents of Brooksburg cul-de-sac
at Alpine Pointe, and we are hoping in an intelligent design to route traffic properly to the
Wainwright light and eliminate the cut-through traffic that will occur from those seeking to
bypass the Eagle Rd corridor.